(Credit: Luke Foley-Martin)

The San Francisco Opera’s new short-form song and storytelling video portrait series, “In Song,” continues May 27 with the premiere of In Song: Pene Pati.

The new episode will showcase Pati, who hails from a tight-knit, musical Von Trapp-like family of performers, reveal the centrality in his life and musical journey through reminiscences with his parents and songs with his father, Pene Pati, Sr., and brother, tenor Amitai Pati.

The episode was filmed on location in Mangere, New Zealand, and will include musical selections “La’u Lupe” (“My Dove”), a traditional Samoan song, and the ballad “La Serenata” by Italian composer Paolo Tosti performed by Pati accompanying himself on ukulele.

In a press release Pati said, “I didn’t even know singing was a talent in the beginning. I really didn’t. It was so embedded in our culture and in our DNA that you sing on your history. Opera, in a sense, is all about that. You’re singing a story to the next person and they pass it on.”

To celebrate the premiere of the new episode Pati and In Song director and executive producer, Elena Park will hold a live conversation on Thursday at 4 p.m. Pacific on Facebook and YouTube.

“In Song” is a series of intimate video portraits featuring remarkable San Francisco Opera artists. Launched in March 2021, the series has already showcased J’Nai Bridges and upcoming episodes will feature Jamie Barton, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, and Amina Edris.