Levy Sekgapane
tenor
© Kartal Karagedik
Levy Sekgapane was born in Kroonstad, South Africa, and studied with Kamal Khan and Hanna van Niekerk at Cape Town University's South African College of Music before joining the Semperoper in Dresden's young ensemble in 2015. Although early in his career there are two roles he's much in demand for: Conte Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which he's sung in a new production in Glyndebourne, at the Opéra national de Paris, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Opéra national de Bordeaux, and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola which he sang in new productions at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Hamburg State Opera and Los Angeles Opera. He made two remarkable house debuts with these roles last season: Almaviva at the Vienna State Opera, followed by Don Ramiro at Zurich Opera, appearing on stage with Cecilia Bartoli. He returned to Cape Town Opera to sing his first Nadirs in Les Pecheurs de Perles, went to the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari for Don Pasquale and Barbiere di Siviglia and appeared in I Puritani for the first time, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Levy Sekgapane opened the 2023/24 season with La Cenerentola at the Semperoper in Dresden, in a new production at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, then at Lyric Opera Boston and the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. He returns to the Vienna State Opera for Don Pasquale and makes his debut in Munich with La Sonnambula. Future plans take him back to the Théâtre La Monnaie in Brussels, the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona and Opéra national de Paris. Other highlights in his career to date include his debut at the Elb Philharmonie in Hamburg, singing in the first New Year's Eve Gala Concert when the hall first opened, with Olga Peretyatko under James Conlon. He has also sung Adina at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Enrico di Borgogna at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, Idomeneo at the Salzburg Festival and L’elisir d’amore at the International May Festival at the Staatstheater in Wiesbaden. He won 1st prize at the 2015 International Belvedere singing competition, the 2015 Monserrat Caballé competition and Placido Domingo's 2017 Operalia competition. His first solo CD, of Rossini arias with the Munich Radio Orchestra under Giacomo Sagripanti was released by Prima Classic in 2019.