SA tenor clinches top singing prize

HIGH NOTE: Levy Sekgapane, winner of the Belvedere AS a child, Levy Sekgapane preferred playing sport to singing and never thought he had much of a voice.

But he found his love for music while watching his uncle teach students to sing opera.

It paid off. Last week the 24year-old Kroonstad tenor won the coveted Belvedere singing competition in Amsterdam, pipping more than 1 300 other international hopefuls.

Days later he secured a twoyear residency at the Dresden State Opera, to be cast in five productions.

The Belvedere competition has been kind to South Africa — it catapulted local opera sensation Pretty Yende to international stardom after she won it in 2009.

“Winning this competition means I am getting closer to living my dream of getting to the level of Pavarotti and other big names in the opera music world,” Sekgapane said this week.

“I am still young and I know I have a long way to go, but I am definitely ready.”

Sekgapane, who performed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year, is studying for his postgraduate degree in opera at the University of Cape Town.

He writes his final examina- tion next month before leaving for Germany “for good”.

“I am so excited and can’t wait to start earning the big bucks like the big names,” he laughed.

Sekgapane’s pieces for the Belvedere competition included Languir per una bella from Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri.

Besides winning the first prize of à7 000 (about R97 000), he was also honoured with the Young People’s Award and received three engagements with two German opera houses and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.

Next month, Sekgapane will compete in the South African Music Rights Organisation singing competition.