Busy Emma Renzi leads a life of note

Ex-opera singer still going strong at 90

OPERA singer Emma Renzi just turned 90. But she is extremely busy and can barely make time for an interview.

She makes her own clothes, gives singing lessons four times a week and works in her much loved garden.

Renzi doesn’t let her age get in the way of doing the things she loves. “Fortunately, I’m very healthy and I have been going strong. I teach four days a week and that keeps me going.”

She does draw the line at going to gym, however. “I garden quite a bit so that is my daily exercise, it’s very strenuous work you know, so that is my gym.”

Renzi’s home, in Auckland Park, Joburg, was filled with flowers from all over the world, the beautiful blooms gifts in celebration of her birthday last Friday .

Renzi, one of the most accomplished opera singers, was the first South African to perform a leading role at La Scala, the opera house in Milan, in 1967.

Her birthday was celebrated in style with her pupils performing a concert for her.

“It was a very nice party, I really enjoyed it. My students decided to do a concert, so they booked a venue and we had a concert. Past and present students attended as well as old friends and even a school friend of mine.”

She said her career as a soprano had helped her keep fit and healthy. “Singing is a beautiful sport that has kept me vibrant and healthy. I don’t know if I would have been able to last this long if I wasn’t a singer.”

She broke into laughter often, a trait which has probably helped keep her young.

Renzi’s career has been filled with accolades. Among these are the Order of Merit of the President, the Adelaide Ristori Prize of Italy, an honorary doctorate from the University of Potchefstroom, an honour of the Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuurvereniging for her lifetime contribution to music, as well as the Grande Gazette dell’Ordine della Stella della solidarietà italiana from the Italian government.

Renzi admitted it had never been her intention to become a singer. “At school, growing up in Heidelberg I was good at maths and science. I wanted to become a doctor.”

However, her mother had other plans. “When I was 14 my mother took me to Johannesburg for singing lessons. The lady who trained me told me that I had a beautiful voice. It really gave me the world of confidence and ever since then I began focusing on my singing.”

After matriculating with five distinctions, Renzi furthered her studies as a music student at a college in Cape Town. She then went to England to pursue her dream of becoming a professional opera singer.

After brushing shoulders with some of the elite in opera in the UK, Renzi moved to Germany for a year and a half, before moving to Italy. There her career as an opera singer really took off. Renzi stayed in Italy for 21 years.

The La Scala performance came by chance when she stood in for a sick colleague. “One of my colleagues had partied heavily the night before and the next day she found she did not have the best of voices.”

“I was phoned at noon and told I would be singing at the matinee that afternoon. I was not nervous at all. I was sure of the role so I didn’t have any difficulty. I had attended rehearsals so I felt confident.”

She continued to perform at La Scala for the next 11 years and was applauded for her role as Il Trovatore in a production of Loreley of Catalani and again in one of her coveted roles, Puccini’s Turandot. Renzi continued to land the lead in dramatic soprano roles in some of the most important opera houses of Italy, Spain and South America.

After a remarkable career in Italy, including appearances in Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito in Verona in 1979, Renzi decided it was time to return home to be close to her parents.

Retiring from the stage, she took a job as director of the Wits School of Music before becoming the director of the Pretoria Technikon’s opera centre.

“There was no way I could continue singing and pursue a career in teaching, it had to be one or the other. They both require different energies and full commitment, so I decided to call it quits on my singing career and help others.”

Professor Federico Freschi, the University of Johannesburg’s dean of arts, design and architecture, a trained and accomplished baritone, hails Renzi as one of the greatest singers of her generation. “She is one of the world’s greatest sopranos of her time.”

PICTURE: NHLANHLA PHILLIPS LONG CAREER: Emma Renzi’s musical talents became evident while she was still a schoolgirl in Heidelberg. She had lessons in piano playing, supplemented by the violin and the harp. Opera was later added to her studies. She was one of the best in the...