In the three decades since the end of apartheid, South African opera has developed its own unique local style - both in terms of composition and dramatic themes.
Since the abolition of racial barriers in 1994, South African stars have shone on the international stage. Opera is booming, drawing talent from the country's great choral traditions to carve out an important place in an extremely diverse cultural landscape, AFP reported.
Much of the change is the work of the 25-year-old Cape Town Opera, which is considered the most successful company in Africa.
The mastermind behind it all is Italian-born Angelo Gobbato, a former singer who co-founded the company 5 years after the end of apartheid and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in March for his contribution to South African opera.
At the beginning of his career, Gobbato staged Donizetti's dramatic "Lucia di Lammermoor" with principal singers brought from abroad.
The line-up of the same opera's just-completed 25th birthday performance is all South African and includes only one white singer - an illustration of the changes.
"After the white minorities were abolished, suddenly we got a lot of interest from black students who wanted to study opera," said Gobbato, 81.
"It was very unusual because at the Cape Town Opera School we had so-called colored students - students who are not white but not black students," he added.
His students, who include the internationally acclaimed Khubawa Yende and Levi Sekgapane, often come from municipal choirs trained in the Western fashion of singing.
"They reacted very naturally to the opera and wanted to sing it," said Gobbato, who is now retired.
And as the lineups have become more representative of South Africa's racial makeup, so have the audiences.
"I feel like a grandfather. I don't have physical children or grandchildren, but when I see the students, I am desperately proud of them and I am convinced that I have done something for the good of the country," said the former singer.
Opera in South Africa was once a niche stage art with a predominantly white audience, says soprano Brittany Smith, the tragic heroine in this year's production of Lucia di Lammermoor.
"Cape Town Opera is now at the forefront of reviving opera and making it more accessible to everyone, and that makes us relevant," Smith, 29, said as she prepared for a rehearsal at the Nelson Mandela Theatre.
Smith highlighted the company's program, which sends performers into schools and cities to show youth what it's all about. | BGNES
