Full Biography
Formidable South African mezzo-soprano Siphokazi Molteno is poised to become one of the most important voices of her generation. Of her performances in the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, The Guardian’s Rian Evans raved: “For many – and I include myself among them – Molteno’s glorious mezzo was the most memorable voice and, across the week, she showed an unusually wide choice of repertoire, from Mahler to South African songs and, in this final, the richness right through her considerable vocal range in Octavian’s aria ‘Wie du warst’ from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. An intensity of demeanour disappeared when, in her last aria, Rossini’s ‘Una voce poco fa’ – more usually a soprano lollipop – she was relaxed, comfortably comic and showing herself to be a mezzo with knockout coloratura, a rare talent.”
In the 2024-25 season, Siphokazi Molteno makes her Carnegie Hall debut in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s Chamber Ensemble, performing Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses and Brahms’ Two Songs for Voice, Viola and Piano, Op. 91, as part of the Voices from South Africa series. She debuts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi as soloist in the recently rediscovered Stabat Mater of American composer Julia Perry; sees her first performances with the Dallas Opera as Flora in La traviata; and stars alongside Michael Spyres and the Tonkünstler-Orchestra in the “Summer Night Gala” at the Grafenegg Festival in Austria. The concert will be broadcast on European television.
Concurrently, Molteno begins her tenure this season as an ensemble member of Teatro Regio di Torino, where she makes her debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, followed by performances of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Maddalena and Giovanna in Rigoletto, Yelena Ivanovna Popova in William Walton’s rarely-performed The Bear, and La volpe in Pierangelo Valtinoni’s operatic setting of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved Il piccolo principe, which last season premiered at Teatro alla Scala.
Highlights of recent seasons include her debut with the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Don Giovanni’s Inferno, a new opera by Simon Steen-Andersen, her European solo recital debut in France under the auspices of Estivales de Musique en Médoc, and her house and role debut as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Saratoga. On the concert stage, she was the mezzo-soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Camerata Notturna, Haydn’s Theresienmesse and Mozart’s Sparrow Mass with the New Choral Society, Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai and Mozart’s Coronation Mass with St. George’s Cathedral Cape Town, and Verdi’s Requiem with Dar Choral Society Tanzania.
A recent alumna of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Siphokazi Molteno made her mainstage Met debut as Flora in La traviata followed by Soeur Mathilde in Dialogues des Carmélites. During her tenure as a member of the Young Artist Program at Cape Town Opera, Siphokazi performed roles including Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Third Lady in The Magic Flute. She was twice the recipient of the Fleur Du Cap Theatre Award for “Best Performance in an Opera” (Female Division) for her performances as Dorabella (2022) and Romeo (2020). Additionally, she was a world finalist in the Operalia Competition, was honored with the Rising Star Award in the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup, and received both the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award and the Audience Choice Award at Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition in 2017.
Siphokazi Molteno holds degrees from Nelson Mandela University and the University of Cape Town, where she was under the tutelage of Patrick Tikolo. During her studies, she performed the title role in La cenerentola and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. She has also been a participant in summer programs at the Ravinia Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and the Crescendo Summer Institute.
© CSAM GmbH, August 2024
