Biography
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Born In
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Pumeza Matshikiza (born in Cape Town), often billed professionally as simply Pumeza, is a South-African operatic soprano.
Pumeza studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music under Professor Virginia Davids, then at the Royal College of Music, London with a full three-year scholarship and in the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where she made her début as a Flower maiden in Parsifal. Winner of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Dublin in 2010, Pumeza later joined the Stuttgart Opera, where she has been part of the full-time ensemble since 2011.
Signing with the London-based label Decca in 2013, she recorded her debut album, Pumeza - Voice of Hope, at Abbey Road Studios.
She sung one of the Innocents in the 2008 première of Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur, and her first major role was that of Mimi at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 in a production by Opera Bohemia. There she was described as "the real star of the show….who plays the role of Mimi…with a rich, lustrous voice. She also sang at the wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlene Wittstock, accompanied by French guitarist Eric Sempe and percussionist Patrick Mendez.
Pumeza performed a rendition of "Freedom Come-All-Ye" at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which was viewed by one billion people worldwide. The song refers to Nyanga, one of the oldest black townships in Cape Town, which is also one of the places where Pumeza grew up as a child. Speaking about the song afterwards, she said: "The song is not one I was even aware of until I was given it to rehearse but it is so beautiful. I love what the song stands for – freedom and equality for everyone regardless of race or social standing or nationality."
She released her debut studio album, Voice of Hope in 2014 on Decca Records and containing four classical arias from Puccini and Mozart, in addition to mainly African popular and traditional. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart and Simon Hewett accomoany her for the arias, whereas the Aurora Orchestra and Iain Farrington accompany her for most of the songs, with one song with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in addition to other collaborations notably the African Children's Choir.
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