Black Opera Singers 2020 Performances

December 31, 2019

Black singers are a growing presence on opera stages worldwide. Take a look at the schedule of upcoming performances this year by established and rising stars.

Pretty Yende Opera SingerPretty Yende, a soprano from South Africa, made her professional debut in Riga performing the role of Micaela in Carmen. In 2010, she became the first artist in the history of the Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna to take first prize in both categories (opera and operetta). In 2011, she won the Operalia Placido Domingo Competition and graduated from the Accademia teatro alla Scala in Milan. She has performed roles in Milan's La Scala, the New York Met, Hamburg, Cape Town, Los Angeles, Vienna's Theater an der Wien, Oslo Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Upcoming Performances:
Paris: Feb 29, Mar 4, 10, 17, 25, 31, 2020 - Manon - Opera Bastille, Paris Opera
Dallas: May 2, 8, 10, 2020 - Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Dallas Opera



Noah Stewart Opera SingerNoah Stewart, from Harlem, New York, discovered opera as a teenager through seeing a video of Leontyne Price performing. He trained at LaGuardia Arts, the Juilliard School and on the San Francisco Opera Merola Young Artists Program, and made his professional debut with San Francisco Opera as Macduff (Macbeth). He has since performed in Chicago Opera Theater, Wexford Opera Festival and in Detroit, Milwaukee and New Orleans, Atlanta, Phoenix and the Royal Albert Hall.

Upcoming Performances:
New York: Apr 2, 2020 - Carmen - Lincoln Center

PumezaPumeza Matshikiza, a Lyric soprano from South Africa, studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music, graduated Cum Laude, 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 debut as a Flower maiden in Parsifal. She was the winner of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Dublin in 2010. She sung at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 and at the wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlene Wittstock. She currently is in the full-time ensemble with Germany's Stuttgart State Opera.

Upcoming Performances:
Ghent: Jan 11, 14, 19, 23, 2020 - Rusalka - Vlaanderen Opera
Tübingen: Feb 29, 2020 - Richard Strauss: Drei Hymnen - Festaal Neue Aula



Tichina Vaughn opera singerTichina Vaughn is an American mezzo-soprano who began her singing career as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Studio after studying at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She made her debut in 1996 at the State Theatre Stuttgart and has since performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, at the Finnish National Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Frankfurt Opera, the Opera Graz, Teatro Verdi di Trieste, the Teatro Carlo Felice Genoa, Opera Rome, the Arena di Verona, the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, in Hong Kong and Palermo.

Upcoming Performances:
New York: Jan 8 - Feb 1, 2020 - Porgy and Bess - Metropolitan Opera
Vienna: - Apr 16 - 28, 2020 - The Fiery Angel - Theater an der Wien


Russell Thomas opera singerRussell Thomas an operatic tenor from Miami, has performed at Washington National Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Oper Frankfurt, the Metropolitan Opera and other opera houses throughout the world. Mr. Thomas is an alumnus of the young artist programs at the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and has received prizes from the George London Foundation for Singers, Liederkranz Foundation, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, and Richard Tucker Music Foundation. In 2010, he won the Grand Prize, Audience Prize, and Tenor Prize of the Francisco Viñas Competition in Barcelona, Spain.

Upcoming Performances:
Houston: Feb 2, 8, 11, 14, 16, 2020 - Aida - Houston Grand Opera
Toronto: - Apr 18 - May 8, 2020 - Aida - Canadian Opera Company
San Francisco - Jun 7 - Jul 2, 2020 - Ernani - San Francisco Opera


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