South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza is a former Associate Artist of The Mozartists. She sang the title role in our 2010 production of Zaide, for which she received the Patrick Fyffe-Dame Hilda Brackett Prize, and has performed with us in recital at Wigmore Hall. Pumeza was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House from 2007-2009, where roles included Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), Slave in Strauss’ Salome, Innocent (Birtwistle’s The Minotaur), Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Sandmann (Hänsel und Gretel) and Tebaldo (Verdi’s Don Carlo). Further engagements have included her début as Eve in the world première of Giorgio Battistelli’s CO2 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the English Concert Orchestra as part of the Bristol Proms series, and Mimì (La Bohème), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) for Oper Stuttgart. An exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Pumeza’s debut album ‘Voice of Hope’ was released in 2014.
