Levy Sekgapane wins the World Opera Competition

Levy Sekgapane, a recent graduate of the University of Cape Town Opera School, won the 2017 Operalia competition in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 29 July.

Focusing on singers between 18 and 32 years of age, the annual competition seeks to discover and honour the best young opera singers of today. Out of 1 000 applicants, only 40 talented vocalists from 17 countries were invited to compete in this, the 25th edition of Operalia, which is considered by many to be the world’s most prestigious vocal competition.

Sekgapane is the second UCT graduate to have won the competition – he follows in the footsteps of Pretty Yende, who took the title in 2011.

David Salazar, editor in chief of Opera Wire, said of the UCT tenor, “He has a beautifully delicate and tender sound that certainly brings to mind the vocal richness of Lawrence Brownlee and Javier Camarena.”