Levy Sekgapane

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Levy Sekgapane is a South-African operatic and Bel canto tenor whose repertoire includes roles in works by G. Rossini, G. Donizetti, W. A. Mozart, J. S. Bach. Sekgapane was named the 30 Under 30 Europe 2018: Arts & Culture by Forbes magazine.^[1]

Sekgapane was born in Kroonstad, South Africa.^[2] He graduated from the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town.^[2]

Sekgapane obtained the 1st prize at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition^[3] as well as the 1st prize at the Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition in 2015. In the summer of 2017, he won the 1st prize at Plácido Domingo's Operalia, the World Opera Competition.^[4]

The singer's stage activity began in Chemnitz, Germany in 2014 when he sang the role of Don Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola.^[5] During the season 2015/16, he became a member of the Young Ensemble of Semperoper in Dresden.^[6]

The following season he performed the roles of Don Ramiro, Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Lindoro, at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera and Aalto-Musiktheater Essen.^[7] He also appeared at Royal Opera Copenhagen as Il Conte di Libenskof in a new production of Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims (2017).^[8] Levy Sekgapane also performed at opera festivals such as the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro,^[9] the Whitsun Festival at State Theatre Wiesbaden,^[10] the international Donizetti Opera festival in Bergamo, Glyndebourne Festival, Salzburg Festival and Wexford Festival Opera.^[11]

On the concert stage, he gave his debut at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg singing at New Year's Eve gala. He took part in a concert dedicated to Maria Callas at Theatre Champs-Élysées in Paris and performed in the AIDS Gala concert hosted annually at Deutsche Oper Berlin to support HIV and AIDS.^{[citation needed]}