Samoan tenor Pene Pati has taken the operatic world by storm with recent debuts as Percy in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at Opéra national de Bordeaux, Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at San Francisco Opera and Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata at Moscow’s historic Bolshoi Theatre, and been hailed “the most exceptional tenor discovery of the last decade” (Opéra-Online). While still a young artist on San Francisco Opera’s Adler Program, his critically acclaimed 2017 debut as Il Duca di Mantova in Verdi’s Rigoletto, conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti, thrust the New Zealander into the limelight, receiving subsequent invitations to join productions of L’elisir d’amore, Madama Butterfly and Manon.
In the upcoming seasons, Pati will enjoy debuts at Staatsoper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Opéra National de Paris, and take on new roles such as Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, Verdi’s Cassio in Otello and Donizetti’s Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. An equally compelling performer on the concert and recital stages, this season Pene Pati will join Theater Dortmund for gala concerts and return to Matinee Musicale Cincinnati in recital with regular pianist partner Ronny Michael Greenberg; the duo were met with standing ovations after last season’s recitals there and for Société d’art vocal de Montréal.