Stéfan Louw

Stéfan Louw is a South African operatic tenor, regarded as one of South Africa's leading tenors.[1] He has founded opera production companies based in Johannesburg, and writes for The Citizen newspaper.

South African opera tenor, Stéfan Louw.

Biography

Louw became a member of the Pretoria State Theatre Ad-hoc Opera Chorus in 1995. The next year he received the Chorister of the Year Award. In 1999 he made his debut as Beppe in I Pagliacci, for which he received the FNB Vita Opera Award for Most Promising Newcomer.[2] He became a full-time opera singer in 2000.[3] In 2005 a newspaper opera writer wrote that Louw's voice should be declared a "national treasure".[4] Frequently working with Opera Africa,[5] he has performed throughout South Africa and Namibia, and by 2014 he had appeared in over 30 full-scale opera productions.[6]

In September 2008, he made his international debut as Pollione in Norma at the Vichy Opera[7] in France, followed by Radames in Aïda at the Opéra de Dijon in France in December of the same year.[8] A review of the latter production praised Louw's "clean, strong, effortless style" and one of his duets as "a magical, high point of the evening", while judging that he needed to develop "a richer, more colourful vocal palette".[5]

In February 2011, Louw started a regular column about opera in The Citizen 's entertainment edition called CitiVibe.[3] He writes a column called OperaSmalls, aiming to educate the people of South Africa about opera. Louw also founded a non-profit organisation called Sempre Opera, which produces operas in South Africa.[9] The launch concerts for Sempre Opera took place in March 2012 in Pretoria and Johannesburg. In February 2013 his colleague, Linette van der Merwe, took over as head of the organisation.

Louw has produced a series of concerts called Aria! Opera for Everyone,[10] which ran in 2013 and 2014 at the Roodepoort Theatre in Johannesburg.[11] In 2014 he started the non-profit Big Wig Opera company, also based at the Roodeport.[2]

Opera repertoire

Oratorio repertoire

References
  1. Fiona Chisholm, "Stretching His Creative Wings." Cape Times (South Africa). Independent Print Ltd. 20 May 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from Questia Online Library
  2. "Bringing Opera to the People with Flair; Seasoned Tenor Excited about Bringing New Company to Town." The Star (South Africa). Independent Print Ltd. 10 November 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from HighBeam Research
  3. "SA tenor launches opera column", Media Update, 22 February 2011
  4. "Mysticism of Opera." The Star (South Africa). Independent Print Ltd. 11 November 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from HighBeam Research
  5. George Henry Hubert Lascelles Earl of Harewood (2008). Opera. Rolls House Publishing Company.
  6. "Messiah Comes to the Opera." Sunday Tribune (South Africa). Independent Print Ltd. 13 April 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from HighBeam Research
  7. Vichy Opera
  8. Dijon Opera
  9. "Opera tenor, Stéfan Louw to leave Sempre Opera", Media Update, 26 October 2012
  10. "Guide to the Good Life." The Sunday Independent (South Africa). Independent Print Ltd. 29 September 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from HighBeam Research
  11. "Revival Raises Curtain on New Era of Joys Roodepoort Theatre Re-Launch." The Star (South Africa). Independent Print Ltd. 12 February 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2015 from HighBeam Research
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