Hitting high notes

When Stéfan Louw won the FNB Vita Opera Award for Best Newcomer in 1995 it set him on a path as a top professional operatic tenor internationally.

WHAT GOT YOU INTO MUSIC?
My mother, a maths teacher, listened to classical music while marking homework and exam papers. My three siblings and I each played an instrument and participated in music contests and eisteddfods. I sang in high school and was one of the lead actors in our school’s theatre group.

When I reported for the compulsory year of national service, the South African National Defence Force transferred me to Kimberley, where I completed my basic training. But
the pressure of serving in one of the specialist units during a time of unrest (1992) was too much and I requested a transfer to the Army Band in Pretoria. There I played the tuba for the remainder of my national service.

After studying music, I had no idea what career path I wanted to follow, so I became a fault technician at Telkom. Around the same time, I joined the Pretoria State Theatre’s ad-hoc opera chorus. This is when I realised that I wanted to entertain people.

YOU TRAINED WITH A VOICE COACH?

I studied voice under Ina Snyman. Over the years, I trained with the best of the best South Africa has had in terms of operatic vocal coaches, including Nellie du Toit and Emma Renzi. Emma remains my vocal coach to this day.

What goals did you set out to achieve?
I’m not one for setting goals, but I was ambitious. Perhaps too much so. In 1999, I sang my first solo role in an opera production. In the months following my debut, the State Theatre’s opera management started negotiating with me to become a full-time soloist for the opera company. I resigned from my job as a fault technician at Telkom and weeks later received the shocking news that the government disbanded the country’s performing arts councils. The Pretoria State Theatre retrenched all its employees and before I could sing my first production as a full-time opera singer, I was jobless.

HOW DO PERFORMERS WORK IN A FINANCIALLY UNSTABLE CLIMATE?
In performing arts, as with many other creative careers, winning awards often puts you in the spotlight. I won the prestigious FNB Vita Opera Award for Best Newcomer for my debut as Beppe in I Pagliacci in 1999. The publicity following my win resulted in several concerts. I was a founding member of the Black Ties Ensemble in 2000 and gained valuable exposure to the world of performing arts under the leadership of renowned opera director, Neels Hansen. But I needed a full-time income, so I became a salesperson at Top CD and later at Incredible Connection.

The legendary conductor, Weiss Doubell, gave me an opportunity to perform my first leading role in 2003 at the Sasol Pro Musica Theatre in Roodepoort. I realised that it was counter-productive to work as a salesperson during the day and sing at night; the vocal cord is a muscle that needs to rest between performances. I resigned from my job at Incredible Connection and became a full-time professional opera singer.

I am also blessed to have my wife Marisa who is a brilliant artist manager, marketer, publicist, and stage producer with extensive experience as a classically trained contemporary singer. We met in 1996 when I joined the ad-hoc opera chorus. Marisa had sung soprano in the opera chorus since 1994.

HOW IS ONE CAST IN A LEAD OPERATIC ROLE?
In South Africa, the process for getting cast in an opera or classical concert
is vastly different from how it works abroad. Opera voices are divided into four main groups. Singing in the incorrect role can irreversibly damage the voice.

In the modern South African context, most of the lecturers at tertiary institutions are academics with no or limited stage experience. The same can be said for private opera tutors and producers. To the best of my knowledge, Cape Town Opera is the only functional opera company in South Africa whose management team has professional stage credentials.

As a result, many young singers enter the declining opera industry being cast in incorrect roles, thus damaging their voices, and shortening their careers, forcing them into teaching, which starts the vicious cycle of inexperienced tutors over again. In performing arts, the difference between knowledge and experience is vast.

In the modern European context, producers look for the right fit in terms of vocal suitability for the specific role (i.e. leggiero, lirico or spinto tenor), knowledge of the character, stagecraft and appearance. Radames in Aïda (which was my European debut role in 2008) is an army general with a voice like thunder. One cannot cast a skinny tenor with a ‘light’ voice in the role of Radames. On the other hand, Alfredo in La Traviata (a role that I sang more than 20 times) is a young lad who believes in romance. One cannot cast a middle-aged tenor built like a rugby player in the role. This is the reason I decided to retire Alfredo. I am too old and structurally large to ever sing the role again.

HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES TRAVELLING AND WORKING INTERNATIONALLY?
One of the highlights of my travels was meeting José van Dam, a world-famous bass-baritone from Belgium. I spent time at his home in Belgium because the lady I stayed with (a family friend of my wife) was a close friend of Maestro Van Dam. This was during my second audition tour of Europe in 2001.

The biggest highlight of each of my travels, however, is returning to home soil. I love South Africa, its people, its food, its open spaces, and its weather!