MOANA ARTS PROFILE - PENE PATI

"I'm an incredibly emotional singer and I think that's why opera works so well for me because not only do I get lost in the story of the character but I get lost in the story of my own journey in this whole thing" - Pene Pati

Winner of the 2010 Creative NZ Arts Pasifika 'Iosefa Enari Memorial Award' 

Pene Pati is one third of the smash-hit opera family group Sol3 Mio.

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.

He is currently based back in New Zealand after the Mozart opera Mitridate was cancelled due to Covid-19 on the eve of the opening night at the Berlin State Opera House.

He will be one of 4 New Zealand tutors at the 2021 New Zealand Opera School in Whanaganui starting early January.