Interview, Pumeza Matshikiza - Voice of Hope

The young South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza hit the headlines recently when she sang Hamish Henderson's 'Freedom Come All Ye' at the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow - and the sentiments of the anthem have particular resonance for her own story, growing up in the townships of Cape Town during the last days of apartheid. Having discovered her voice through singing in church choirs, she initially studied at the University of Cape Town, and was eventually persuaded to audition for the Royal College of Music in London where she won a scholarship which kickstarted a stellar operatic career in Europe.

I first came across Pumeza around five years ago, when she was singing on the Young Artists Programme at Covent Garden: she made a deliciously impish impact as one of the conjoined-twin Witches in Wayne McGregor's production of Dido and Aeneas, and was also a delightful, perky Tebaldo in Nicholas Hytner's Don Carlo in the same season. More recently, I enjoyed her luminous, regal Dido at the Bristol Proms, and it was a great pleasure to catch up with her yesterday over the phone for a quick chat about her new disc on Decca Classics, which mixes traditional songs from the townships with well-known operatic arias. Here's what she had to say…

Like many of your recital programmes, your new album mixes standard operatic arias with songs from your native Cape Town - how much do you have to change your vocal technique or general approach to performance when slipping between the styles? >It's a very different way of singing altogether - for opera, you're using your whole voice...your full body. But for the South African songs it's more like speaking - halfway between speaking and crooning, really.

How did you set about choosing the repertoire for your disc? Are there any common themes between the operatic arias and the traditional songs? >Definitely a common style - my producers and I deliberately chose arias which are soft in style, because most of the African songs we wanted are quite smooth, and that in turn helps to smooth the join between two kinds of music. The only exceptions are The Click Song and Pata Pata, which are more lively!

Do any of the pieces have a special role in your own story, either in terms of your childhood in South Africa or your later development as a singer? >Well, Mozart and Puccini are my great loves - Liù I've not sung, but Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Mimì (La bohème) are both roles I've done in Stuttgart [where she's been an ensemble member at the State Opera since autumn 2011].

Tell us a little about Xhosa - is this your mother-tongue, and what is it like to sing in? >Yes, it is indeed my mother-tongue - but what was a real challenge was singing in Xhosa with full orchestra! Singers who've recorded this music before, like Miriam Makeba, have done it with a band, which allows a lot more rhythmic freedom and room for improvisation; I'd always sung them with piano, and when we came to record with this solid orchestral sound I found myself having to really think hard about phrasing the music!

Of the several living South African composers whose works appear on the disc, do you have a personal connection with any, and how involved with the recording project where they? >Well, Kevin Volans [the composer of 'Umzi Watsha (The House is Burning)')] was the person who literally got me my ticket to London: I'd premiered a work of his [The Confessions of Zeno] in 2001, and we stayed in touch about my future plans...When I decided I needed to be where all the opera was happening, he paid for me to fly over and audition here, and he also attended the recording-sessions for the album.

Other recent recordings from Pumeza Matshikiza