Lulama Taifasi
Lulama Taifasi is a 29 year old (27/12/1993) tenor from the Eastern Cape whose talent was recognized by Maestro Kamal Khan, previous head of the UCT Opera School, SA College of Music. Lulama attended classes with Hanna and Albie van Schalkwyk, Grant McLachlan and Italian classes at the Italian School Dante Alighieri in Cape Town. Apart from concerts at the Italian Consulate in Cape Town and with the Musicumbrella Studio, he performed in concerts in Montagu and Swellendam.
He made his opera debut during the SU Toyota Woordfees in the role of Gastone in Verdi’s La Traviata with Mamre Opera performing in Darling (2019) and the Endler Hall in Stellenbosch (2020). He performed with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Brandon Phillips at Artscape as part of a concert broadcast on television (2020) and took part in the 50th Youth Classical Music Concert in Artscape in 2021.
In April 2021 he obtained his Level 4 Diploma in Music Performance (Singing) from Trinity College in London with distinction. He joined the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in November 2021 where he is in the Young Artists Programme under Mastro Gianni Tangucci. In April 2022 Lulama sang the role of Benvolio in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet with Juan Diego Florez as Romeo under the direction of Maestro Henrik Nánási at Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino/Opera di Firenze. In May 2022 he sang the role of Fante del Consiglio de’ Dieci in Verdi’s I due Foscari under the direction of Maestro Carlo Rizzi with Placido Domingo in the leading role.
In July 2022, Lulama reached the finals of the “Riccardo Zandonai Competition” in Italy and won the Opera Sāo Paulo Prize. He was the finalist in the “XII Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici” in Pienza. In 2023, he then won a second prize in the “Concorso Giulio Neri Internazionale Lirico”, then recently was a finalist in “Concorso Lirico Città d’Alcamo” in Sicily and he won Two special prizes: “Lyons Club Alcamo” and “Mettiamoci all’Opera”.
He has done numerous Masterclasses with teachers like, Eva Mei, Sara Mingardo, Bruno De Simone, Giulio Zappa and Matteo Pais and he debuted The role of Manfredo in I Vespri Siciliani at Teatro Regio in Torino (06/07/23).
He is part of the Ensemble of the Theater Basel for the Season 2023/2024 where he takes part to several productions as Carmen, Traviata, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Mignon, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Rigoletto..
His recent and future engagements include Oronte in Alcina at Theater Freiburg.