Pene Pati

Darren Pene Pati (born 1987) is a Samoan-born New Zealand tenor opera singer, specialising in lyrical repertoire and bel canto.

He has been singing on international stages since 2017 and has had a successful career, with some calling him one of the most prominent young opera artists. His tone is often compared to that of Luciano Pavarotti and his style in French opera as in Italian bel canto is appreciated.

He recorded a first CD as a soloist, praised by numerous critics upon its release in March 2022.

Sole mio, the group
Pene Pati's family emigrated to Māngere, a suburb of Auckland, in 1989 where he spent his childhood and youth, singing with his family, then in a choir linked to the rugby team to which he belonged at college. He enjoyed singing despite not knowing much about opera composers, and his teacher encouraged him to persevere in the field.

In 2011, he was invited by tenor Dennis O'Neill to study in Cardiff, UK, to acquire good bel canto technique. There he also met the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, whose foundation supported his training as a young tenor.

His career then went through several stages, first in New Zealand, where he lived for a long time in South Auckland. There, he performed with his brother Amitai, also a tenor, and a baritone cousin, Moses Mackay, as part of the trio Sol3 Mio (styled SOLΞ MIO), all three of Samoan origin. The band's self-title debut album featured a lyrical version of many popular and traditional songs, which also included famous opera arias such as "Nessun dorma" from Turandot. The album was the best-selling recording in New Zealand in 2014 and 2015, and the second in 2016, also winning first prize at the annual New Zealand Music Awards twice in a row.

The band released their second album, On Another Note, on 9 October 2015 on Universal Music Group. The album debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart.

The beginnings of an international career
After winning several awards, including the second prize and the audience prize at Plácido Domingo's Operalia competition in 2015, the second prize at the Neue Stimmen competition, and the Bel Canto prize Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge as well as the Montserrat Caballé Prize in Spain, Pati tackled his first solo roles on the opera stage. He received a scholarship from the San Francisco Opera in 2013 and decided, after the Sol3 Mio experience, to finally approach opera. In 2017, he played the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and critics immediately praised his performance, pointing out that he was still a young student of San Francisco Opera's Adler Program and already a revelation in the role.

He had another success with his role as Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, less than two years later, replacing the originally planned tenor Bryan Hymel. It was in the role of Percy in Anna Bolena that Pati made his debut in 2018 on European stages, at the Opéra de Bordeaux where he returned as Roméo in 2020 alongside Nadine Sierra. In Paris, his double debut was in 2021, as Nemorino in the Elisir d'amore at the Paris Opera, then, while he had sung Alfredo in La traviata in Amsterdam the day before, he replaced Jean-François Borras at the Opéra-Comique as Roméo. Now in high demand for lyric tenor roles, Pati also made his debut in the first quarter of 2022 successively at the Vienna State Opera as Percy in Anna Bolena, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, as Nicias in Thaïs at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. During the summer, despite the fact that he contracted COVID on the eve of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, he performed as Amenophis in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon,, directed by Tobias Kratzer.

At the start of the 2022 school year, he sang the Duke of Mantua again in Rigoletto at the Rouen Opera House in September, then, for the first time, Faust in the La damnation de Faust at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in November on the occasion of Monaco's National Day and on the occasion of a tribute to Raoul Gunsbourg. In December he sang the title role in Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto at the Berlin State Opera conducted by Marc Minkowski.

In March 2023, at the Bordeaux Opera, he took on the role of Ferdinand in Donizetti's La Favorite, where he gave one of his first piano recitals in France in 2020, and reprised the role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in June 2023. In an interview with the online magazine Concert Classic, Pati underlined his desire to embody a "less smooth" Rodolfo, adding: "I would like to emphasise that he is an artist, a poet, which is not trivial, and that he does not fall in love with Mimi, on a whim".

Pati makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in January 2025, performing as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto.

Personal life
Pati married the soprano Amina Edris, with whom he often performs on stage, notably in L'elisir d'amore or Roméo et Juliette and with whom he gave a gala recital in Prague on 31 January 2023, broadcast by Mezzo TV.

Awards
Pati won the Opera magazine Readers 2022 Award, the only public vote result among the International Opera Awards, the Audience Prize and Second Prize at Operalia in 2015, Second Prize at Neue Stimmen in 2015.