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Levy Sekgapane, born 16 December 1990 in Kroonstad, Free State in South Africa, is a South African lyric tenor. He rose to prominence after winning 1st prize in the Belvedere International Singing Competition for Young Opera Singers in 2015.

Early life and musical training
Levy is considered to be one of the leading Belcanto Tenors of our times, ‘Tenore di grazie‘ voice specializing in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. He rose to prominence after winning the 1st prize in the Belvedere international singing competition and Monserrat Caballe International singing competition in 2015. Levy considers himself to be a born-again Christian.

He was born out of a musical family, both his parents, grandparents, and siblings were also singers, singing in school choirs and church choirs in Kroonstad. He wanted to pursue a career in football (soccer), which he played until he was 15. He also joined the community and church choirs from an early age, the Fidentia South African Youth Choir under the baton of André van der Merwe among others, and received his first musical training in singing and piano at the Stellenberg High School in Cape Town with Marianna Marais and Elizabeth Wright.

He graduated with a double major BMus in Classical Piano and Voice at the South African College of Music (University of Cape Town) where he studied under Ms Hanna van Niekerk and Professor Kamal Khan. During his studies, Levy started following the Belcanto style of singing which led him to listen to his idols Juan Diego Florez and Lawrence Brownlee. During his school days, he worked with directors such as Professor Angelo Gobbato, Matthew Wild, and Christine Crouse, and took part in masterclasses and lectures by the South African tenor Kobie van Rensburg on Early Music/Baroque.

He has performed John Stainer’s Crucifixion and Mozart’s Requiem in the Cape Town City Hall with the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town, the tenor solo in Bach’s Johannes-Passion as a member of the International Choral Academy Lübeck under the baton of Helmuth Rilling, appeared as a soloist in concert with Bryn Terfel, conducted by Kamal Khan, as well as made an appearance during President Barack Obama’s visit to UCT in 2013, and sang a role in Anamchara – Songs of Friendship written for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with the Scottish Opera.

Career
His opera career started when he followed the South African tenor Kobie van Rensburg to Germany who directed a production of Rossini‘ La Cenerentola in Chemnitz, Levy made his professional debut as Don Ramiro. In Chemnitz Levy also sang small roles such as 4th Knappen in Wagner‘s Parsifal. The following season Levy and Kobie a new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Monchengladbach Krefeld Germany. Kobie became his mentor until he joined the Junges Ensemble ( Young Artist program) in Dresden Semperoper.

During his time as a member of Junges Ensemble in Semperoper Dresden, Levy won 1st prize in several important opera competitions, such The Belvedere International Singing Competition, Montserrat Caballe International Singing Competition and The SAMRO overseas scholarship competition in South Africa.

Levy also won the 1st prize Placido Domingo‘s ‘Operalia‘ World opera competition 2017 in Astana Opera House in Kazakhstan, which was conducted by Placido Domingo himself. Levy became the second South African opera singer to win all 3 major singing competitions following the South African star soprano Pretty Yende. The two have sung a concert together in Johannesburg South Africa.

Levy sings at the most important opera houses in the world ( eg. Paris Opera Bastille, Hamburg State Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Danish Opera House, Oslo National Opera, Teatro Massimo Palermo and Maggio Firenze, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Donizetti Opera Festival and Wexford Opera Festival. He has worked with opera conductors such as Riccardo Frizza, Giacomo Sagripanti, Rolf Beck, Gabriele Ferro and James Conlon. Levy made his debut at the Elbphilharmonie concert Hall in Hamburg celebrating the concert hall‘s first New Year‘s Concert ever in January 2018. He was joined by the Russian Star soprano Olga Peretyatko. More recently, Levy was named The Forbes 30 under 30 artists for the Year 2018.

Awards & Honours
The Forbes 30 under 30 artists 2018 Operalia 2017 1st Prize Belvedere International Singing Competition 2015 1st Prize Montserrat Caballe International Singing Competition 2015 SAMRO Overseas singing competition 2015