Biography

Tenor Pene Pati is revered for his “extraordinary gift for producing a golden thread of sound that can swell without strain to magnificence” (The Telegraph) and instantly recognisable by his “round and sunshine filled voice,” (Le Monde).  The first Samoan tenor to perform on Europe’s top stages, he shows an exceptional versatility in a repertoire encompassing a broad palette of roles from Mozart to Massenet, Donizetti, Gounod, Puccini and Verdi.

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An exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics, Pene Pati’s self-titled debut album of Italian and French arias, recorded with Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and Emmanuel Villaume, was released in 2022 to a glittering array of five-star reviews and earned him the Opus Klassik Newcomer of the Year Award and the Opera Magazine Readers’ Award at the International Opera Awards.

Recent seasons have seen Pati make numerous acclaimed debuts including in L’elisir d’amore (Nemorino) at Opéra National de Paris; Roméo et Juliette (Roméo) at San Francisco Opera, Opéra Comique and Opéra National de Bordeaux; La traviata (Alfredo) at Staatsoper Berlin and Dutch National Opera; Manon (des Grieux) at Gran Teatre del Liceu; Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo) at Teatro San Carlo di Napoli; Anna Bolena (Percy) at Wiener Staatsoper; Rigoletto (Duca) at Opéra de Rouen Normandie and Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Moïse et Pharaon (Amenophis) at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Last season Pati further broadened his repertoire with triumphant first performances as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées under Lorenzo Passerini, as Fernand in Donizetti’s La Favorite at Opéra National de Bordeaux under Paolo Olmi, as Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto at Staatsoper Berlin under Marc Minkowski and in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at Opéra Monte-Carlo under Kazuki Yamada.

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As part of his 2023/24 season, Pati makes an anticipated returns to Opéra national de Paris for Beatrice di Tenda under Mark Wigglesworth, and to Staatsoper Berlin in Rigoletto under Giedrė Šlekytė. He makes debuts at Staatsoper Hamburg in Manon and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in La Traviata, and on the other side of the Atlantic he stars in productions of La Bohème at Canadian Opera Company and L’elisir d’amore at San Francisco Opera.   His season also includes Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and concert performances of both La Damnation de Faust and Madama Butterfly  as part of a residency with CBSO under Kazuki Yamada.  In addition to sell-out solo concerts under Emmanuelle Villaume with both Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine and Prague Philharmonia, he gave a series of recitals with soprano Amina Edris and pianist Robert Mollicone in North America.

On the concert stage in previous seasons, Pati has performed with Hans Graf and Tonkünstler Orchester for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Mikko Franck and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 and, as part of Les Grandes Voix series, Pierre Bleuse and l’Orchestre National de France in Massenet’sThaïs. He opened San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Season as guest soloist in a celebratory concert under Music Director Eun Sun Kim, and his recent sell-out Gala concert at Prague’s Rudolfinum with Prague Philharmonia and Łukasz Borowicz was recorded and broadcast via Medici​.tv.

Pene Pati’s warm and winning personality has helped endear him to audiences around the world and contributed to great competition success in his formative years taking top prizes and audience choice awards at several competitions including Operalia and Neue Stimmen. He received his masters’ degree from the Wales International Academy of Voice. An active presence on social media, he can be found under @pene.pati on Instagram, TikTok Facebook, and @penepatitenor on X.