Pene Pati rises from doubted Samoan singer to one of Opera’s most-watched new stars

By RONALD BLUM

NEW YORK (AP) — Pene Pati was cautioned as a 20-year-old not to pursue a singing career, an unusual occupation for a Samoan who grew up in New Zealand

“Lots of people want to become a singer because they want the lifestyle,” the tenor recalled. “Whereas for me, I did it out of spite, to be honest. It was somebody who said: `Don’t be angry if you don’t cut it as an opera singer because as a Polynesian, there are not many opera singers.’ And that part of me thought: How do I prove him wrong?”

Now 38 and booked by top houses into 2030, Pati laughed as he recalled vocal coach Robert Wiremu’s wariness.

“He didn’t say I wasn’t a good singer,” Pati explained. “He just said: `Don’t be afraid if you don’t make it.’”

Part of opera’s young generation

Pati is among the emerging tenors in a group with Xabier Anduaga, SeokJong Baek, Freddie De Tommaso, Ismael Jordi and Jonathan Tetelman.

He impressed last month in his first staged performances of Massenet’s “Werther” at Paris’ Opéra Comique, a 1,200-capacity jewel box that turned down the composer’s 1887 offer to stage the premiere.

“I wanted people who had never sung it before,” conductor Raphaël Pichon said.

Pati’s biggest break was at the Comique on Dec. 13, 2021, when he replaced Jean-François Borras for the opening of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” with just a few hours notice. He had sung Alfredo in Verdi’s “La Traviata” the previous day in Amsterdam and quickly took a train.

“It was the springboard for Europe and for America,” Pati said.

His Paris castmates timed his held high C at 19 seconds, according to mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet.

“The moment he set a foot on stage, it became electric,” said Charvet, who sang her first staged Charlotte with Pati last month. “When he’s around, it’s like the sun is here suddenly.”

Ted Huffman, the director, took advantage of the intimate house and placed Pati near the lip of the stage, where viewers could focus on his facial expressions.

“He’s such a warm person in real life and that openness, it translates to something very honest with the audience,” Huffman said. “Without planning this we went down a quite extreme path with the character in the way he went towards these inward explosions rather than the outward ones.”

Left Samoa as a young child

Born in Samoa to parents who are both registered nurses, Pati moved to New Zealand with his family when he was between 1 and 2.

“That also gave me the motivation to leave New Zealand because I thought if they could do it, then now I have to do it,” he said.

Pati sang in an Auckland choir and planned on a computer science career. He was encouraged to pursue piano and singing by Terence Maskell, his choir and high school music director.

Pati continued studies at The University of Auckland, won a music competition in Australia and at the behest of tenor Dennis O’ Neill moved to Cardiff in 2011 to study at the Wales International Academy of Voice. Around the same time, Pati formed the trio Sol3 Mio with his brother, tenor Amitai Pati, and cousin, baritone Moses Mackay.

Pati entered the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program in 2013. During auditions for the program in New Zealand, he met soprano Amina Edris, his future wife and occasional recital partner. His first words to her were: “You’re the only one that’s better than me.”

He placed second among men in the 2015 Operalia competition and after at first turning down the opportunity, advanced to the San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellows program in 2016 along Edris. The following year he made his San Francisco Opera debut as the Duke in Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”

He sang his first European opera performance at Bordeaux, France, in 2018, and his profile rose when he replaced Brian Hymel for San Francisco’s opening-night performance of “Roméo” in September 2019. He’s since debuted at the Paris Opera (2021), the Vienna State Opera (2022), London’s Royal Opera (2024) and New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera (both 2025).

Pati, who now lives in Paris, returns to the Met for Puccini’s “La Bohème” next season.

“He’s a tenor with enormous potential,” Met general manager Peter Gelb said.

Cautious in role decisions

Pati sings Edgardo in Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” at Toulouse, France, starting Feb. 20, a role he repeats for his debut at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala this summer. He performs the title role in Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” for his Zurich Opera debut in late April and returns home to New Zealand in August for Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s “Manon.”

“I don’t want to jump the gun,” he said. “Once you go to all the heavier stuff it’s hard to come back.”

After the final “Werther” performance, Pati invited the children’s chorus to his dressing room and gave them cake. Between performances at the New York’s Park Avenue Armory last September, he held a workshop, singing and answering questions for 14-to-18-year-old vocal students from Talent Unlimited High School.

“The most important thing about Pene for me is just humanity,” Pichon said. “It’s a man who wants to share, wants to communicate his passion, his music. It’s properly unique, how solar, how luminous is this man.”

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