Jonathan Lemalu

Bass-baritone Jonathan Fa'afetai Lemalu is touted as the most significant singer to come from New Zealand since Kiri Te Kanawa. Born to Samoan parents, he began singing as a boy chorister at age nine, and studied both music and law at the University of Otago, from which he graduated in 1999. The previous year he had won the Mobil Song Quest and made his professional opera debut as Colline in La bohème at what was then called the National Opera of Wellington (now NBR New Zealand Opera). He focused more strongly on music after receiving his law degree, studying under Vera Rozsa ...