Durban’s lingering humidity lasting into Easter is a blessing for solo tenor Thabiso Masemene who is performing in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah at the Playhouse tomorrow afternoon.
Inland in Gauteng, where he comes from, one has to constantly drink water to treat a dry throat, he told The Independent on Saturday.
“Humidity gets rid of that. You only need to drink water because it’s hot. But humidity helps the sinuses open up.”
Thailand takes the cake when it comes to moist air, says Masemene, who visited the country with Phantom of the Opera, playing the part of Piangi on a tour that also took him to the Philippines, China, South Korea and Singapore.
His Durban venture is a first for him performing in a production of the Messiah. It will also be the first time he has played a role in professional theatre in the city.
“I’ve done corporate theatre but not full-scale opera.”
The Messiah will feature the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Naum Rousine. Ahead of travelling to this humid part of the world, the Playhouse sponsored singing lessons for him in Gauteng with opera legend Emma Renzi.
“The greatest singers of our time – like Pavarotti – took constant singing lessons, once a week, for ‘maintenance’,” Masemene says. “It helps to go the extra mile and I had a great time. She really improved my singing.”
Masemene, who was raised in Tembisa, once wanted to become a chartered accountant and had everything lined up for going in that direction with a job offer at a bank. However, he took the advice of conductor Thami Zungu that if you follow your passion, money will follow you and if you follow money, you will keep chasing it until you die. Masemene had received similar advice from the adjudicator of a solo opera singing competition he won during his school days, to study music.
“I chose to do so and I have never looked back,” he says.
Masemene started his formal voice training in 2004 with Pierre du Toit at the Tshwane University of Technology. He has just finished playing the role of Tata in a modern opera, Cula...Out of Time, produced by Gauteng Opera.
He has also been part of the Gaabo-motho Tenors; Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte and Story Teller in Ntsikana by Henning Wagner.
Booking for The Messiah is open at Computicket outlets nationwide, and tickets can also be obtained from the Playhouse box office on 031 369 9540/9596 for R80 and R100.
The Independent on Saturday