Stéfan Louw is recognised as the leading Lyric tenor in South Africa and has been performing opera all over the world since 1999. The Sunday Times newspaper wrote of his Rodolfo (2005) that his voice should be declared a national treasure.
His opera career started off in 1995 as a member of the Pretoria State Theatre Ad-hoc Opera Chorus and only a year after joining the chorus, received the Chorister of the Year Award. During the five years he was a member of the Opera Chorus he sang in more than 20 productions.
In 1999 Stéfan made his debut as Beppe in I Pagliacci, for which he received the prestigious FNB Vita Opera Award for Most Promising Newcomer.
Since then Stéfan Louw made a living singing opera and his repertoire includes roles such as Alfredo in La Traviata, Barinkay in Der Zigeunerbaron, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Duncan in Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, The Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Tonio in La Fille du Regiment, Pang in Turandot, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Radames in Aïda andRodolfo in La Boheme.
Stéfan has also performed the tenor solo roles of Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Handel's Messiah, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as well as Dvorak's Mass in D-major at numerous occasions throughout South Africa and Namibia.
In September 2008 he made his international debut as Pollione in Norma at the Vichy Opera in France, followed by Radames in Aïda at the Dijon Opera in France in December of the same year.
He was most recently heard as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Cape Town Opera in May 2009. Norman McFarlane of the Kunste Bolander wrote that Stéfan invested himself in the role in such a way that his unlikeable character was the talk on more than one occasion during the short intermission. He (McFarlane) believes that this is an affirmation of the skill with which Louw acquits himself of the role.
Audiences in Gauteng can look forward to hearing him as Rodolfo for an Opera Africa production of La Boheme early in 2010.
NOTABLE VENUES
Civic Theatre, Johannesburg
State Theatre, Pretoria
Artscape Theatre, Cape Town
San du Plessis Theatre, Bloemfontein
Playhouse Theatre, Durban
Montecasino Piazza, Johannesburg
Johannesburg City Hall
Pretoria City Hall
