Samoan-born, New Zealand tenor Pene Pati is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and a participant of the 2013 Merola Opera Program. Having been awarded an array of prizes in recent years, including the prestigious Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonygne Bel Canto Award in 2012 and the Dame Malvina Major Foundation New Zealand Aria award in 2009, Pati has most recently taken first place at the Montserrat Caballé International Aria Competition. In 2010, he was named as the Performing Arts Competition Society’s New Zealand Young Performer of the Year, and other awards include the inaugural Iosefa Enari Memorial scholarship from Creative New Zealand, the Seamus Casey Memorial Award and a string of accolades from the University of Auckland including the Pears-Britten and Marie D’Albini awards. He holds a master’s degree from the Wales International Academy of Voice. Pati, along with his brother Amitai Pati and their cousin Moses Mackay, comprise the highly successful New Zealand vocal trio SOL3 MIO, which mixes both classical and contemporary music.

Pene sang both Count Lerma and a Royal Herald in Verdi’s Don Carlo with San Francisco Opera, and in the 2016/17 San Francisco Opera season he will perform the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto and a Messenger in Verdi’s Aïda—all under the baton of Nicola Luisotti. He will also appear in San Francisco Opera’s world premiere production of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber.

 Gounod, Roméo et Juliette, “Ah! lève-toi, soleil!”

 Donizetti, L’elisir d’amore, “Una furtiva lagrima”

 Verdi, La traviata, “Lunge da lei”

 Gounod, Faust, “Salut! Demeure chaste et pure”

 Bizet, Carmen, “La fleur que tu m`avais jetée”