Angelo Gobbato
GOBBATO, Angelo (1943- ) is an Italian-born South African bass-baritone opera singer and stage director.
Contents
Biography
Angelo Gobbato emigrated from Italy with his parents in 1950.
Education
He studied the piano and singing privately while reading science at the University of Cape Town.
Career
Gobbato's association with CAPAB Opera began in 1965 when he made his debut in The Bartered Bride. He was resident producer at the Nico Malan Opera House in Cape Town (1976-81). Angelo Gobbato was appointed Director of CAPAB Opera in January 1989, and continued as Director until 1999 when CAPAB Opera closed.
From the mid-1980s he openly advocated the potential of black opera singers in Cape Town’s townships. Together with the then chorus master Vetta Wise and composer Michael Williams, he developed CAPAB’s choral programmes through which they gained access to black singers from 1988 onwards. His vision for opera in Cape Town included making opera accessible for people living in the townships.
In 1995, he initiated CAPAB's first Opera Festival.
He was director of the UCT Opera School (1982-88).
Gobbato retired from Cape Town Opera in 2005, and from the UCT Opera School in 2009.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
As actor/singer
He made his debut as Kecal in The Bartered Bride in Cape Town in 1965. He is best known for buffo roles such as Dr Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Don Pasquale and Figaro.
Other roles include:
1968: Moralès in Carmen (CAPAB), Sir Tristam Mickleford in Martha (CAPAB)
1971: Papageno in Die Towerfluit (CAPAB Opera)
1972: Sigismund in White Horse Inn (CAPAB)
1978: He appeared in The Bear and Three's Company (UCT Opera School).
2016: Alcindoro in La Bohème in District Six (Suidoosterfees)
As director/producer
He has directed - mainly from the Italian repertory - for all the arts councils in South Africa.
Productions as director/producer include:
1973: Madama Butterfly for NAPAC Opera
1974: Die Fledermaus for CAPAB Opera
1975: Die Fledermaus for CAPAB Opera
1980: South Pacific for CAPAB Music
1983: The Beggar's Opera for UCT Opera School and UCT Drama Department
1985: Xerxes for UCT Opera School
1989: Die Lustige Witwe for CAPAB Opera
2000: Amarantha for Cape Town Opera and UCT Opera School
2004: Fidelio on Robben Island for Cape Town Opera
Awards
He was awarded the first Nederburg Prize for opera in 1971 for his portrayal of "Papageno".
Sources
SA Opera Singers [1]
SA Who's Who [2]
Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow[3]. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.[4]
Barrow, Brian & Williams-Short, Yvonne (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987.
Hilde Roos. 2010. 'Opera Production in the Western Cape: Strategies in Search of Indigenisation'. Unpublished PhD thesis. Stellenbosch University.
J.M. Pistorius. 'A Modern-Day Florestan: Fidelio on Robben Island and South Africa’s Early Democratic Project'. Twentieth-Century Music. 2023; 20(1): 107-125.
