May Abrahamse

May Abrahamse (1930-2025) is an opera singer.

Biography

Originally from District Six, May Abrahamse attended Zonnebloem Girls Primary School and Zonnebloem Secondary School until Grade 9, when she left to work as a domestic worker in the same house where her mother worked as a cook. A few months later, she bumped into a friend who encouraged her to do more with her life, and she applied at the Cape Times newspaper, in the printing section, where she worked for years.

In 1956, Abrahamse married John Rushin, but continued to perform under her maiden name. Abrahamse and Rushin had two daughters. Between 1968 and 1972, she and her family relocated to Durban, but she returned to Cape Town occasionally to perform, notably in 1971 when she sang Nedda in Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci.

Abrahamse died in Belgravia at the age of 94, a day shy of her 95th birthday, on 5 May 2025.

Training

Abrahamse’s interest in singing began at a young age, when her access to formal training was limited. She began vocal studies with Billie Jones, a theatre producer, and later with Beatrice Gibson, neither of whom was formally recognized as a singing instructor. Later in life, she received vocal coaching from Olga Magnoni, an established opera singer, but was not able to access the conservatoire education available to white South Africans.

Career

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

At the age of 14 years old she joined the EOAN Group. When she was a member of the EOAN Group's Junior Choir in her early teens, Joseph Manca identified her and two other singers as worthy candidates for inclusion in the Adult Choir. Before long she was given solo parts in choral works performed by the group under Manca's baton. It seemed a natural progression for someone of Abrahamse's talent to go from choral singing to musical comedy to opera, and not surprisingly she found herself in the lead of all the EOAN Group productions from the mid-1950s.

At the age of 19, in 1949, Abrahamse debuted as a soprano soloist in the EOAN Group's Cape Town production of the operetta A Slave in Araby, composed by Alfred J Silver. This marked the beginning of her association with the EOAN Group, with whom she would perform for decades. She participated as a soloist in the productions The Maid of the Mountains, Hong Kong, and The Gipsy Princess, performed annually at Cape Town City Hall under the direction of Joseph Manca.

In 1956, she was first cast as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata, a role she would perform multiple times until the Eoan Group's final production of the opera in 1975. This was the first Italian opera performed in its original language by an all-Coloured cast. Violetta became one of Abrahamse's signature roles, and her portrayal received critical acclaim.

Other roles Abrahamse performed with the EOAN Group include Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Butterfly in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.Beyond opera her work included performances of Verdi's Requiem and Handel's Messiah, as well as roles in musical theatre, including Carmen Jones, an adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen.

In 1979, Abrahamse and Jephtas gave a recital at the Nico Malan Theatre in Cape Town, a venue that had only recently opened its doors to performers and audiences of all races. The recital was praised and marked an important moment in South African classical music. It was not until the 1987 and 1988 seasons, aged 57, that Abrahamse was given the opportunity to sing professionally alongside white singers, when she accepted a two-year contract as a chorus member with the Performing Arts Council of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein.

Gordon Jephtas, an opera coach and conductor, shared a long-lasting professional relationship with Abrahamse. Jephtas recognized Abrahamse's potential early in her career, and their collaboration spanned nearly three decades, often maintained through letters and tape recordings, as Jephtas spent much of his career abroad. He coached her on pronunciation, character interpretation, and musical nuances.

Other productions include:

Violetta in La Traviata (1956, EOAN Group), Rose-Marie (1958, EOAN Group), La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, We'll Gather Lilacs (1978), Annina in La Traviata (2004, Cape Town Opera).

She was vocal coach for the EOAN Group and taught singing at the Joseph Stone in Athlone for many years, and loved putting on concerts where she showcased her adult students.

Awards

In 2005, May Abrahamse received a gold Molteno medal from the Tricentenary Foundation for her life contribution to arts and culture, and in 2007, May Abrahamse was awarded a Kanna from the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival for her life contribution to arts and culture. She was also honoured with the KykNET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.