Joseph Gabriels

Joseph Gabriels (1937-1995) was an opera singer.

Biography

Joseph Gabriels was born in Cape Town in 1937. He started singing with the Klopse and the Malay Choirs. In 1957 Joseph Manca, who regularly adjudicated Klopse competitions, heard him and asked him to join the EOAN Group. Joseph Manca trained him, helped him to memorise his parts, since he could not read music.

In 1967, he was offered a bursary by the Schneier family of Johannesburg to go and study in Milan. Two years later, he won a prestigious singing competition in Busseto, the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi. From 1969 onwards, he was invited to sing in some of the most renowned opera houses in the world: La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he made his debut on 5 February 1971 as Canio in I Pagliacci (he was the first South African to perform there), the opera houses of Dusseldorf and Duisburg. He later appeared with the English National Opera in the full version of Verdi's Don Carlos.

He suffered a heart attack in 1984, which put an end to his career.

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

In 1958 Joseph Gabriels appeared in a production of Rigoletto. His Italian-style tenor became a favourite with the audiences and he appeared in most operas staged by the EOAN Group at the beginning of the 1960s. He also coached the Young Stars, an important carnival troupe of the early 1960s.

Sources

Denis-Constant Martin. 2013. Sounding the Cape Music, Identity and Politics in South Africa. African Minds.

https://www.historicaltenors.net/english/gabriels.html

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