South African baritone Luthando Qave is currently based in Scandinavia. In the fall of 2023, he will perform the role of Mamoud in John Adams’ opera The Death of Klinghoffer at Norrlandsoperan.
At the Göteborg Opera we have seen Qave as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Marcello in La Bohème and Silvio in Pagliacci.
In 2022, Qave made two last-minute jump-in appearances as Marcello at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. In 2021, he returned to the Danish Royal Opera to perform the roles of Valentin in Gounod’s Faust and Schaunard in La Bohème, and also made his debut performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. In 2022, Qave performed as Marcello in Glyndebourne Opera Festival’s critically acclaimed production of La Bohéme – an opera that he has performed close to 100 times in numerous venues around the world, including at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Qave has also sung Conte in Le nozze di Figaro, Fermer in Jenůfa at The Royal Swedish Opera, he has performed as Herald in Otello, Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia, a Flemish Deputy in Don Carlo, and Silvio in Pagliacci at the Finnish National Opera.
Qave has also performed in Purcell’s The Indian Queen at the Bolshoi Theatre and at the ENO (English National Opera), as the Mandarin in Turandot at the Dalhalla Opera Festival, El Dancaïro in Carmen, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, and Leporello in Don Giovanni, again at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. He has also sung the role of Guglielmo with the Drottningholm Court Theatre in Sweden. The Peter Sellars production of The Indian Queen in which Qave appeared was also presented in Perm, Russia and at Teatro Real in Madrid.
Luthando is a graduate of The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, having previously studied at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. He was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition and a finalist in the 2010 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition. He was a member of Cape Town Opera where he played Marco in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors. In 2006, he made his European debut on tour with Cape Town Opera in Sweden as Jake in Porgy and Bess.
In 2011/2012, Qave made his Met debut singing Yamadori in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and sang Guglielmo in the Met and Juilliard School’s joint production of Così fan tutte.
In New York, Luthando has worked with renowned artists including James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Placido Domingo, Renata Scotto, Sir Thomas Allen, Ramon Vargas and Gerald Finley.