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Angelina Kalahari, lyric soprano opera singer, regularly performs at glamorous events and venues, both in the UK and around the world.
Her work received recognition, when on 1 March 2005, she was invited by The Queen to Buckingham Palace in celebration of her contribution to the music, culture and economy of the UK.
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I was born in Namibia and living as we did then, on a farm in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, we had no television and I remember my mother constantly playing records by Mario Lanza, Di Stephano, Gigli and other popular Italian opera tenors she liked. I simply loved the music and their beautiful voices, and was convinced I wanted to be a tenor when I grew up!
Aged five, I won my first local singing competition, but had to wait until we moved to Cape Town, five years later, before I could start studying with distinguished opera singer and singing teacher, Len Clarke.
My mother, who had reconciled herself to the fact that my only ambition was to sing, would take me to the opera in Cape Town once a month, where I would sit transfixed and often in tears until the final curtain.
Aged twenty, and after continuing to win numerous reputable competitions and eisteddfods, mainly in South Africa, I decided to stop singing altogether and instead, went to drama school. But prior to this change in direction, I participated as a principle in operas such as La Boheme, Amahl and The Night Visitors and was cast as the female lead in Lock Up Your Daughters, among other musicals.
I loved the drama classes, which opened up a whole new world to me and I excelled in my studies as performer and director at the Academy of Dramatic Art and the University of Cape Town, where I completed my BA Drama degree course with distinction and continued to complete also a psycho-drama course. After working as an actress at the recently re-opened People’s Space Theatre in Cape Town with people like Richard E Grand and Henry Goodman (before they were famous!), I had the opportunity to direct plays for the stage. I enjoyed directing more than acting, and although initially I received more work as an actress, eventually I succeeded in becoming rather successful as a theatre director and won acclaim for my work in South Africa, the UK and Hong Kong, where I also worked as a soprano and voice dynamics facilitator.
But during a karaoke evening with friends in Hong Kong, I realized that singing would always live in my soul and that I simply needed to sing again.
Today I continue to love sharing as many beautiful arias with as many people as I can and it had a lot to do with why I started busking, first in Covent Garden Piazza, with it’s wonderful atmosphere, and later, on London’s Underground, when it was made legal there in 2003. It was immediately obvious that spectators both on the Underground and at my concerts and recitals enjoy these age-old arias too - I guess that’s why I’m often honoured with standing ovations by my audiences! And it is always wonderfully exciting to experience how the voice by-passes everything and really touches people’s souls, in a way that perhaps no other instrument can - I guess it’s because we all possess a voice and therefore can relate to it especially.
I have been fortunate in being accepted to study privately with a number of opera luminaries, most recently with international singing teacher and celebrated Welsh tenor, Jeffrey Talbot, and also well-known West End vocal coach, Mary King.
In 2005 The Queen invited me to Buckingham Palace, alongside such stars as Eric Clapton, Charlotte Church, Jools Holland, Dr Evelyn Glennie, Bryn Terfel, and many other well-known celebrities. And because it was an A-list celebrity event, it led unexpectedly to huge media exposure for me, with many TV, Radio and Newspaper interviews - the invitation came as a result of my work as a member of The London Underground Licensed Busking Scheme, launched in 2003 and sponsored, at that time, by Carling. Busking on the Underground, I felt, was one of the best ways to share beautiful operatic arias and classical songs with as many people as possible.
I was also extremely fortunate to receive an invitation to sing a recital at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, as well as at a designer launch party for London Fashion Week.
But as a result of my many invitations to sing at events such as Luncheons, Dinners, Birthday Parties, Galas, Banquets, Fashion Shows, Product Launches, Restaurant and Building Openings, Weddings, and Corporate Functions, both in the UK and abroad, regretfully, I am now no longer able to continue busking.
Lately, invitations have taken me abroad more often and includes singing at SKF’s centenary celebrations, one of Sweden’s largest and most prestigious companies.
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