** Operatic Roles

 

Countess in Le Nozze Di Figaro – Mozart

Meg in Falstaff, Verdi

Mimi in La Boheme, Puccini

Liu in Turandot, Puccini

Violetta in La Traviata, Verdi

Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera, Verdi

Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, B. Britten

Crazed Woman in Erwartung by Schonberg

Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus by Johan Strauss

She is the only soprano to have sung

KLUTAIMNESTRA, Cromwell Everson’s

Afrikaans Opera

 

 

 

A  BIOGRAPHY

** La Forza Del Destino  -  Lorraine explains...

 

“In a moment my world changed.  The world famous “Antonios Spanish Dance Company” visited South Africa.  After the auditions, I accepted a contract for ten performances as soloist in Manuel De Falla’s “Three Cornered Hat”.  Suddenly my burning ambition to be an opera singer was no longer a dream but a reality!  I embraced the glory, the agony, the excitement and disappointment of a career in the opera arena.  I accepted a one year post graduate study course at the UCLA in California and performed widely in Los Angeles.  I travelled from New York to London aboard the luxurious SS France and I was appointed as guest artist for the journey.”

 Pianoforte, the mainstay of musical education in our day:

 

Lorraine du Toit’s musical career began with piano lessons at the age of seven.  At the age of sixteen, she had completed all eight UNISA grade examinations with distinction and had been awarded a bursary by UNISA.

 

** University of Cape Town

She was awarded a scholarship at the University of Cape Town where she majored in Piano and Singing, and attained distinctions in both subjects.  Her education was rounded in subjects such as Harmony, Counterpoint, Composition, Acoustics and Choral training, taught by such illustrious SA musicians as Arnold Van Wyk, Hubert Du Plessis, Gunther Pulvermacher, Eric Chisholm, Adelheid Armhold and Harold Rubens

 

 

** The Future

 

Ever growing, the Academy has the intention to present even bigger concerts and perhaps even a major show to tour the country with a small ensemble or an entire cast, but always to help develop the wealth of talent the country has to offer.

 

** The Opera School

 

On her return to South Africa, Lorraine was appointed as lecturer at the Opera School of the Pretoria     Technikon, a position she held until her retirement in 2001. 

** Oratorio

 

Messiah : Handel

Elijah : Mendelssohn

Lauda Sion : Mendelssohn

Lobgesang : Mendelssohn

Gloria : Vivaldi

Creation : Haydn

Lorraine Du Toit Havemann

**The Early Years

 

She began her teaching career as Choir Mistress and piano teacher at Westerford High School and Wynberg Girls High.  At this time she also started out as concert pianist playing whatever venues were available.  It was singing, however, and not piano, that became her passion and ultimate destiny.