Pene Pati, 34, used to be a rugby player and taught himself how to sing the opera on YouTube. Today he is the new star among the tenors.
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Reinhard J Brembeck
This high C, sung lightly and passionately, doesn’t want to stop. The listener still has the sound in his ears hours after he has heard the grandiose CD, he may not be able to get rid of it for the rest of his life. The one singing that eighth, final, defiant high C in Gioachino Rossini’s anti-tyrant Guillaume Tell is Pene Pati. He comes from Samoa, came to New Zealand early on, will be 35 this year and is now the shooting star among the high- and high-pitched tenors.