Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano) studied at the Royal College of Music and has previously appeared with Classical Opera as the title role in Mozart’s Zaide (for which she won the Patrick Fyffe-Dame Hilda Brackett Prize) and in an Associate Artists’ recital at Wigmore Hall.\r \r From 2007 until 2009 she was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House, where her roles have included Flowermaiden (Parsifal), Slave (Salome), Second Innocent (The Minotaur), Tebaldo (Don Carlos), Sandman (Hänsel und Gretel) and Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas). Further operatic appearances include Mařenka (The Bartered Bride) with Cape Town Opera Studio, and Vendulka (Smetana’s Hubička) for Wexford Festival Opera.\r \r In 2011 she began a three-year contract with Oper Stuttgart, where her roles include Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni).