The South African tenor Katleho Mokhoabane, born in 1996, has been a member of the ensemble at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden since the 2024-25 season, where sings roles such as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Jaquino in Fidelio and Conte Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. At the turn of the year 2024/25, he sang the tenor part in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano under Emmanuel Tjeknavorian. He made his debut as Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte this season at the Staatstheater Kassel.
From 2022-2024 he was a member of the Vienna State Operas opera studio. He made his stage debut there as Kunz Vogelgesang in Keith Warner’s production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and took part in the new productions of Strauss’ Salome as the 4th Jew, as well as in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria as L’humana fragilita and Pisandro. In 2023/24, he appeared on stage as the 1st Priest in Die Zauberflöte, as Joe in La fanciulla del West, as the song seller in Il tabarro and as the 1st Knight of the Grail in Parsifal, among others.
Katleho made his debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and appeared during the summer season as the tenor soloist in the Mozart Requiem at the Bregenz Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival as part of the Bochabela String Orchestra tour.
In the 2021-2022 season, Katleho appeared in several productions both as a soloist and as a chorus member, including at the Bonn Opera in Verdi’s Don Carlo as Count von Lerma/a Royal Herald and at the Koblenz Theatre as a solo inmate in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.
Katleho completed his bachelors degree at the Tshwane University of technology in 2018, where he was heard in two Mozart roles: Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte and Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro. Shortly afterwards, he took part in the Johannesburg International Mozart Festivals masterclass series with Professor Josef Protschka, where he was selected as a scholarship holder for postgraduate studies. Katleho completed his masters degree (2019-2022) at the HFMT Cologne under the direction of Professor Brigitte Lindner and privately with Professor Josef Protschka. During his studies in Cologne, Katleho was heard as Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte in a university production as a guest performance at Aachen Theatre and as Alfred in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. He has given concerts in the North Rhine-Westphalia region and has also taken part in several international singing competitions, including the CLIP in Portofino Italy (3rd prize), the Debut Singing Competition (2nd prize) and the Cologne International Music Competition (1st prize).
Katleho began singing very early as a soprano in his local church choir, which was conducted by his father, and later switched to tenor in school choirs.
02/2025
