Tessa Smith, soprano

Tessa Smith graduated from the University of Pretoria in 1998 with a BCom Accounting Sciences. Thereafter she studied singing with Professor George van der Spuy in Somerset West. She became a member of the DEMINDEX / ARTSCAPE Opera Studio in 2001, where she studied under the tutelage of Professor Angelo Gobbato and Ean Smit. She obtained the UNISA Performer’s Licentiate in Voice cum laude in 2002 and was invited to participate in the final rounds of the Neue Stimmen vocal competition in Germany in 2003. Roles performed include Leïla in Bizet’s Pearl Fishers, Sacerdotessa in Aïda, Musetta in La Bohème, a daughter in Fiddler on the Roof and the Shepherd Boy in Tosca. Roles understudied include Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte. Tessa has also performed the Mozart Requiem and has been a soloist for the Cape Town Aqua Opera. 

In 2008 Tessa obtained her LLB degree cum laude from the University of Pretoria. She is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa and works in forensics and white collar crime.