Lunga Eric Hallam
About this Artist
South African tenor Lunga Eric Hallam is a graduate of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was previously in the Young Artist Programme at Cape Town Opera.
Lunga began his career in Cape Town, where he studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music and was in the Young Artist Programme at Cape Town Opera. There, he performed the roles of Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Roberto (Maria Stuarda), and Ramiro (La Cenerentola). In Cape Town, Lunga also founded a non-profit organisation called Phenomenal Opera Voices.
In 2020, he joined the Ryan Opera Centre Ensemble at the the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he performed roles including Adult Nathan (Fire Shut Up in My Bones) and First Courtier (Le Comte Ory). He also appeared in the Harria Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Joyce DiDonato and debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the Judge in Un ballo in maschera under the baton of Riccardo Muti. In the 2022/23 season, Lunga debuted at Wolftrap Opera as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Jupiter (Semele). Other recent highlights saw debuts at Houston Grand Opera as First Knight (Parsifal), Pittsburgh Opera as Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and a return to Wolf Trap Opera for his first Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte.
This season, Lunga looks forward to his debut with the Hamburgische Staatsoper as Ein Jungling (Paradies und Peri), a return to Count Almaviva at Opera San Antonio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), and a debut at Theatre des Champs Elysees for Pedrillo (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail). Equally in demand on the concert stage, Lunga will collaborate with Nathalie Stutzmann for Bach’s B minor mass with the Atlanta Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Last season saw Lunga make several major orchestral debuts, firstly singing Mozart's Mass in C Major with Nathalie Stutzmann and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, later performing Handel's Messiah with Masaaki Suzuki and the National Symphony Orchestra and singing a baroque programme with Emmanuelle Haim and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Lunga also performed Schubert's Mass no.5 in A-flat with the São Paulo Symphony and gave a recital with Craig Terry at the Kennedy Center in Washington for Vocal Arts DC. On the operatic stage, Lunga made a debut at Minnesota Opera returning to the role of Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.