Lunga Eric Hallam

Biography

South African tenor Lunga Eric Hallam is a recent 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.

In the 2024/25 season Hallam made 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 also singing a baroque programme with Emmanuelle Haim and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He debuted Schubert's Mass no.5 in A-flat with the São Paulo Symphony and performed a recital with Craig Terry at the Kennedy Center in Washington for Vocal Arts DC. On the stage, Lunga made a debut at Minnesota Opera returning to the role of Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Previous seasons saw debuts at Houston Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and a return to Wolf Trap Opera for his first Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte. He 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). He also founded a non-profit organisation called Phenomenal Opera Voices in his home of Cape Town.

At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lunga appeared in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Joyce DiDonato, and his recent debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti as the Judge in Un ballo in maschera. Recent performances at the Lyric Opera include the Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars concert, as well as in the Chicago premieres of Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Adult Nathan) and Le Comte Ory (First Courtier). In the 2022/23 season, he debuted at Wolftrap Opera as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Jupiter (Semele).


Photo Credit: Jaclyn Simpson