Pene Pati and Amina Edris were married in 2016. Photo / Capucine de Chocqueuse
Pene Pati and Amina Edris were married in 2016. Photo / Capucine de Chocqueuse
Sol3 Mio tenor Pene Pati is fully booked for the next 2-3 years, performing on some of the world’s biggest opera stages.
The Samoan-Kiwi star has transformed his body through healthy lifestyle and says the weight-loss has also changed his voice.
The 38-year-old was nominated this week in two categories at Germany’s biggest and most prestigious classical music awards.
He credits his soprano wife Amina Edris for helping to inspire his success
Opera sensation Pene Pati used to dream about travelling the globe, singing on some of the world’s biggest stages.
Raised in Māngere, South Auckland, the 38-year-old’s career has soared since he started singing with his brother Amitai Pati and cousin Moses Mackay as part of thecharming trio Sol3 Mio, in 2012.
Pati’s life now sees him travelling regularly to perform in international operas - in Paris, London, Vienna, Barcelona, Munich, Chicago and currently San Francisco, where he is performing as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème.
“It still buzzes me out that it’s just part of my life now,” he told the Herald.
“I knew it was going to come. I believed in it so much. I didn’t believe how fast it would arrive, but I knew that one day it was going to happen.
“That was my sikailis [styles] back then in Magele [Māngere],” he laughed.
Samoan-Kiwi opera sensation Pene Pati. Photo / Simon Fowler and Parlophone records Ltd
The talented tenor has already had a huge year. This week he was nominated for Male Singer of the Year and Solo Recording Singing of the Year at the two Opus Klassik awards.
The awards are Germany’s biggest and most prestigious classical music prize and Pati likened them to the equivalent of being nominated for a Bafta.
L-R: Pene Pati, Moses Mackay and Amitai Pene started Sol3 Mio in 2012. Photo / Supplied
Pati’s other big highlight this year was his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in January, where he performed the role of the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto.
“I sat in the rehearsal and was looking around and thought: ‘This is so weird. Not long ago I was a student watching this on TV in New Zealand wondering whether I’d ever leave New Zealand’.
“I walked out and into the foyer...and they have photos of all the big artists who have hit the stage. I looked up and saw my photo.”
‘The last time I was 135kg, I was 11′
Pene Pati and Egyptian-born soprano Amina Edris were married in 2016. Photo / Capucine de Chocqueuse
More personally, Pati has revealed another significant change in his life - his decision to get healthy.
At his heaviest, he weighed 209kg. Now, he’s 135kg - he said he did it by paying attention to the simple things, and enjoying a better lifestyle with his wife, soprano extraordinaire Amina Edris.
“I was just tired of [struggling] bending over trying to tie my shoelaces and being like: ‘Oka’! [Wow].
Amina Edris at her wedding to Pene Pati in 2016. Photo / WWW.POPPYMOSS.COM
“I was never ashamed of being bigger. But there’s also a point where you think that maybe being healthy is the next step,” he told the Herald.
“I wasn’t provoked to lose weight out of embarrassment. I wanted to do this because I think this was a way to get more done and to inspire more people.”
The weight loss has taken him about two years, as he also had to be mindful about how it would affect his voice, he said.
”She’s helped me a lot. You know what? She’s kept me humble, man.
“She keeps me real grounded and it’s needed. It’s absolutely needed, because Lord knows that there have been moments when I’m like: ‘I’m at the top of the game’. And then she comes up and she says: ‘Nah, actually that wasn’t as good as you thought,” he laughs.
“She’s just real and I think you need a real one by your side to understand when to celebrate, but also be accepting of all your faults.”
The couple is due to perform on stage together - in Romeo and Juliet - in 2027.
Fitter, stronger and happier
When Pati started to lose weight, he had to take advice on protecting his voice through the process.
“You can’t lose weight so fast in opera because your voice changes so much. I had to lose weight slowly and just keep checking in on the voice.
“Now on stage, I’m not sweating buckets anymore. I can actually act and be part of it.”
Pati now regularly trains at the gym and has found with new strength and muscles, new parts of his voice have been activated.
Opera star Pene Pati says he is stronger and happier since losing just over 70kg. Photo / Olivia Kahler
“If you’re a bigger person, you’ve got lots of weight to ground your voice naturally. You don’t have to try much to support the voice.
“But now going to the gym, activating other muscles, it brings out a different sound, strength and power in the voice and luckily, because it’s been so slow, the transition has been seamless.
Pati said life was a lot happier now that he is more active and simple things such as going for a walk without getting sore feet had been huge wins for him.
“The last time I was 135kg, I was like, 11,” he laughs.
“For me, it was the tiny wins. I can walk, now, to the store. I can walk to work and not have sore feet. I can get up and not have sore knees. I can walk up the staircase without breaking out a sweat.
As for the future, he is fully booked out for the next two to three years - something that is not uncommon in the opera world, he says.
And despite others often suggesting that he is now at the top of his game, he is certain there is still more he can achieve on the international stage - including a dream to perform in his motherland Samoa one day, with a full orchestra.
“I feel I’ve still got rungs to climb on this ladder.”
