South African born tenor Willem (Will) van Staden performed in South Africa, South America and the United States. He is a former student of tenor Giuseppe Campora (singing partner of Callas and Tebaldi), and studied voice at the Opera School in Pretoria with Johan Botha, under Eric Muller, and in Johannesburg at Wits, under Joyce Barker.
He made his break through as a professional singer in 1982 with the State opera in Pretoria and also started recordings with EMI, Decibel, Blue Tree Studios and Gallo Africa. He sang light music and ballads. His own composition ‘Bly by my’ (Stay with me) was later released on a Universal CD in South Africa. The song brought him national fame on the televised program ‘Debut ’89’. Besides singing he also worked as an actor for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in their television drama department as well as a soap opera actor for the Republican Press in Cape Town.
In 1990 he went to the United States to pursue his career on an International level. His first role was Tonio in ‘La fille du regiment’ (Gaetano Donizetti) at Fort Worth opera in Texas. During his operatic career he shared the stage with singers like Johan Botha, Indra Thomas and Tonio di Paulo.
Will toured South America in 1994 with tenor Giuseppe Campora. They appeared in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Asuncion, Paraguay.
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