Luvuyo Mbundu, a South African baritone, joined the ensemble of the Staatsoper Hannover in the 2022/23 season. Since then, he has appeared in a wide range of roles, including Marcello in La Bohème, the Gatekeeper in Rusalka, and the title role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. At the Staatsoper he has also performed as Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), and Ping (Turandot).
In the 2024/25 season at Staatsoper Hannover, his engagements include Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marcello in La Bohème, the Ringer in Israel in Munich, and Hajný in Rusalka.
From 2019 to 2021, Luvuyo was a member of the Opera Studio at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In 2021, he participated in the Academy at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where he sang the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elias with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble under Duncan Ward.
Highlights of his career also include his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2022 as Schaunard in a new production of La Bohème. He will reprised the role at Vlaamse Opera and later returned there as Rabbi Obidiah in the world premiere of Wim Henderick’s The Convert. He also returned to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as Fiorello (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and the Steuermann (Tristan und Isolde).
At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, he prepared roles such as Silvio (Pagliacci) and Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) and was scheduled to appear as Moralès (Carmen), the Messenger (Aida), and Gregorio (Roméo et Juliette), though these performances were cancelled due to Covid restrictions. His stage appearances there included the 2nd Philistine (Samson et Dalila), the Imperial Commissioner (Madama Butterfly), Gregorio (Roméo et Juliette), the 2nd Nazarene (Salome), and the Flemish Deputy (Don Carlos). He also took part in New Year’s Concerts with the Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra, Gotha, in the 2019/20 season.
Luvuyo has received several awards, including First Prize at the Gabriela Beňačková International Vocal Competition in the Czech Republic (2018). He was also a participant in the Les Azuriales Festival Young Artist Programme (2017), where he won Third Prize in their Annual International Competition.
