Plans

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Ipeleng Kgatle during a performance at the MuHo Mannheim

Ipeleng Kgatle shares her plans and goals:

My plan at the moment is to focus on my studies and mainly on my voice as opposed to theory. I plan to enter a few competitions in and around Europe. This is to get more stage experience, singing in different countries and with different people. This is also to network and to build relationships with the people in the opera field. I am also planning to apply and take part in opera summer programs in and around Germany. This will give me an opportunity to grow as an opera singer and to gain experience doing full operas.

Furthermore, I will be singing with the One Earth Orchestra as part of the choir and as a soloist in Ludwigshafen in their concert, performing Politeia. This will be on the 18^th and 19^th of October 2018.

I am currently working on finding a part time student job as well. I have made progress and have had an interview, but it was not successful. I am however still looking for more job opportunities and at the moment things are looking promising.

My everyday career goal is to always live up to my maximum potential. My goal is to also take the opera world by storm through sharing my talent and the knowledge I have acquired in my studies. With regards to singing, my short-term goal is to become a versatile singer, exploring different repertoire, such as bel canto, early music and song repertoire. This will help me broaden my horizons. Another short-term goal is to pass all my modules this semester and to also become fluent in German. Also, to learn more about the German culture.

My long-term goal is to complete my master’s program in record time and with good grades. My other long-term goal is to perform in the best opera theatres in the world, which include Teatro La Scala in Italy, Wiener Staatsoper in Austria, The Metropolitan Opera in the USA and the Royal Opera House in London.

My personal goals currently to get physically fit and to gain more confidence as a young opera singer and artist. Furthermore, I would like to become more resilient. This trait is greatly needed in the opera industry because as opera singers we deal with a lot rejection mostly from the people we audition for, so, having this trait will help grow, learn and bounce back from the bad experiences opera singers face. My final goal is learning to ignore and overcome my current limitations in my career such as fear, this will help me break boundaries also in a lot of aspects in my life.

 

Looking back:

Looking back, I have a lot to be grateful for and looking forward, I have a lot to be excited about as well. In my time of studying here, I have set a few goals in place that will help me to eventually reach my dreams as an opera singer. One of my short-term goals at the moment is to complete my master’s studies at the music Hochschule in the coming semester. I would also love to increase my performance experience by taking part in international singing competitions and opera summer programs. This will give me the opportunity to perform, work with different conductors, meet and make new connections with people in the opera industry. My other short-term goal is to get an agent. So far, I have been able to apply to a few agencies and managements and have been able to secure a few auditions. I have been working very hard to prepare for them and hope they go well.

My long-term goals include getting to work in Germany. In a year, I would love to see myself in a studio program in an opera house. I would love to be in the studio program in Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Dortmund. These are very big opera houses and they have excellent studio programs that allow their singers to sing, learn, grow and explore. These opera houses also have a lot of guests that come to visit and sing in them. This would give me a chance to learn from the big stars that go sing in these theaters.

One of my biggest long-term goal is to be part of the Berlin Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper or the Vienna Staatsoper as an ensemble member. And if it is not in Germany, I would love to join the Royal Opera House. I would like to achieve this in the next coming 5 years. I would be happy to work in the big opera houses. I definitely would love to continue living in Germany and if my career sends me to London, I would be very excited to explore London while living there.

My ultimate dream is to one day, in about 10 to 15 years, sing at the Metropolitan opera house in New York. This is one of the world’s biggest and greatest opera houses of all time. This is where Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballé and many more big opera stars have performed. I would love nothing more than to sing on that stage as well. That would make my ultimate dream come true and I know that it will happen for me one day.

Through everything, I would like to say that I would have never gotten a shot at making these dreams come true if I had not studied here and had been sponsored by the DAAD-Stiftung. Their support has been phenomenal and has influenced me immensely. It has shaped me into the performer that I am today. It has also shaped my future as a young opera singer in Germany.