Exciting young lyric tenor Ta’u Pupu’a was born in the South Pacific's Polynesia. At the age of two he came with his family to Salt Lake City, Utah. Growing up, his two passions were football and music. He attended Weber State University on a football scholarship while pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree, during which time he was "discovered" by Bill Belichick and drafted to the N.F.L. to the Cleveland Browns and on to the Baltimore Ravens. After sustaining an injury playing for the N.F.L., he changed career direction to follow his first passion – opera.

Ta'u gained some early stage experience with the Utah Opera chorus in productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo et Juliette, Of Mice and Men, The Marriage of Figaro, Turandot and Fidelio. In 1997 and 1998 he sang in gala concerts to honor the King of Tonga in both Tonga and San Francisco, and in 1999 he was a soloist with the Mormon Tabernacle Tongan Choir. In 2006 he made his major role debut as the Duke in Rigoletto with Espresso Opera in Manhattan. He also performed Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for Opera of the Hamptons as well as for his debut with Regina Opera. He recently sang Cassio in Otello for Espresso Opera and an opera highlight concert in Connecticut for Gateway Classical Music Society. Other recent performances include Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Staten Island Philharmonic and the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with the Gateway Classical Music Society.

Ta'u Pupu'a was also recently awarded the encouragement award in the 2007 Giulio Gari Foundation vocal competition.

The young tenor recently made his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca for Regina Opera, and repeated the role for Opera of the Hamptons.    
                                          

In the 2007-8 season Ta'u made his debut at Knoxville Opera performing "The Student Prince" for their Oktoberfest and also performed Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, and Cavaradossi in Tosca, both for Opera in the Heights in Houston,Texas. 


Duet with Adriana (Adriana Lecouvreur Act 2)




Ta'u will soon add the role of Done Jose from Carmen to his repertoire, performing major excerpts for Espresso Opera in June and will the take part in the prestigious Chautauqua Music Festival of Fine and Performing Arts from June 21 - Aug 12.  On July 14 he will perform Don Jose for that Festival in their 5000 seat amphitheater.

His other plans include a recital tour of Polynesia and a reprise of The Student Prince for Knoxville Opera.  For 2008/9 Ta'u has been accepted into the prestigious Juilliard Opera Center.

Here is a sample of his singing, performing Pinkerton in Butterfly for Regina Opera:

Act 3 Trio and Aria