Lucia di Lammermoor at the Artscape

The leading roles (joined by Cape Town Opera's Voice of the Nation Chorus) are:

• Pretty Yende - The young South African soprano, who recently made a sensational debut in the Metropolitan Opera, first made her debut at La Scala (Milan) in 2010. Among the many international awards, she scooped the top prize at the Operalia 2011 competition in Moscow. Over the past few years she has won several competitions, including the Vincenzo Bellini International Voice Competition, Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna, taking top honours in four categories. She also triumphed at one of the largest competitions for singers, the Montserrat Cabbalé International Singing Competition in Barcelona, Spain, and shared first prize in the Savonnlina International Singing Competition (Finland).

• Colin Lee - As one of the brightest international operatic stars, he has also established himself as one of Britain's leading tenors in the bel canto repertoire. He performs regularly in the foremost opera houses in the world, among them Covent Garden in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Paris Opera, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, the Netherlands Opera, and Vienna State Opera. He has enjoyed a decade-long relationship with the recording label Opera Rara, participating in 11 recordings for the label. Opera Rara's recording of Ermione, with Colin as Oreste, was awarded the Gramophone Award for Best Opera Recording in 2011.

• George Stevens - The Cape Town baritone took up his voce training studies with Nellie du Toit. He has sung in major opera houses in South Africa and performed in different roles including Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere de Seville, and Le Nozze di Figaro. His European opera debut started in the Bavarian State Theatre with the Bavarian State Orchestra. Stevens' repertoire of masses and oratorios include the Verdi Requiem under the baton of Sir David Willcocks with the London Bach Choir.

Lucia de Lammermoor is at Cape Town's Artscape Theatre on 18 and 20 April. Tickets are available from Computicket.