No worries for Wunderkid

Dunedin-born baritone, Jonathan Lemalu, is soon to make his Royal Opera House debut as Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando. Described by the Guardian as “[perhaps] the next Bryn Terfel,” his career has skyrocketed since graduating from London’s Royal College of Music just over a year ago. He has an EMI contract, award-winning solo recording, and several acclaimed Covent Garden appearances already to his credit, and is to debut at the New York Met and the Chicago Lyric Opera in 2004. Says Lemalu of the perils of fame, “A lot of it is the expectations I have of myself. Then there’s the pressure of maybe wanting to live up to the reputation I have. There are doubters – there’s sometimes a certain wording in my reviews that seems to be saying, ‘Let’s not let this wunderkid think he’s so special.’ I can understand that. But I’m not going to stay up all night worrying about them.”