In a career spanning over 50 years, our next guest has enchanted her audiences, brightened stages and spread the love of song around the world. She remains a highly sought after singer, director, motivational speaker and lecturer. One of her career highlights was performing for former President Nelson Mandela at the Ben Gurion University. In 2022, Aviva’s passion for opera and young talent inspired her to initiate a competition to raise awareness amongst our young singers and promote a re-acquaintance with a repertoire which they may well be called on to perform as part of their international careers. 

She joins us to talk about the recent success of the 4th Aviva Pelham Operetta competition this month and the upcoming production: Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. This opera production will be hosted by UCT Opera and commemorates the 200th birthday of composer, Johann Strauss. This production takes to the stage on World Opera Day (25 October 2025). To share the joy of song with us and the growth of Opera in South Africa, we are joined by..

Guest (ZOOM): Aviva Pelham - singer, director, motivational speaker and lecturer