Sunnyboy Dladla

INTRODUCTION

One of the most exciting and sought-after Rossinian voices of his generation. The unique sound of Sunnyboy Dladla‘s voice, described as “a crisp, clearly focused, brightly timbered, radiantly present voice, agile and coloratura oriented” (Die Deutsche Bühne), and his outstanding stage presence has allowed him to combine an active opera career with frequent concert performances.

RECENT AND FUTURE HIGHLIGHTS

In the 23/24 season, Sunnyboy made a house debut as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona. He performed in Carmina Burana with the London Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda’s baton, and with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Saratoga NY Festival (SPAC) under the baton of Fabio Luisi. He also sang in Mozart’s Requiem at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg.

In the 24/25 season, Sunnyboy’s engagements include a house debut as Il Conte d’Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Danish Opera, a concert performance of Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Verbier Festival with the great Maestro Fabio Luisi, and Carmina Burana in Limburg, among others.

His further future performances include the role of Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Israeli National Opera in Tel Aviv.

BIOGRAPHY

Sunnyboy Dladla was born in KwaZulu-Natal and was raised in the small township of Piet-Retief, South Africa; he graduated with distinctions at the University of Cape Town where he was able to gain his first experiences in roles like Nemorino/L’elisir d’amore, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni, Il Conte di Libensk/Il Viaggio a Reims, Dorvil/La scala di seta and many more. After this, he continued his studies in Zürich, Switzerland at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, where he earned his master’s degree.

Sunnyboy has collaborated with numerous renowned conductors, including Alberto Zedda, Sir Donald Rannicles, Sir Simon Rattle, Fabio Luisi, Marco Armiliato, Daniele Rustioni, Carlo Rizzi, Riccardo Minasi, David Perry, Giacomo Sagripanti, Constantin Trinks, Stephan Deneve, Lothar Koenigs, as well as with distinguished directors such as Barrie Kosky, Andreas Homoki, Rolando Villazon, Christoph Loy, Lotte de Beer, and Calixto Bieito, among others.

In the 22/23 season, Sunnyboy returned to the Edinburgh Festival with Carmina Burana under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles. He performed as  Young King/Lessons in Love and Violence by G. Benjamin at the Opernhaus Zurich,  Il Conte d’Almaviva/Il Barbiere di Siviglia Peter Quint/The Turn of the Screw and a role debut as Leopold/La Juive by Halevy at the Staatsoper Hannover. He debuted as Oraspe/Aureliano in Palmira at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pessaro.

While part of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Hannover from 2020 to 2023, Sunnyboy also took on prominent roles such as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, and Cassio in Otello.

His notable stage presence extends to the BBC Proms, where he debuted in 2018 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, where he performed the roles Bete, Le petit vieillard, La théière and La rainette from Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. Sunnyboy returned to the BBC proms the following year to perform Mozart’s Requiem with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Nathalie Stutzmann.

One of Sunnyboy’s signature roles, Il conte d’Almaviva from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, took him to the Rossini Opera Festival, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Den Norske Oper Oslo, the Leipzig Opera, Teather Dortmund, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and many more houses. Other notable roles include Don Ramiro from La Cenerentola, debuting it at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and in the following seasons he reprised it at Opera Leipzig and Opera North Leeds conducted by Wyn Davies; Paolino in Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto and Il Conte di Libensk in Il viaggio a Reims for Opernhaus Zürich; Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims with Alberto Zedda for the Accademia Rossiniana at the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival;  Arone/Mose in Egitto and Xailoun in Offenbach’s Barkouf for Oper Köln.

From 2018 to 2020, Sunnyboy was part of the soloist ensemble at Dortmund Opera House, following earlier stints at Deutsche Oper Berlin (2014-2015) and the International Opera Studio of Zurich Opera (2012-2014).

Sunnyboy has appeared on multiple recordings, including a complete DVD recording of Mose in Egitto live from the Bregenzer Festspiel under the baton of Enrique Mazzola (2017) and Les Contes D’Hoffmann live from De National Opera Amsterdam conducted by Carlo Rizzi (2018).