One of South Africa’s most successful opera singers, Deon van der Walt, was found dead on Thursday at his family’s wine estate in northern Paarl after being shot twice in the chest.
The 47-year-old tenor was apparently killed by his father, who was also found lying dead with a bullet wound to the head.
Van der Walt performed in many prestigious opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
A press statement from the University of Stellenbosch, where Van der Walt had studied, said on Thursday: ”The department of music and the Conservatoire of Stellenbosch University regret the loss of an alumnus.”
”Van der Walt was a student in the department from 1978 and completed his studies under Professor George van der Spuy,” it stated.
The statement also quoted Professor Hans Roosenschoon, the director of the Conservatoire and chairperson of the department, as saying: ”Deon was one of the biggest ambassadors of the department. His death is a big blow to our department, but also to the music world. Our deepest sympathy goes to his next of kin, family and friends.”
Van der Walt furthered his musical studies by training in Europe, where he received first prize at the Summer Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He was appointed the head lyric tenor of the Stuttgart Opera after spending a year at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
He received his licentiate degree in music teaching in 1981 after being awarded the Southern African Music Rights Organisation bursary overseas in 1980.
In 1988, Van der Walt and his brother, Marcel, opened their own wine estate and named it Veenwouden, 40km outside Cape Town.
Christine Crouse, the artistic director at the Cape Town Opera House, was a friend of Van der Walt.
She told the Mail & Guardian Online that Van der Walt was a very ”professional, extremely well-prepared” person who often became ”insistent” about his work, which proved that he was a ”serious artist”.
”He was a dream to work with,” she said. ”He was a very jovial person. He had a very warm heart and was very generous,” she added.
His death is ”such a terrible thing”, said Crouse.
Magdalena Oosthuizen, a senior lecturer in the department of music at the University of Stellenbosch, said Van der Walt had an ”extremely beautiful voice”.
”He had a dynamic personality on stage and off the stage. I found him [to be] a wonderful, intelligent and friendly person,” she said.
Oosthuizen feels the death of Van der Walt is a ”personal loss” for South Africa.
”He was one of the most prominent musicians that ever passed through the Stellenbosch Conservatoire,” she added. ”He was the tall, very attractive tenor in opera.”
Van der Walt is survived by his mother and two brothers.