Hailing from Cape Town, for nine years Devon (22) was turned away by the head of the school choir, being told to be grateful for the talents he had, as singing was not one of them. For as long as he could remember all he wanted to do was sing and at the age of 16 – a Cape Town based singing teacher – Brenda Feldtmann – changed his life forever by teaching him how. He originally came to Rhodes University to study drama (and completed it as one of his majors), however at the beginning of his third year in 2015, changed degrees to BMus. Devon trained as a Tenor for 7 years before changing Fach to Baritone in September of 2016. He has taken part in many public performances, concerts, and charity events, as well as competitions which include the KZN Philharmonic Youth Concerto competition, the Grahamstown National Music competition, the Muziquanto Singers competition, and the SAMRO international scholarship competition. In 2014 Devon was invited to perform as a soloist with the East Cape Opera company in a concert version of Strauss’sDie Fledermaus, performed with a German orchestra touring South Africa. Devon has been the recipient of numerous scholarships from the Rhodes Department of Music and Musicology, and has been placed on the Dean’s list for academic merit for the past two years. He trained with Gwyneth Lloyd for 3 years, and is now under the tutelage of Jo-Nette LeKay. Devon is pursuing further post-graduate studies with Virginia Davids at UCT in 2017, and hopes to continue to create for himself a life onstage in Opera.