‘Still climbing'': Sāmoan tenor Pene Pati on faith, fearlessness, and becoming a Laureate

When Sāmoan tenor Pene Pati received the call naming him a 2025 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate, his first reaction wasn’t triumph - it was disbelief.

Pati tells PMN News that this newly added recognition feels surreal.

“I don’t answer random numbers,” he laughs. “But they called a few times, so I picked up. When they told me, I was legitimately in shock. I said, ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right person?’”

Despite his international acclaim and a flourishing opera career across Europe and the United States, the South Auckland-born singer remains grounded in humility and gratitude.

“I still don’t understand how I won it,” he admits. “I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out myself, like I'm still trying to climb the ranks or learn something.

“To say you're being awarded this in recognition of such high-level work you've done, I'm like, ‘I've done high-level work?’”

The Telegraph has described Pati’s voice as a “golden thread of sound that can swell without strain to magnificence”.

Finding perspective in recognition

Now based between Paris and Berlin, Pati’s schedule is filled with leading roles on the world’s most prestigious opera stages, from La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera to Roméo et Juliette at San Francisco Opera.

But Pati says the Laureate honour offered a rare opportunity to pause.

“When you’re so deep in it you don’t really realise. This award lets you step back and look at it like, wow, I really have achieved something. We’re so used to the grind that we never celebrate the small victories.”

Pene Pati. Photo/Olivia Kahler/Supplied

That moment of reflection marked more than just professional recognition. It was an invitation to embrace a new role as a mentor.

“As an artist you always feel like a student. This award made me think maybe now I can impart knowledge onto the next generation.”

A son of South Auckland

Before his solo career took off, Pati was known as one-third of Sole Mio, the beloved trio that introduced opera to a new generation of Pacific audiences. He recalls their early days as a lesson in persistence.

“No one was willing to fund us, that’s the truth. We didn’t get handed anything, but we figured it out ourselves. We got signed, we toured, and we did it all on our own terms. We never threw shade at anyone who didn’t want to support the three island boys singing.”

That do-it-yourself ethic remains central to Pati’s worldview. It is also why he’s considering using part of his $50,000 Laureate award to give back.

“This is the perfect opportunity to set something up in New Zealand or fund a young singer,” he says. “If you weren’t expecting the money, it doesn’t hurt you to let it go again.

“There's a song that we used to learn as little kids in church, a smile is something that you give away and it'll always come back and I fully believe this. Maybe I'm being a fool by letting go of a lot of this money but I feel like I can impart that onto another singer.”

Pati adds, “Because I was in that position I was looking up to the big stars going, ‘somebody give me some money and maybe I'll be on that stage’. Did it happen? No, but does it mean that it has to be on my shoulders to be the same.

“The ultimate goal is that someone is going to be much more successful than I am.”

From Māngere to the Met and beyond

This 2025/26 season, Pati is expanding his repertoire with debuts in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann at Staatsoper Berlin and Massenet’s Werther at Opéra Comique in Paris.

He will also appear at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Opernhaus Zürich, alongside concert performances of Faust, Verdi’s Requiem, and Berlioz’s Requiem.

Amid the prestige, Pati’s Sāmoan heart rings true. During his curtain call at the Berlin State Opera, he slipped in a spontaneous fa’aumu (Sāmoan expression of pride).

“I did a ‘cheehoo’ on stage and I thought, ‘Take that, Germany!’”

Documenting the journey

Pati’s journey from grassroots to international stardom is the subject of a feature documentary, Tenor: My Name is Pati, which has been four years in the making. The trailer was released on 3 October, and its international release is set for 2026.

What began as a simple behind-the-scenes project has become an emotional portrait of resilience.

“It turned into a full-on film and they’re releasing it in cinemas and everything,” he jokes. “I saw the entire thing, I got so emotional and for a lot of it I forgot that it was an opera. Even the people watching who don't watch opera got emotional.

“They’re like, ‘Why is this kid not giving up? He ends up in Cardiff and he’s like, ‘I’ll figure it out’. Ends up in San Francisco, I’ll figure it out. Ends up here (Berlin), I’ll figure it out.

Pati adds that this very persistence is deeply tied to his heritage. “If my parents took the risk and left Sāmoa, then I need to take the risk too. We’re voyagers. It’s in our blood to go into the unknown and leave a print out there.”

Fearlessness and faith

Reflecting on his journey from Māngere to the world stage, Pati says what he is most thankful for is his younger self’s courage.

He says that it is a humility that defines both his artistry and his humanity, and perhaps why his Laureate recognition resonates so deeply.

“I’m thankful that I was fearless. That even if the probability is less than a 10 per cent chance, I wasn’t gonna give up. That’s 10 per cent success. I’m thankful I was fearless to go for it.”