South Africa was stunned on Wednesday after its most famous opera singer, Deon van der Walt, was found shot dead on his family's wine estate. The 47-year-old tenor was shot twice in the chest, apparently by his father, in a domestic tragedy that left the opera world distraught and baffled.
Charles van der Walt, 78, was named by police as the main suspect after he was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the temple.
Police declined to speculate on the motive and there were no immediate reports of a feud between father and son, leaving the country guessing as to why it had lost one of its greatest musical talents.
PHOTO: AP
The bodies were found in separate bedrooms of the family home near Paarl, in Western Cape province, on Tuesday afternoon by the singer's mother, Sheila.
The opera world mourned the passing of the first South African to do the "grand slam" of performing at Milan's La Scala, London's Covent Garden, New York's Metropolitan and Vienna's state opera house.
"He had a special gift. He was sensitive and expressive as an artist," said South Africa's culture minister, Pallo Jordan. "Those who knew him speak of his generosity and kindness."
The chief executive of Cape Town's opera, Michael Williams, said the country had lost a role model for what South Africans could accomplish abroad.
Police said their investigation was not yet a murder inquiry and declined to speculate about motives.
"It is alleged the father killed the 47-year-old man, Deon, and then himself," said a spokesman.
The son had gunshot wounds to his chest and the father had a single gunshot wound to his temple. They were thought to have died at about 2pm on Tuesday. Forensic experts were examining a gun removed from the scene. South African media reported that it was found beside the father. The family was expected to issue a statement through lawyers.
Van der Walt never reached the popular acclaim of Placido Domingo or Luciano Pavarotti, but was well known and respected within the opera fraternity.
He made his debut as Jaquino in Fidelio at the Kapstadt opera house while still a music student at the University of Stellenbosch, part of the Afrikaner ivy league. In 1981 he won the international Mozart competition in Salzburg and his career took off with invitations to opera houses and festivals across Europe and the US.
Van der Walt made his Covent Garden debut in 1985 as Almaviva in Rossini's Barber of Seville. He performed at Munich, Barcelona and Hamburg under conductors including Riccardo Muti.
It was the era of apartheid sanctions and white South Africans were not always welcomed abroad, but the easy-going tenor was still able to carve a name for himself. A role as Tamino in The Magic Flute under Sir Georg Solti in 1991, the year after Nelson Mandela was released, earned particular acclaim.
A specialist in recitals, he showed his versatility by moving from Italian to French for the role of Romeo in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette at the Zurich opera house. While on tour in France Van der Walt would sometimes meet his professional golfer brother, Marcel, at vineyards to share their lifelong love of wine.
In 1988 they opened their own wine estate, Veenwouden, specializing in Merlot and Cabernet, in a valley near spectacular views over the Klein-Drakenstein mountains 56km outside Cape Town.
A glimpse of a possible Picasso in the home of Imelda Marcos filmed during a visit by her son after his presidential election win has set off a flurry of speculation in the Philippines, where the family that once plundered billions is set to return to power. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the late dictator, won a landslide victory in Monday’s presidential election, an outcome that has appalled those who survived his father’s regime. Images released by the family showed Marcos Jr visiting the home of his mother, who had displayed Picasso’s Femme Couche VI (Reclining Woman VI),
The images of a besuited Ferdinand Marcos Jr, clad in a top hat and leaning nonchalantly on a Rolls-Royce, dating from his time in Britain in the 1970s, are as you might expect from the playboy scion of a kleptocratic dictator. Yet as the Marcos family returns to power in the Philippines after a landslide presidential victory by Marcos Jr, he is facing calls to stop misrepresenting the circumstances of his studies at the University of Oxford. The university has confirmed that he did not complete his degree in philosophy, politics and economics after enrolling in 1975. “According to our records, he did
HATE CRIME: Officials were investigating a detailed ‘manifesto’ posted online before the livestreamed shooting, in which the suspect outlined his reasoning and plans A heavily armed 18-year-old white man on Saturday shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in a “racially motivated” attack that he livestreamed on camera, authorities said. The gunman, who was wearing body armor and a helmet, was arrested after the massacre, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told a news conference. Gramaglia put the toll at 10 dead and three wounded. Eleven of the victims were African Americans. The gunman shot four people in the parking lot of the Tops supermarket, three of them fatally, then went inside and continued firing, Gramaglia said. Among those killed inside the store was
CALIBRATED RESPONSE: The city-state has learned from its past experiences of dealing with COVID-19 variants to assess the situation and the risks, the transport minister said Singapore will strive to keep its borders open and stay connected to the rest of world even if a new variant of COVID-19 emerges, Singaporean Minister for Transport S. Iswaran said on Wednesday. The city-state has learned from its past experiences of dealing with COVID-19 variants, Iswaran said in an interview with Bloomberg News. When the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 hit, Singapore did not backtrack on its reopening plans, but rather decided to wait and see how things panned out, he said, adding that the response was different versus the Delta outbreak. “We’ve all learned to adapt,” Iswaran said on the sidelines
RSS