Samoan Kiwi tenor Pene Pati has been made a knight of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, joining Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Sir Peter Jackson as one of only a handful of New Zealanders to receive one of the most prestigious cultural honours in Europe.
The award was announced by the French Ministry of Culture and presented while Pati was in Zurich, where he is currently performing on the Swiss opera circuit. He delivered his entire acceptance speech in French.
Speaking to RNZ Checkpoint from Zurich, Pati said he was “totally blown away” when he learned of the honour, especially given his background “coming from somewhere that doesn’t speak French”. He said the ministry sent a personal note congratulating him with the line, “what great work Pene, you deserve this”.
On choosing to give his thank you speech in the language of the country honouring him, Pati admitted he had a moment of stage fright that had nothing to do with singing. “I was nervous as hell,” he said, “and I thought, you know what, there’s no moment [better] than now.”
He also gave a rare insight into life at home with the medallion now sitting on his sideboard. “I just wear it around the house for now, much to the disdain of my wife,” he joked.
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres was established in 1957 and recognises significant contributions to the arts, literature or the propagation of these fields in France and around the world. It carries three grades, with the rank of Chevalier being the entry level that Pati has now received. Past recipients include Meryl Streep, Bob Dylan, Quincy Jones, Patti Smith and George Clooney, as well as a long line of European musicians and writers.
For New Zealand the list is short. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was made a Chevalier in 1985 and later promoted within the order. Sir Peter Jackson was decorated for his contribution to cinema. Pati’s name now sits alongside theirs.
Pati grew up in a Samoan family in Auckland and first came to wider New Zealand attention as one third of the popular operatic trio Sol3 Mio, alongside his brother Amitai Pati and cousin Moses Mackay. The group’s blend of opera, Pacific harmonies and irreverent humour turned classical voice into mainstream summer listening across the country in the early 2010s and gave a generation of young Pacific New Zealanders permission to take opera seriously.
From there Pati has built one of the most rapid international careers of any tenor of his generation. He has been a principal artist at the San Francisco Opera, made his debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and is now in demand across the major European houses. His repertoire centres on the great French and Italian lyric tenor roles, including Romeo, Werther and the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and he was the subject of the feature length 2023 documentary Tenor, My Name is Pati, which followed him and his brother Amitai through their early international years.
The French connection in Pati’s life runs deeper than this latest honour. He is married to the celebrated French Egyptian soprano Amina Edris, whom he met during their training at the Adler Fellowship in San Francisco. The pair regularly perform together and have become one of the most recognisable couples in international opera.
New Zealand audiences will get a chance to see why the French ministry singled him out later this year. Pati and Edris are due to return to New Zealand in August to perform together in a new staging of Jules Massenet’s Manon for New Zealand Opera in Wellington. The production is one of the most anticipated dates on the local classical music calendar.
The knighthood lands at a moment when Pacific success on the global stage is also being reflected back home in less expected places. Pati has spoken in past interviews about wanting young Samoan and wider Pacific New Zealanders to see his career as something they can aim at rather than something exotic and out of reach. The French honour gives that message a new and very visible stamp.
For now Pati remains in Zurich for the rest of his current run before heading back to Auckland and on to the Wellington season. Whether the medallion makes it back to West Auckland in his luggage or stays sitting on the Swiss sideboard he was joking about, the French Republic has formally decided it belongs there.
What do you think of Pene Pati’s latest honour, and is there a New Zealander you would like to see recognised next? Let us know in the comments.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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