Warner Classics has signed an exclusive contract with the Samoan tenor Pene Pati. His label debut, scheduled for Spring next year, will be a recital of arias from Romantic operas by Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Massenet and Benjamin Godard, recorded with the Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine and conductor Emmanuel Villaume.

Pati - who grew up in New Zealand - is a graduate of San Francisco Opera's training scheme, the Adler Program, and a prize winner at competitions including Operalia, Neue Stimmen, the Montserrat Caballé International Aria Competition and the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award.

Alain Lanceron, President of Warner Classics and Erato, said of the signing: 'Pene Pati is in the great tradition of lyric tenors. First and foremost, there is the beauty and warmth of his voice, which ascends with apparent ease to the proverbial top C, but there is also his elegance and style in both Italian and French opera – and his sunny, expansive personality, which wins the public’s heart as soon as he walks on stage. Pene has embarked on a tremendous career, and all of us at Warner Classics are looking forward to working with him for many years.'

You can learn more about Pene Pati in this profile video published by San Francisco Opera earlier this year: