Gert Potgieter (tenor)
| Gert Potgieter | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gerhardus Petrus Potgieter |
| Born | November 14, 1929 |
| Origin |
 South African
|
| Died | July 2, 1977 (aged 47) |
| Genres |
Light music Opera |
| Occupation(s) | Printer |
| Years active | 1960 - 1977 |
| Labels | Gallo |
Gerhardus Petrus "Gert" Potgieter (14 November 1929 – 2 July 1977) was a South African opera tenor and actor who had a great influence on Afrikaans culture.
Born at Aasvoëlkop, a suburb of Johannesburg, on 14 November 1929, he was one of the five children of Hermanus Potgieter, a printer, and his wife Maria Naudé.
He was educated at the Laërskool (Primary School) Louw Geldenhuys and Helpmekaar High School, Johannesburg, where he matriculated.
After leaving school he worked at Voortrekkerpers , a publishing firm, in Johannesburg until 1960 when he qualified as a printer.
From the age of sixteen he took singing lessons with Kosie Boshoff and, after his voice had broken, with Beatrice Lovegrove and Alberto Terassi. When PJ Lemmer, Inspector of Music in the Orange Free State, wanted to stage a performance of the cantata Vasco da Gama in 1949; he chose Potgieter for the tenor role. This was the beginning of his singing career.
Andre Brink and Anton Hartman, head of music at the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the principal conductor of the SABC orchestra (and thus the most influential conductor in the country) gave Potgieter the opportunity of taking part in radio broadcasts and in 1960 he sang with Mimi Coertse and George Fourie in Verdi's opera, Rigoletto. In the same year he was awarded the Mimi Coertse Scholarship for singing. Towards the end of 1960 he enrolled as a student at the Vienna Opera School and took part inter alia in a performance of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride.
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