Deon van der Walt was, at the height of his career, considered the leading lyric tenor of his generation. In a career that spanned more than 25 years he performed in the great opera houses of the world and sang for the leading conductors of the time, sharing the stage with the best singers in the world. He was the first male South African to accomplish the so-called “grand slam” of opera, having sung in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London), Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna), La Scala (Milan) and the Metropolitan Opera House (New York). He was also a prolific oratorio and lieder singer, collaborating with the best artists the musical world had to offer. In addition he left a large recorded legacy, both published and unpublished. His untimely death on 29 November 2005 was extensively reported on both locally and abroad - a fact which again highlighted the importance of his personal and professional contribution to the international opera world.The Deon van der Walt Collection is the single most important key to unlocking the life and career of one of the most successful South African opera singers of all time. It was bequeathed to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Library the Deon van der Walt Trust in 2007. The collection is made up of an arbitrary assortment of books, documents, sound and video recordings that were left in van der Walt’s Zürich accommodations at the time of his death in 2005. It is housed in separate section on the lower level of the South Campus Library of the NMMU. The collection has been partially catalogued by the NMMU Library but left largely unattended for the last 6 years. The compiling of an annotated catalogue of this collection is the vital first step in connecting the dots of an extraordinary musical career that was hailed as one of the greatest of his time.