5th Annual Joburg Choral Festival

Date

May 22, 2022

Time

10:00

A Festival Of Choirs

The Annual Choral Festival has been developed to support and showcase choral music for individual vocalists, instrumentalists and choirs alike. The Festival is one of the cities flagship programmes, started in June 2017 at The Orlando Communal Hall.

The Choral festival aims to promote choral music development in Johannesburg, this program has increased appreciation for this art form and has been instrumental in a revival of choral music. This has created both a present and future market both at a production and consumption level. This event has evolved over the years and we cannot wait for it to become an internationally recognised music program one day.

Theme

Wear African or Traditional Attire

Venue

JOBURG THEATRE
163 Civic Blvd
Braamfontein
Johannesburg, 2001

The Soloists

Learn more about the magnificent soloists who will be performing at the 5th Annual Joburg Choral Festival.

Asisipho Petu

ASISIPHO PETU

A mezzo-soprano out of Queenstown, Eastern Cape, Asisipho started her singing career at a tender age. She displays a great passion for music quite and propelled her to pursue the choral and classical music genres as her extramural activities in High School.

It was through her persistent practice and discipline that she ultimately developed into one of the most remarkable voices in the country.

Asisipho took the bold step to audition for the Eastern Cape Opera and this was one of her memorable milestones and through this experience acquired a lot of performance experience.

Asisipho completed a Diploma in Vocal Art, Cum Laude from the Tshwane University of Technology in 2020. She is currently studying towards a Postgraduate Diploma.

Her first major opera role was in 2018 as Marcelina in ‘Le nozze di Figaro’, and later was cast for various roles including being part of the chorus with the Sempre Opera company in 2019.

Asisipho recently gave a memorable solo alto with the Pretoria Bach Choir. She will be one of the specially selected soloist for the Joburg Choral Festival.

Bongani Kubheka

BONGANI KUBHEKA

Bongani Kubheka was born in Newcastle, KwaZulu Natal.

He studied his undergraduate Performers Diploma in Opera at the University of Cape Town, training with renowned Baritone Patrick Tikolo and received opera coaching from Professor Kamal Khan.

With his keen interest in giving back to the community, he participated in a prestigious local outreach music programme “Kunstreffers” which toured around local schools and communities.

Bongani has recently performed for the Artscape Gala Concert 2021 which was also recorded for television and also the Cantiamo production by Marcus Desando at Joburg Theater in May 2021. Bongani also performed for the La Boheme tour with Cape Town Opera as Marcello.

He is in collaboration with the prestigious Hilbert Artist Management which is based in Germany. He recently performed the role of Don Fernando at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. His deep voice will vibrate through the walls of the Joburg Theatre.

Khayakazi Madlala

KHAYAKAZI MADLALA

Khayakazi Madlala hails from Matatiele in the Eastern Cape. She started singing at a young age and began participating in school choir competitions.

In 2012 she was part of an ensemble at Mariazell High School that won the SASCE competition.

In 2015, Khayakazi was part of the Gauteng Opera ad hoc chorus, she also participated in chorus works such as La Traviata and l’elisir d’Amore. In 2016 she started training with The Gauteng Opera Academy, in July of 2017, she performed the role of Mimi in the Gauteng Opera production of La Bohème as well as a series of Opera Scenes for the company, as Madama Butterfly in Madama Butterfly.

In 2018, Khayakazi performed a series of Opera Scenes for the Gauteng Opera as Martha in Martha, among many more. She has completed her 3 years of studies at Gauteng Opera Academy. In 2019, Khayakazi performed at the Star For Life fundraising concert at Malmö Opera in Sweden. Khayakazi participated in the BK8 competition in 2021, where she placed first out of eight singers from around the country.

She is set to mesmerize the audiences with her luscious Soprano.

Wayne Mkhize

WAYNE MKHIZE

Wayne Mkhize was born and raised in Kimberley and it was during his active involvement in the St Boniface High School that solidified his love for choral and classical music.

Wayne had no ambiguity about his love for music from the age of 14 and since then he never looked back. It was through his outstanding role in the school choir that resulted in him being chosen to be part of the Tirisano National Youth Choir.

In 2008 & 2009 he was one of the soloists to perform alongside Mafikizolo in the Sowetan Mass Choir Festival in Johannesburg.

Having realized that he has a natural talent for music, Wayne decided to enhance his knowledge and he completed a Diploma in Music and Performance in 2011. He then immediately completed a Bachelors Degree of Practical Music in at 2012 at University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College.

In 2017 he performed the role of Parpignol and understudied Rodolfo in G. Puccini’s opera La Bohème production, and also sang the tenor solo part in Beethoven’s Mass in C with Yale University Choir and the KZNPO.

It wasn’t until 2019 that the country and some parts of the world paused to give an ovation to Wayne’s splendid enactment of the of role of Alfredo in the Sensational Opera, “La Traviata” by G. Verdi’s. This role resulted in a tour the of City of London that he animated with selected renditions from “Ucu Lwegodi”.

Some of the most memorable roles that Wayne recently performed include a Solo in the production of Haydn’s Oratorio “The Creation” in December 2020 in Durban, September 2021 he performed and he coordinated the “Resilience - The Journey” concert together with Nokuzi Teto.

Wayne is currently a Freelance Opera Singer and Voice Trainer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College, and given his experience he also works with a number of choirs nationally. This is one voice that any music lover would sure not want to miss at the Joburg Choral Festival.