Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi

A second-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, the South African soprano learned during her first year with the program that “when it comes to singing, I can go on and on until forever. During the first half of the year I was involved in one opera after another, and after that I felt I could do any role offered to me – provided, of course, that I prepared in a timely fashion. I also realized how much I could learn from simply watching other artists – how they respond to each other, how they share energy onstage.” Mkhwanazi debuted in Chicago in 2014 singing the leading role of Thérèse/Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias with the Civic Orchestra. In America she has been heard as Susanna/Le nozze di Figaro at Brown University. She is an alumna of the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town. Her performances with Cape Town Opera include Konstanze and Antonia at Cape Town Opera Theatre and Fiordiligi, Adina, Anne Trulove, and Madama Cortese/Il viaggio a Reims at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre. The soprano’s successes in competitions include the 2015 Women’s Voice Fellowship from the Luminarts Cultural Foundation. Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi is sponsored by Susan and Richard Kiphart and Drs. Funmi and Sola Olopade.

Previously at Lyric Opera: Barbarina/ The Marriage of Figaro (2015|16); Clara/Porgy and Bess (2014|15).

Last updated: September 26, 2015