Thembinkosi Magagula is a classical singer, a junior lecturer in Western Classical Voice and Pedagogy, and a DMus candidate in performance at North-West University, under the tutelage of Prof Santisa Viljoen. She obtained an MMus in Applied Vocal Studies at the Maastricht Conservatorium, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands under the tutelage of Prof Yvonne Schiffelers. Thembinkosi has been awarded several merit bursaries and studied as an exchange student at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. Additionally, she has participated in vocal masterclasses led by Klesie Kelly-Moog, Mya Besselink, Kamal Khan, Roberta Alexander, Janice Dixon, Rachelle Jonck, Barbara Hill-Moore, Rosemary Joshua, Erica Eloff, Kobie van Rensburg, and Dunja Vejzovic. She also participated in a workshop with Lotte de Beer and took part in the Incanto Tignano programme with Nicola Carbone.

Thembinkosi has won several local competitions and participated in international singing competitions including Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, Belgium, and Voices of South Africa. She was a semi-finalist in the International Voice Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, the Veronica Dunne Competition in Dublin, Ireland, and the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Jurmala, Latvia. She won second and special prizes in the 2018 Unisa International Singing Competition and the 2019 SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competitions.

Her career highlights include performances as Cunegonde in Bernstein’s Candide in the Netherlands, and in Portugal; a concert version of Porgy and Bess in November 2019 conducted by Jan Cober; and as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème by the Nederlandse Reisopera in 2017. Her performance experiences further include the role of Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Potchefstroom under the direction of Robert Lehmeier, solo roles in Aardklop productions of the Requiem by Mozart and also the one by Fauré, and the Les Azuriale’s production of Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias in Monaco (2018).

Her recent performances include the Mozart and Rossini concert galas with the Rotterdam Sinfonia, conducted by Conrad van Alphen in Den Haag, Rotterdam, and at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Other performances include the roles of: Mädchen von Mahagonny in Kurtweil’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Festival AIX (2019) and with the Dutch National Opera (2023), and the First Niece in Britten’s Peter Grimes with the WADOPERA in September 2021. She sang the role of the Second Girlfriend in the European debut of the opera Blue by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson for the Dutch National Opera and Ballet (2022). She recently performed the First Niece in the Dutch National Opera and Ballet’s production of Peter Grimes (2024).

[2025-02-06]