SA baritone Njabulo Madlala awarded first prize worth £10,000 in the 55th Ferrier Competition.The first prize at the 55th Ferrier Competition, held at the Wigmore Hall a few months back, was awarded by the unanimous decision of the jury, to baritone Njabulo Madlala (28) from South Africa. Njabulo, who delighted the Wigmore audience with the power and poetry of his performance, studied on the PG Opera Course at Guildhall under Robert Dean and to date has received awards from the Oppenheimer Memorial and Countess of Munster Trusts, the South African National Arts Council, the Sir Peter Moores Foundation, and the Musicians Benevolent Fund.
He is a BP Young Artist, a Samling Scholar, a Kathleen Ferrier Bursary winner and a recipient of the Kenneth Loveland Gift Prize. His operatic roles have included Le Calender in La Rencontre Imprévue and the King in The King Goes Forth to France for GSMD; Bello in La Fanciulla del West and Schaunard in La Bohème for Opera Holland Park; and Mel in The Knot Garden at the Montepulciano Festival. He is currently continuing his studies at the Dennis O’Neill Cardiff International Academy of Voice and this summer he will be singing with them in Tuscany, in conjunction with Opera Barga, the role of Don Giulio in Donizetti's L'Ajo nell'imbarazzo. He will also be singing Don Fernando in Fidelio for Opera Holland Park.
He was accompanied for the Ferrier auditions by South African born pianist James Baillieu and they held the Wigmore audience captive with a programme of arias from Bellini and Leoncavallo, Butterworth’s Bredon Hill, Belsazar by Schumann and a South African Folk Song.
For more information contact 0845 070 4969 info@ferrierawards.org.uk
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