ROSL WIN FOR NJABULO MADLALA

In February, South African baritone Njabulo Madlala was announced the winner of the 2012 Royal Overseas League (ROSL) International Singing Competition in London. The other three finalists who took part were from Australia, Ireland and England.

As the winner of this section of the competition, Njabulo Madlala won a prize of £5000, plus concerts that will be organized by the ROSL. Njabulo said that he was delighted with the prize and wanted to share the good news with fellow South African singers.

“I am thrilled about this award and feel very lucky to have been the chosen one out of my very talented and deserving colleagues who were in the final with me!” he says.

“I’m proud to be able to bring the prize home to South Africa and Durban where it really belongs!,” says Madlala who was born and bred in Durban where his family still lives, From the Inanda New area, he only started studying music in high school and then won a scholarship to the UK.

Also winner of First Prize at the 2010 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, Madlala studied the post-graduate opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice.

The Final of the 2012 ROSL competition, when the winners of the various categories compete against each other takes place at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on May 8, when a Gold Medallist will be announced. The overall winner receives a prize of £10 000. South African pianist Ben Schoeman was the Gold Medallist of the ROSL in 2009.

The competition takes place annually and has four solo awards for Keyboard, Strings, Wind/Percussion and Singers, the winners of which compete for the Competition Gold Medal and First Prize. The solo awards are open to UK and Commonwealth citizens (including former Commonwealth countries), for instrumentalists and singers up to and including the age of 30 as at May 8, 2012.

The ROSL offers many performance opportunities to prizewinners after the competition at major venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London and has established a relationship with many leading UK festivals including Brighton, Dartington International Summer School, Kings Lynn and the Lake District Summer Music Festival.

ROSL ARTS own series of chamber music concerts at Overseas House Edinburgh and is a well established fixture of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

For more information on Njabula Madlala visit http://www.classicsa.co.za/site/features/view/njabulo_madlala_considers_himself_one_luck_fella/