WILLIAM KENTRIDGE
Artist | Concept and design

William Kentridge (born Johannesburg, South Africa, 1955) is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theater and opera productions. His method combines drawing, writing, film, performance, music, theater and collaborative practices to create works of art that are grounded in politics, science, literature and history, yet maintain a space for contradiction and uncertainty.

Kentridge’s work has been seen in museums and galleries around the world since the 1990s, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Musée du Louvre in Paris, Whitechapel Gallery in London, Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Zeitz MOCAA and the Norval Foundation in Cape Town and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He has participated a number of times in Documenta in Kassel (2012, 2002,1997) and the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999 and 1993).

Opera productions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Alban Berg’s operas Lulu and Wozzeck. They have been seen at opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, English National Opera in London, Opera de Lyon, Amsterdam opera, the Sydney Opera House and the Salzburg Festival.

Kentridge’s theatrical productions, performed in theaters and at festivals across the globe, include Refuse the Hour, Winterreise, Paper Music, The Head & the Load, Ursonate and Waiting for the Sibyl and in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company, Ubu & the Truth Commission, Faustus in Africa!, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and Woyzeck on the Highveld.

In 2016, Kentridge founded The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, a space for responsive thinking and making through experimental, collaborative and cross-disciplinary arts practices. The center hosts an ongoing program of workshops, public performances and mentorship activities.

Kentridge is the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities, including Yale, London University and Columbia University. In 2010, he received the Kyoto Prize. In 2012, he presented the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. In 2015, he was appointed an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy in London. In 2017, he received the Princesa de Asturias Award for the arts, and in 2018, the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize. In 2019, he received the Praemium Imperiale award in painting in Tokyo. In 2022, he was presented the Honour of the Order of the Star of Italy and the Queen Sonja Lifetime Achievement Award for printmaking.

PHILIP MILLER
Composer | Music concept and orchestration

Philip Miller is a composer and sound artist from South Africa. His work cuts across musical genres and media, including music theater, contemporary dance, choral and symphonic works and video and sound installations.

His collaboration with William Kentridge has spanned over 20 years, including some of Kentridge’s most seminal films and multimedia installations: Black Box/Chambre Noire (2005), I Am Not Me, the Horse Is Not Mine (2013), Refusal of Time (2015), Triumphs and Laments (2016) and The Head & the Load (2018). Their work has been presented at museums and concert halls such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Armory, MOMA and the Tate Modern and Royal Academy.

Miller’s choral composition Rewind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony emerged out of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has toured extensivel,y including the South Bank Centre (London) Celebrate Brooklyn Festival and MASS MoCA.

Miller has received commissions from The International Music Institute Darmstadt Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn Festival and MASS MoCA (USA), Kaunas Cultural Capital of European Union (Lithuania) and Cape Town Opera. 

His work has been exhibited at the Venice and Kaunas Biennale. He has been the recipient of honorary fellowships and residencies including The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Centre, Civitella Rainieri and the Centre of Archive and Public Culture(APC) University of Cape Town.

Miller is currently completing his opera The Life and Trials of Simon Nkoli, which will premiere in 2023 in Cape Town.

THUTHUKA SIBISI
Co-composer and music director

Thuthuka Sibisi’s musical education began at the world-renowned Drakensberg Boy’s Choir School. He went on to graduate in 2011 with a Bachelor of Music from Stellenbosch University. Alongside his music studies, he completed studies in physical theater and movement with Sam Prigge and Estelle Olivier (Stellenbosch). He is a graduate of the Performance Making program at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Sibisi has performed throughout South Africa as well as in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Engagements include Chorus Master for UCT Opera School: Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims and Four:30 - South African Operas.

Visual collaborations include work with Johannesburg-based photographer and sculptor Jake Singer on Joburg City Hustle (2015) and Intersections to This City (2014), presented at Sustainable Empires (Venice, Italy) and Los Angeles Centre for Digital Art (USA). Other exhibition work includes the performance installation Extracts From The Underground (2013), presented in collaboration with the ICA (formerly known as GIPCA – Cape Town). This installation was later presented at Wits Art Museum in 2014 as part of The Migrant Journey Series. In 2016, the sound and image installation The African Choir 1891 Re-imagined was presented as part of the Black Chronicles Archive Laboratory at Autograph ABP (London), University of Johannesburg’s VIAD FADA (Johannesburg, RSA), Iziko South African Museum (Cape Town, RSA) and The Apartheid Museum (Johannesburg, RSA) curated by Reneé Mussai. Recent collaborations in film include Ixhala (dir. Zandile Tisani) and Lamentations (dir. Boris Gerrets).

In 2016, Sibisi made his Italian debut as music director and composer (alongside Philip Miller) for William Kentridge’s Triumphs and Laments (Rome, Italy). Further projects include a commission by Cape Town Opera for Musiquées Sacrée d’Afrique et d’Europe, in residence at Festival International d’Aix-en-Provence (France). In 2020, Thuthuka composed Lakutshon’ilanga, commissioned by Dutch National Opera and Ballet’s Faust [workingtitle] (Netherlands). 

Currently, Sibisi is creating Broken Chord alongside choreographer and dancer Gregory Maqoma to premiere at Grec Festival de Barcelona (Spain), Théâtre de la Ville (Frace), Kunstfest Weimar (Germany), St Pölten Festpielhaus (Austria), Torinodanza Festival/Teatro Stabile di Torino – Teatro Nazionale Festival Aperto / Fondazione I Teatri – Reggio Emilia (Italy), Stanford Live at Stanford University.

He is a recipient of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans (2017, RSA), Ampersand Foundation Fellow (2018, NYC), American Academy in Berlin resident (2019, Germany), Bushwick Center resident (2019, NYC), Goethe Institut resident (2019, Germany) and Performa Curatorial Fellow (2019, NYC).

Sibisi is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg.

GREGORY VUYANI MAQOMA
Choreographer + dancer

Gregory Vuyani Maqoma became interested in dance in the late 1980s as a means to escape the political tensions in his place of birth, Soweto, South Africa. He started his formal dance training in 1990 at Moving Into Dance, where in 2002 he became associate artistic director. Maqoma has established himself as an internationally renowned dancer, choreographer, teacher and director. He founded Vuyani Dance Theatre in 1999, when he was undertaking a scholarship at the Performing Arts Research and Training School in Belgium under the direction of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

Maqoma is respected for his collaborations with artists of his generation such as Akram Khan, Vincent Mantsoe, Faustin Linyekula, Shanell Winlock, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Theatre Director’s James Ngcobo and Kwame Kwei-Armah. 

Several works in his repertoire have won him accolades and international acclaim. These include FNB Vita Choreographer of the Year in 1999, 2001 and 2002 for Rhythm 1.2.3, Rhythm Blues and Southern Comfort, respectively. He received the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance in 2002. Maqoma was a finalist in the Daimler Chrysler Choreography Award in 2002 and in the Rolex Mentorship Programme in 2003. He is the recipient of the 2012 Tunkie Award for Leadership in Dance. In 2014, he received a Bessie, New York’s premier dance award for Exit/Exist for original music composition. He served as a nominator in the 2016-2017 Rolex Arts Initiative as well as curating the 2017 Main Dance Program for The National Arts Festival. His works Via Kanana and Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero are currently touring in Africa, Europe and the United States. 

In 2017, Maqoma was honoured by the French government with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Arts and Literature) Award. In 2018, Maqoma was one of the selected visiting artists at the Virginia Commonwealth University Dance Department as well as a visiting teacher at Ecole De Sables – Toubab Dialaw Senegal. 

Maqoma was part of the selection committee for Dance Biennale Afrique Festival, which took place in Marrakech in March 2020.

In 2019, Maqoma collaborated with Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah in the production “Tree,” produced by Manchester International Festival and the Young Vic. 

CATHERINE MEYBURGH
Projection designer and video editor and compositor

Catherine Meyburgh works in film as a director and editor and in theater and opera as a projection designer. Her collaborations with William Kentridge since the mid-1990s include his animation films, theater works and operas. In television, she has edited the groundbreaking drama series Yizo Yizo. As film director, she is currently completing the documentary Of Gold, Dust & Breath with co-director Richard Pakleppa. 

GRETA GOIRIS
Costume designer

Greta Goiris studied costume design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and set design at Institute del Teatre in Barcelona. She designed her first costumes for Jaques Delcuvellerie in Brussels and Avignon, among which were A Grande Imprecation Devant Les Murs De La Ville (T. Dorst ), La Mere (B. Brecht), Andromaque (Racine) and Rwanda-1994.

Since 2001, she has collaborated with Johan Simons on numerous (music-)theatre productions, which among others includes the Leenane Trilogy (M.Mc Donagh) for ZT Hollandia; Sentimenti, Das Leben ein Traum (Calderon), Vergessene Strasse (Louis-Paul Boon) for the Ruhrtriennale; Die Perser (Aischylos) for Münchner Kammerspiele; Die Neger (Jean Genet) for Wiener Festwochen (2014); and Radetzkymarsch (Joseph Roth) for the Burgtheater (2017). Also with Simons, she designed the costumes for operas Fidelio (Beethoven) for Opera de la Bastille (2008) in Paris, Herzog Blaubarts Burg (Bela Bartok) for the Salzburger Festspiele (2008), and Alceste (Gluck) for the Ruhrtriennale (August 2016). In July 2016, Goiris designed the costumes for Les Indes Galantes directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for the Bayerische Staatsoper. Greta also collaborated with Pierre Audi, Ivo Van Hove, Karin Beyer, Josse De Pauw and Peter Verhelst.

Die Zauberflöte (De Munt, 2005) would be the start of a long collaboration with William Kentridge. Operas The Nose; (Metropolitan Opera, 2010), Lulu (DNO, Metropolitan Opera, 2015, ENO 2016), Wozzeck (Salzburger Festspiele, 2017) and installations and music theater productions Refuse the Hour; (Holland Festival/Festival d’Avignon), The Refusal of Time; (Documenta Kassel), Winterreise; (Wiener Festwochen), Paper Music; (Firenze), More Sweetly Play the Dance (Amsterdam) and O Sentimental Machine (Istanbul Biennal) all follow.

SABINE THEUNISSEN
Set designer

Sabine Theunissen studied architecture in La Cambre, Brussels. She joined the Royal Theater of la Monnaie (Brussels), where she worked for 17 years as internal décor assistant in the design office. 

In 2003, she met William Kentridge. Their collaboration begins with Magic Flute (creation  Royal Theater of La Monnaie 2005). Since then, she designed sets for his opera productions, among which, The Nose, Refusal  of Time, The Head & the Load, Waiting for the Sibyl and the sets of the movie Oh To Believe in Another World. 

In 2021, Theunissen made an animated film, White Box Jacket, and she is currently working on the scenic version of it for the Orion Theatre in Stockholm for 2024. In 2016, she created the Squatelier, a studio where she develops her projects and research as a team. 

URS SCHÖNEBAUM
Lighting designer

Urs Schönebaum studied photography in Munich. He worked from 1995 until 1998 with Max Keller as a part of the lighting department of Münchner Kammerspiele. After being assistant director for productions at Grand Theatre de Genève, Lincoln Center in New York and Münchner Kammerspiele, he started in 2000 to work as a lighting designer for opera, theater, dance, art installations and performances.

He participated in over 130 productions at major theaters including Covent Garden London; Opéra Bastille, Opera Garnier, La Comédie Française and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; La Monnaie Bruxelles; Opera de Lyon; Metropolitan Opera New York; Staatsoper unter den Linden, Schaubühne and Deutsches Theater in Berlin; Bayerische Staatsoper and Residenztheater in Munich; Dramaten Stockholm; Det Norske Teatret Oslo; Teatro dell’Opera Roma; Festival d’Avignon; Teatro Real Madrid; Festival d'Aix en Provence; Bolshoi Theater Moscow; Salzburger Festspiele; NCPA and Poly Theater Beijing; Sydney Opera House; Dutch National Opera, Salzburger Feestspiele, Bayreuth Festival and Wiener Festwochen.

He works with stage directors such as Thomas Ostermeier, La Fura dels Baus, William Kentridge, Pierre Audi, Michael Haneke, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Sasha Waltz, and was a longtime collaborator of Robert Wilson. His work includes lighting designs for art projects with Vanessa Beecroft, Anselm Kiefer, Dan Graham, Taryn Simon and Marina Abramovi?. He also designed works for installations in Kraków, Munich, Salzburg and New York. In 2012, he directed and designed the operas Jetzt and What Next? and in 2014 Happy Happy, composed by Mathis Nitschke at the Opera National de Montpellier. In 2017, he created the set and lighting design for the production Bomarzo at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

MARK GREY
Sound designer

Mark Grey is an Emmy Award-winning sound designer who made history as the first sound designer for The New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall (On the Transmigration of Souls, 2002, which also won the Pulitzer Prize in Music) and The Metropolitan Opera (Doctor Atomic, 2008; Nixon in China, 2011; Death of Klinghoffer, 2014; The Merry Widow, 2015; Bluebeard’s Castle/Iolanta, 2015; L’Amour de Loin, 2016). He has collaborated intimately with the composer John Adams, and several others, for nearly three decades. His sound design creations have been seen and heard throughout most major concert halls, HD simulcast theaters and opera houses worldwide.

MICHELE GRECO
Co-Sound Designer + Engineer

Michele Greco is a sound engineer, sound designer and technical manager, his works is mainly focused on acoustic music, such as classical, contemporary, jazz and ethnic music, and the interconnection between contemporary art and music. During his career he had the chance to be part of the creative process and to oversee technical aspects for artists like, just to name few, Erwin Wurm, Vanessa Beecroft, Alfredo Pirri, Iannis Kounellis, Ensemble Interconteporain, IRCAM, Klangforum Wien, Roberto Fabbriciani, Ciro Longobardi, Michele Marasco, Ju Ping Song, Alvin Curran, Kammeroper Frankfurt. His collaboration with William Kentridge starts with the World Premiere of Paper Music in 2014. He is also collaborating with Michael Nyman and the Michael Nyman Band, as sound engineer, sound designer and technical manager.

JANUS FOUCHÉ
Video editor and compositor

Janus Fouché is a South African digital artist, working in multimedia projects ranging from interactive electronic musical installations and animation to self-organizing biological systems laser-engraved onto paper. He is most known as a collaborator, having worked with contemporary artists and composers such as William Kentridge, Blessing Ngobeni, Deborah Bell, Philip Miller and João Orecchia.

He focuses on the digital space as a parallel and abstract but equally present universe with its own laws and aesthetics to be constructed, explored and reflected upon, revealing the underlying systems and relationships of our own experience. Fragments of both worlds are pulled into one another to create new, unexpected relationships. Organic generative drawings of artificial life, collages of film and animation meet motion-captured puppets and mechanical personifications.

ZANA MAROVIC
Video editor and compositor

Blending her interests in science and art with that of video editing in film and television, Sarajevo-born Zana Marovic settled in Johannesburg in 1995. She gained experience by working on various television productions from documentaries to feature films, including award-winning wildlife feature films by the acclaimed National Geographic filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert. In 2011, she became involved in the creative process on projects and installations by William Kentridge, including Refuse the Hour, The Refusal of Time, O Sentimental Machine, Notes Towards the Model Opera, Second Hand Reading, Lulu, Wozzeck and The Head & the Load, among others.

LUC DE WIT
Associate director and actor

Luc de Wit is an actor, director and drama teacher. He began his career as an actor, but later worked increasingly as a stage director. Since 1995, he has focused on directing operas. He also teaches regularly at theater and music theater colleges and has given workshops for actors, singers, directors and set designers. He currently teaches at the Lassaad International School of Theatre in Brussels.

Luc De Wit has worked as a co-director with William Kentridge since 2005 and often revives Kentridge’s productions in international opera houses and theaters. Among these productions have been Die Zauberflöte (Opera La Monnaie /De Munt, Brussels and revived in many opera houses), Il Ritorno di Ulisse, The Nose, Lulu and Büchner’s Woyzeck. He was associate director of Kentridge’s production of The Nose, originally seen at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2010 and revived there in 2013. This production was also seen at the Festival d’Aix en Provence and at the Opera de Lyon in 2011. In 2012, he worked with William Kentridge and composer Philip Miller on the chamber opera Refuse the Hour. The following year, he worked as movement director on Guy Cassier’s production of Götterdämmerung at the Berlin State Opera and La Scala, Milan. That same year, he directed Die Zauberflöte with Pierrick Sorin in Lyon.

In 2015, Luc De Wit and Kentridge once again worked together, this time on Lulu, a co-production among the Met, The Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Rome Opera and the English National Opera.

In 2017 Luc De Wit was co-director with Kentridge for Wozzeck at the Salzburger Festspiele in co-production with Sidney Opera, the Met and the Canadian Opera of Toronto.

CHRIS-WALDO DE WET
Studio technical director

Chris-Waldo de Wet (1984), born in the small mining town of Ermelo, is an industrial designer by trade. Employing design techniques and principles, he finds practical solutions to integrate art’s functionality and aesthetic. 

De Wet has been working with William Kentridge in his studio since 2012. His responsibilities include design, fabrication, production and studio management, technical direction and exhibition installations.

KIM GUNNING
Video control

Kim Gunning was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She began her career in theater as a stage manager in 1984, eventually specializing in opera stage management. In this capacity, she has worked extensively in South Africa, the United States of America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Gunning then moved to Chicago, where she spent three years as production stage manager for Chicago Opera Theater. During this time, she also worked with the Handspring Puppet Company as a stage manager and video operator for their productions of Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and UBU and the Truth Commission. William Kentridge was stage director for both of these productions. When Kentridge was engaged to direct a new version of Zauberflöte (produced by the Theatre de la Monnaie) in 2004, he asked Gunning to join the production as his video controller. Since then, she has been part of his production team for Zauberflöte, Refuse the Hour, The Nose, Winterreise, Lulu and, most recently, Wozzeck.

DUSKO MAROVIC
Cinematographer

Having settled in South Africa from Serbia in the early 1990s, Belgrade-born cinematographer Dusko Marovic has diversified his skills in local and international productions. His work on commercials, corporate films, documentaries, art installations and featurettes for HBO, BBC Sport, National Geographic and Discovery, to name a few, took him across the globe. Born in 1969 and educated in the field of telecommunication studies, Marovic is known for a variety of critically impressive works including the award-winning feature documentary The War Photographers; featurettes for TV series The Passion, Generation Kill, The House of Saddam and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, among others. Since 2011, he has filmed for William Kentridge’s theater productions and art installations such as The Refusal of Time, More Sweetly Play the Dance, Notes Towards the Model Opera, O Sentimental Machine, Lulu, Wozzeck and The Head & the Load.

MICHAEL P. ATKINSON
Orchestrator

Michael P. Atkinson actively participates in the cultural scenes of New York as a French hornist, composer, arranger, conductor and producer.

Since making his solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at age 18, Atkinson has performed as a soloist and in numerous ensembles. As solo French hornist of The Knights, he has concertized in the United States and Europe, and has played on numerous recordings and broadcasts. As an ensemble player, he has also appeared with, among others, the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  

As an arranger, concertized has worked extensively with Sufjan Stevens. After performing and arranging horn parts on tours of Europe, Asia and the U.S., concertized began assisting Stevens to prepare the score for his award-winning symphonic film suite B.Q.E. At the world premiere performances in October 2008, concertized conducted an ensemble consisting of a chamber orchestra, rock band, Hula-Hoopers and synchronized film at the Brooklyn Academy of Music opera house.

In 2011, Atkinson was commissioned by New York City Ballet to create orchestrations based on Stevens’ album Run Rabbit Run for a new ballet by choreographer Justin Peck. Atkinson conducted the world premiere in October 2012 at Lincoln Center, which was hailed as “a triumph” by The New York Times.

Other recent projects include arrangements that have been performed by soprano Dawn Upshaw, violinist Lara St. John, as well as the indie rock bands Gabriel and the Hounds, and Takka Takka. These works have been heard on NPR and CBC radio and on numerous commercial recordings.  Atkinson’s compositions have been performed on recitals presented by International Contemporary Ensemble and the Manhattan New Music Project.  

A native of Pittsburgh, Atkinson holds B.M. and M.M. degrees from The Juilliard School.  

DAMBUZA NQUMASHE
Actor

Dambuza Nqumashe is an actor and director of international renown. He is known for performing striking theatrical works in multiple languages, communicating the history, culture and concerns of a wide swath of the South African population. He has coordinated festivals such as the Chulumanco Arts Festival. Nqumashe received a diploma from the Market Theatre Laboratory for Theatre Skills and Performance in 2004 and from the University of Witwatersrand in 2007. Nqumashe’s  theatrical career began as the lead in Fitzgerald Goieman’s The Greatest Gift From Above (2000), followed by Kasiology (2004), Omphile Moluysi’s Pozing (2005), Daniel Banks’ Blurring Shine (2006) and Greg Melville-Smith’s Walking Tall, a popular educational theatrical work, shown in South Africa, Kenya, Namibia, Belgium and Sweden. In 2008, Nqumashe became director of Walking Tall, sharing his knowledge of acting and theater as a drama trainer for acting workshops at the Market Theatre Lab.

In 2012, Nqumashe was lead performer in Moagi Modise’s GOON, which won an Ovation Award (Encore Award) at the National Arts Festival in South Africa, followed by Paul Grootboom’s Relativity (2013), which toured to various cities in France, including Paris. Nqumashe directed the all-female production of Big Hole for the 2013 National Arts Festival, Inspector Map Bassoon (2015) and was lead performer in Nothing but the Truth at the Soweto Theatre throughout 2015. His film and TV credits include Drawing the Line (2008), Koos Roet’s Pawpaw Vir My Darling (2014), and Willie Esterhuyzen’s Droomdag (2016). Nqumashe has appeared in South African shows including MZI WA TWO SIX (2005). He also had major television appearances in shows such as Mbalemnyama (2014), 7De Laan (2015-2016) and Jericho Andre Odendaal’s Lithapo. Following the pandemic, Nqumashe had major lead performances in Monageng Motshabi’s critical success Red on the Rainbow (2021-2022), communicating a painful tale of current and continued racism in South Africa.

HAMILTON DLAMINI
Actor

An award-winning film and stage actor, playwright, director and producer, Hamilton Dlamini was born in 1969 in Sebokeng, near Vanderbijlpark. He started his acting career in 1984 and currently runs his own production company, Ndlondlo Productions. Highlights of his career include his performance in Mncedisi Shabangu’s Ten Bush in 2008-9, which won him a Naledi award for best supporting actor; his collaboration with William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company on Woyzeck in the Highveld in 2009, which toured the world; performing opposite Mncedisi Shabangu in a Prince Lamla-directed production of Woza Albert! at the Market Theatre in 2012, which enjoyed a six-month run; and in 2013, performing in Athol Fugard’s Nongogo, directed by James Ngcobo. A well-known face in a variety of television comedy and drama series over the years, including Ntokozo in SABC’s Zikhethele, Ndwandwe in Emzini Wezinsizwa and Mojo in Stokvel, Dlamini is the face and voice of the South African tavern industry, thanks to his industrial and corporate theater profile. 

NHLANHLA MAHLANGU
Actor, featured vocalist, performer and dancer

An exceptional vocalist, choreographer, composer, theatermaker, gravity-defying dancer and educator, Nhlanhla Mahlangu is a graduate of dance teaching at Moving Into Dance Mophatong, a dance academy in South Africa. Born in Pholapark Squatter Camp in Apartheid South Africa in the late 1970s, Mahlangu started school during the national state of emergency in the 1980s. Mahlangu witnessed firsthand the conflicts among the African National Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party and the “Third Force” of the 1990s. 

Mahlangu can be described as a generous interdisciplinary collaborator who excels at conjuring original, complex and contemporary work rooted in traditional forms. In addition to his contemporary dance and musical ingenuity, Mahlangu is celebrated for his embodiment of isicathamiya, an a cappella-type musical form combining vocals and movement. Mahlangu uses this practice as a way to process the history of South Africa, particularly the plight of migrant workers. These performances look to build social cohesion, heal the wounds of the past and encourage resilience in the new Democratic South Africa. Mahlangu’s prolific practice is one of interrogation, articulation, development and research. He has gained exceptional ground through his pivotal collaborations with luminaries the caliber of William Kentridge (The Head & the Load, SIBYL, Ursonate, The Centre for the Less Good Idea), Robyn Orlin, Richard Cock, Gregory Vuyani Maqoma, Sylvia Glasser, Vincent Mantsoe, Jay Pather, James Ngcobo, Victor Ntoni and Hugh Masekela, as well as his choral music and musicmaking approaches with his Hlabelela Ensemble and Song and Dance Works. 

Mahlangu is the Naledi award winner for Best Choreographer, Promax Africa Award 2021 for best title sequence in “The Estate”, New York Theatre and Dance Awards - The Bessies 2020 Best composition and sound design, recognition by the The Danish Arts Foundation's Committee for Performing Arts Project Funding in 2019 for choreography, casting and co-directing, Special Price Winner of the Reumert Award 2020 in Denmark, among others.

JOANNA DUDLEY
Featured vocalist, performer

Joanna Dudley works internationally as a director, performer and singer creating performance, choreography and installation. She studied music at the Adelaide Conservatorium, Australia and the Sweelinck Conservatorium, The Netherlands. She also studied traditional Japanese music in Tokyo and traditional dance and music in Java.

Dudley has collaborated with William Kentridge for the past seven years as a co-creator, singer and performer. Works include Refuse the Hour, produced by the Holland and Avignon Festivals, which toured internationally for six years. Paper Music premiered at Carnegie Hall and has appeared at major venues and festivals such as Art Basel, Paris Philharmonie, MartinGropius Bau Berlin and Holland Festival. Kentridge invited Dudley to create a solo role for his production of Lulu for the Metropolitan Opera New York, English National Opera and Dutch National Opera. Together they created and Dudley performed The Guided Tour of the Exhibition: for Soprano and Handbag for the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin. It has been shown at major venues throughout the world including the Louisiana Museum and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. 

Dudley has created and is featured in a seven-screen video and sound operatic installation titled WE WILL SLAM YOU WITH OUR WINGS for an army of six girls between the ages of 8 and 16 years old, with herself appearing as the war mistress. The installation draws on opera, dictators and politics. 

Dudley worked as a guest director and performer at Berlin’s Schaubuehne. Works created there include My Dearest, My Fairest with Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola and colours may fade with Esnaola and Rufus Didwiszus. Other works in collaboration with Didwiszus include the solo performance, The Scorpionfish, Who Killed Cock Robin? with the Flemish vocal ensemble Capilla Flamenca and LOUIS & BEBE with the noise musician SchneiderTM. Other collaborators include Seiji Ozawa, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Thomas Ostermeier.

ANN MASINA
Featured vocalist

Ann Masina was born and raised in Ackerville, EMalahleni in the Mpumalanga Province of the Republic of South Africa. Masina started singing as a soloist in 1994 in the Africa Sings Choral Choir. In 1999, she joined the Nico Malan Opera House (now known as Cape Town Opera House) and performed operas such as Carmen and Aida. Ann is a co-founder of JOAT Opera Group. From 2005 to 2010, she worked with with choreographer Robyn Orlin on her productions Dressed to Kill, Venus and Walking Next to our Shoes and toured Europe extensively. From 2007 to 2009, she was a member of the three-time Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir. From 2014 to 2015, she performed in a musical called Colour Me Human produced by Steve Dyer and performed at the Soweto Theater and Joburg Theater. She has been part of William Kentridge’s workshops and productions since 2011, including Refuse the Hour, Paper Music, Triumph and Laments. Masina has also been part of the Center for the Less Good Idea and performed Venus vs Modernity alongside Lebo Mashile. 

BHAM NTABENI
Featured vocalist

Bham Ntabeni is a composer and director for films as well as a player and singer who has worked and collaborated with Philip Miller, Gibson Kente, William Kentridge, Thulanee Mbatha and Bheki Sbiya. He has appeared on SABC TV 1 and 2, as well as eTV, and performed for President Thabo Mbeki.

SIPHO SEROTO
Featured performer

Sipho Seroto began school at age 6 at Ditshaba Primary School in 1995 and matriculated at Panorama Combined School in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal in 2008. In 2009, he went to Johannesburg and started to work as a part-time television extra for local soapies.

In 2010, he completed a TV presenting course at Media Concepts and was awarded a certificate. In 2012, he worked as a canvasser for new accounts at Edgars. In 2016, Sipho was featured in a SHOWMAX TV commercial and began to work at William Kentridge’s art workshops as a stage performer and actor on a part-time basis.

N’FALY KOUYATÉ
Featured performer, kora

The twice-Grammy-nominated winner of Songlines Music Awards (ACSS, 2017), N’Faly Kouyaté is a multitalented artist coming from a deeply traditional background in Guinea, West Africa. Kouyaté is working on his new solo project, Music 4 Water, Music 4 Life. A. In 2018, he first participated in The Head and The Load as featured vocalist and performer.

TLALE MAKHENE 
Featured performer, percussion

Soweto-born Tlale Makhene is a sought-after percussionist, composer and collaborator who draws from jazz and world music. Makhene has performed internationally, collaborating with artists such as Miriam Makeba, Corinne Bailey Rae, Johnny Clegg and Pharaoh Sanders. His collaboration with William Kentridge began seven years ago with Refuse the Hour and continues through his work with The Centre for the Less Good Idea. The Centre for the Less Good Idea has released two albums: Ascension of the Enlightened (2004), which won the highest accolade in South African music awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and Swazi Gold (2017).

VINCENZO PASQUARIELLO
Featured performer, piano

Vincenzo Pasquariello is an Italian musician and theater actor. He’s descended from a family of musicians, including Gennaro Pasquariello, who was a famous singer in the early 1900s. His father, an orchestra conductor, taught him his first music lessons at the age of 5, and he continued his studies and graduated from Conservatorio G. Verdi of Milan under the guidance of Bruno Canino. In the late 1990s, he was working in theater as a pianist and composer for incidental music. It happened accidentally that he had to play a role in a performance, and afterward this became a more and more important activity. He has been present at several festivals and has performed in a lot of important theater, such as Teatro Argentina of Rome, Teatro Biondo of Palermo and Piccolo Teatro of Milan.

DAPHNE
(Featured Performer, viola)

DAPHNE is currently one of South Africa’s most prominent young violists. With the launch of DAPHNE as an independent solo artist who practices African contemporary classical music, Daphne explores how sound is used as a transformative agent over the performative western art practice. DAPHNE released their debut project, Homegrown Immigrant, in January 2023, which investigates sound as a healing agent. Homegrown Immigrant challenges the performer and audience by using various sonic textures to convey the theme of violence.

DAPHNE has toured extensively in Southern Africa, North Africa, Europe and the United States as an award-winning violist. In their most recent tour, Daphne toured with 2022 Standard Bank Young Artist, MSAKI, as part of her Delta Love Experience tour as a core band member and talent coordinator.

Awards include the current winner of the South African Strings Foundation Competition 2022 and the Mabel Quick International bursary competition 2019. Daphne’s musical education includes an MMus in viola performance from the Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, South Africa and a BMus in viola performance from the Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa.

DAPHNE has collaborated with various ensembles and orchestras, including guest principal for the Free State Symphony Orchestra, an orchestral player with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra. Ensembles include the Cape Town Baroque Ensemble and Cape Chamber Collective.

Currently, DAPHNE’s work is based on their expression as an activist. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, they explore the theme of queer identity and the meaning of community as a queer South African of Khoi descent.

THULANI CHAUKE
Dancer

Thulani Chauke started his performing arts career at the Jabavu Anti Crime Youth Aids Awareness. Between 2001 and 2005, Thulani performed for various projects at Arco Dance Theatre, Halala Afrika Theatre Society and Taelo Dance Theatre. In 2009, he joined Moving Into Dance as a trainer and later that year as a company member. In 2011, he joined Vuyani Dance Theatre as a company member. In 2012, he joined Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative as community arts engagement officer/dancer and choreographer.

Chauke created his first solo work, BLACK DOG, while in a residency program at the Centre National de la Danse in Paris and at the Klap Maison Danse in France. This solo work has been performed at several dance festivals since its creation.

Chauke has worked with internationally acclaimed choreographers such as Gregory Maqoma, PJ Sabbagha, Fana Tshabalala, Shanel Winlock, Ivan Estegneev and Evgeny Kulagin, Iain Macdonald, QudusOnikeku, Themba Mbuli, Thabo Rapoo, Gustine Makgeledisa and Andrea Severa.

Since 2017, Chauke has been working with William Kentridge on various projects curated by The Center for the Less Good Idea.

XOLANI SANELE DLAMINI
Dancer

Xolani Sanele Dlamini was born and raised in Soweto Emdeni North. He studied drama at FUBA School of Dramatics and Visual Arts from 2009 to 2010, where he got a certificate in performing arts and he was awarded the best actor in drama. He studied applied drama at Wits University through Drama For Life. He has been part of numerous theater productions and cartoon series as a voiceover artist. 

JULIA ZENZIE BURNHAM
Dancer

Julia Zenzie Burnham began dancing at a young age with various community groups in Alexandra Township. Burnham did Modern dance and Traditional dance forms which influenced her to join Moving Into Dance Mopharong (MIDM), where she later progressed to be a full time company member. She has worked with various choreographers and earned an award for best upcoming dancer for the Joburg City Festival. She took part in the first crossings project and the FIFA World Cup Concert for artists like Shakira, Black Eyed Peas, Lira and Hugh Masekela.

Burnham has toured in various countries like Switzerland, France, Germany, London, Australia, Columbia and Italy with the work of Robyn Orlin whilst at MIDM. In 2014 she joined Vuyani Dance Theatre where she worked closely with Gregory Maqoma and Luyanda Sidiya. She has taken part in the Metro FM Awards with various South African artists, appeared in Kudu which is a collaboration between Vuyani Dance Theatre and Eric Trufaz and the Quartet. She has also performed at the Presidential Inaugurations, appeared in Full Moon and Ketekang, directed by James Ngcobo, and various other gigs. In 2016 Julia choreographed her own work titled Something Black and Yellow, which was staged at the Market Theatre.

In 2017 she attended the choreographic residency at the American Dance Festival and choreographed a work titled Colour Blind for the ADF students at Duke University. Later that year, she choreographed a tribute work called Matlou, which was staged at the Apartheid Museum. She has done various workshops with William Kentridge and is now a part of The Head & The Load project. She has branched out into commercial work as well and has done adverts for brands like Stumbo Stomp and Castle Lager.

Julia is currently a freelance performing artist and the founder of Black Jaguar Holdings.

MHLABA BUTHELEZI
Ensemble vocalist

Mhlaba Buthelezi is an academic, practitioner, performer and composer who is a music lecturer and producer at Tshwane University of Technology. A Master of Music graduate from Southern Methodist University, where he studied voice with profesoor Barbara Hill-Moore, Buthelezi has performed on grand stages in eSwatini, South Africa, Sweden, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Netherlands, collaborating with renowned accompanists, artists, conductors, directors and orchestras. While in the U.S., Buthelezi was in the chorus for The Dallas Opera, where he performed a couple of operas with the highlight being the premiere of the American opera Moby-Dick at the iconic Winspear Opera House in 2010. In composition, Buthelezi’s oeuvre is an epithet of Indigenous culture and tradition as he predominantly composes in Indigenous languages. A champion of community engagement and participation, Buthelezi is founder and director of Luyandza Academy, an NPO that seeks to provide skills development as well as exhibition and performance opportunities to creative artists and practitioners. Since May 2018, Buthelezi has been touring the world as a performer and vocalist in The Head & the Load.

AYANDA ELEKI 
Ensemble vocalist

Born in Port Elizabeth, Ayanda Eleki grew up in the Eastern Cape Province, where he developed his musical skills as a chorister. As a teenager, he performed as a baritone soloist in Songs of Praise under the baton of Richard Kok. He moved on to Gauteng and was a resident in the opera chorus at the Opera Africa in Pretoria. He then joined the equally successful Voices of the Nation, where he was a bass soloist, and became a freelance opera singer with Isango Ensemble Institution. He sang in highly successful opera tours to Italy, Japan, Australia, Austria, France, Germany and America.

His repertoire includes but is not limited to the roles of Priest in Zauberflöte, Prince Mnyayisa in Princess Magogo, General in Aida, and Alcindoro in La boheme. He has performed in musicals Venus and Adonis, Ragged Trousered Philanthropist and Aesop's Fables.

Eleki made his debut as Sarastroi in Die Zauberflöte at the Tollwood festival in Nunich, Germany. He also performed a solo as Bangindawo in Madiba the African Opera. He performed the role of Pete Quince in A Midsummer Night’s dream and Escamilo in Carmen in London. At present, he is based in Pretoria as a freelance artist.

BULELANI MADONDILE
Ensemble vocalist

Born and bred in Cape Town, Bulelani Madondile joined a choral training program at Cape Town Opera. A year later, he enrolled at the University of Cape Town, where he obtained a post-graduate diploma in 2009.

He has worked and trained with Petrus van Heerden, Danny Theron and Brad Liebl under the baton of professor Angelo Gobbato. He has also worked under directors Angelo Gobbato, Brett Bailey, Mark Dornford-May, Marcus Desando and Patricia Panton.

His roles have included Sciaronne in Tosca, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Antonio in Le Nozze, Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Simon in Treemonish. He’s performed in the chorus for works such as Lucia di Lamemoor, Nabucco, Macbeth, Aida, Idomeneo, Pagliacci, Cavalaria Rusticana, The Pearl Fishers and Porgy and Bess.

NOKUTHULA MAGUBANE 
Ensemble vocalist

Nokuthula Magubane is a 23-year-old music student at Wits University. She is a soprano and classical voice student, majoring in performance. She loves being onstage and performing. As nerve-racking as it gets, the stage is where she feels most at home. She is deeply rooted in the arts, and singing is her greatest passion. After Wits, she plans on completing her master’s degree overseas, either in Europe or America. She is currently working on her skills as a soprano with Eugenie Chopin, and she is acquiring techniques that will ensure a lifelong, healthy career.

NCOKWANE LYDIA MANYAMA
Ensemble vocalist

Lydia Manyama was born August 23, 1982 in Soweto, JHB, South Africa.  She has a national diploma in Music Performance majoring in Jazz voice. She is pursuing her Bachelor of Music with the University of Witwatersrand. She has been involved in music groups since her primary education. She has been a member and a lead singer of praise and worship teams for over a decade. As a soloist, she performs at various events, weddings and concerts. She has been involved in The Head & Load production since 2017.

TSHEGOFATSO MOENG
Ensemble vocalist

Tshegofatso Moeng, of Magong, South Africa, received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States for a Master of Music in Opera Performance, from the University of Maryland. In recent seasons, he performed in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Blitztein’s Regina as part of the Maryland Opera Studio, Verdi’s La Traviata with Ash Lawn Opera and as a soloist in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen with Inscape Orchestra. He has portrayed Junius and Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape Of Lucretia and Jupitor in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfer with MOS. He was recently in LOSW’s production of Mozart’s le Nozze di Figaro.

MAPULE MOLOI
Ensemble vocalist

Mapule Moloi (alto) is a native of Vosloorus, Gauteng-South Africa, where she started singing at a young age. She is pursuing a National Diploma in Vocal Art at Tshwane University of Technology, where she is a third-year student. A passionate singer and soothing vocalist, Mapule has a velvetlike tone with rich qualities that allows her to cross genres with ease in performance. Having sung in a chorus for a couple of productions at the Breytenbach Theatre in Tshwane, The Head & The Load is a highlight for Mapule.

SIPHIWE SIP NKABINDE
Ensemble vocalist

Siphiwe Sip Nkabinde is a Zulu traditional vocalist, recording and performing artist. Sip was born and bred in Bergville (Emoyeni), KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa. Sip’s music is featured on TV programs iHostela, Uzalo, The Queen, The Sing-Off and other Mzansi Magic channels. Sip recorded traditional harmonies for Cuban artist Omar Puente Fiffe and for Indian music producer Simaab Sen for a Bollywood film titled Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, on which he worked as a singer and dancer. His music can be heard here: http://m.soundcloud.com/siphiwe-sip and https://itunes.apple.com/za/album/amazizi-songs-from-kwazulu/id828679890.

MAKUDUPANYANE SENAOANA
Ensemble vocalist

Makudupanyane Senaoana, an opera singer and young composer, loves to write and tell stories. Having begun his musical career at the Drakensberg Boys Choir School, his musical adventures have taken him to Germany, where he works as a freelance operatic tenor. Senaoana has shared the stage with the likes of LIRA, Bryn Terfel and Eric Owens, and won first prize at the South African competition Amazwi Omzansi.

LINDOKUHLE A. THABEDE
Ensemble vocalist

Lindokuhle A. Thabede is a second-year classical vocalist at the University of the Witswatersrand. He has been singing for more than 10 years and has experience singing and performing other genres of music, as well. Throughout the years and as a member of choirs such as the Wits choir, he has spanned genres such as isicathamiya, gospel and traditional music. He enjoys all kinds of art, especially music, dance and theater.

LUBABALO ‘LUBBA’ VELEBAYI
Ensemble vocalist

Lubabalo “Lubba” Velebayi is a freelance South African bass-baritone singer born in East London in the Eastern Cape. Lubba studied music at the University of Port Elizabeth. In Cape Town, he joined Cape Town Opera, studied choral training and perfomed in many operas, including Porgy and Bess, The Pearl Fishers, Nabbuco and Macbeth. In France, he appeared in Treemonisha and Show Boat.

Lubba performed in The Magic Flute directed by William Kentridge in 2006 in collaboration with Cape Town Opera and performed in The Head & The Load in 2019 in Amsterdam.

He has worked with well-known South African composer Phillip Miller, and recently worked with Gregory Maqoma and Thuthuka Sibisi in Broken Chord, which travelled to Austria and Italy.