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LISWATI SINGER IN DALLAS OPERA

19/01/2022 08:03:00 BY DUDU DUBE

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MBABANE – The sky is the limit.

From the dusty streets of Siteki to the world, liSwati-born opera singer Prosper Makhanya has hoisted the country’s flag in the United States (US). Makhanya has officially confirmed being part of The Dallas Opera, which is a world-class performing arts organisation producing outstanding main stage and chamber opera repertoire; attracting national and international attention. The Dallas Opera has the highest possible standards of artistic excellence, accountability, efficiency and financial sustainability.
In an interview with the publication, Makhanya shared his gratitude and how he managed to get the opportunity of performing on one of the well-known stages in the United States. “Through capable management and career guidance from my mentor, Philani Mpanza, I have been fortunate to receive several talent-based scholarships which continue making my artistic and scholarly journey a breeze.

Classical

The first one awarded through successful participation in the UNISA Classical Music Singing Competition in 2017, in which a talent scout and judge from Southern Methodist University, Texas, US saw my talent - reached out to, I initiated my studies towards a Diploma in Music and as they say the rest is history,” he said. Makhanya went on to share his educational bakground that landed him a role at The Dallas Opera. “Arriving in the United States, I have done my best to stay shining both in class and on stage - success which saw me receive a double academic excellence-based scholarship to study towards an M.Sc Environmental Engineering (currently underway) and a Master of Business Administration (starting late 2022) soon as I finished my Diploma in 2020, all while singing at some of the US’s biggest stages, part of which includes singing at Dallas Opera this year,” he said.

When asked about his experience, Makhanya said every opportunity was a blessing. “The journey is an entire encyclopedia of life-changing experiences - with each stage a blessing. I remain honoured to be a part of and I am happy to say, it is all a collection of dreams coming true, dreams I am confident are just kick-starting my truest potential as I believe I have only just started scratching the surface in what I stand to offer the world of opera music,” he explained.

Bagged

It is worth noting that the baritone vocalist recently bagged in a District winner title at the Laffont competition hosted at The Metropolitan Opera, United States. The competition which was hosted on January 16, 2022 has given him the opportunity of sharing a stage with international acts. “ The opera house debuts humble me a lot and remind me to keep working hard - sharing the stage with singers I admired long before my own journey started is something I truly can’t put in words.
“The competitions put me against some of the world’s finest young singers and coming out tops among them is always inspiring to me. It is a constant reminder of what a talented country I come from, and with proper support, capable of producing and sending out to the world many potential world-beaters as consistently proven by my other brothers in the game Thando Zwane and Lwazi Dlamini, overall, I am just a happy torch-bearer of what we possess as the youth of Eswatini,” he added.
Eswatini National Choral Music Association (ENCMA) Chairperson Sihle Gumbi said these news were great for the whole of Eswatini.

Project

“The choral music fraternity is very proud of Prosper. Solo participants always shine and I can confidently say that as an association we are working on doing something for singers. I cannot get to the merits of the upcoming project, but we are working on something with the assistance of Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC),” said Gumbi. Makhanya is not the first liSwati to hoist the country’s flag in opera music.Thando Zwane has brought back home a number of titles including the best Audience Prize from the Les Azuriales Opera International 2019 Opera Singing Competition’ in France and Lwazi Dlamini has been to Berlin Opera Academy for the opera festival in Germany to mention a few.