Violina Anguelov-Hobbs, a Bulgarian-born mezzo-soprano, holds a Performer’s Diploma in Opera (with distinction) and a First-Class Honours Degree in Singing from the University of Cape Town, College of Music, where she studied under Sarita Stern and Prof. Angelo Gobbato. She has received numerous awards, including the Adcock Ingram Music Prize, Leonard Hall Memorial Prize, Erik Chisholm Prize, and Best Principal Singer for Cape Town Opera.

With an extensive operatic and concert repertoire, Violina has performed over 35 leading operatic roles across South Africa, Europe, and Australia. She made her South African operatic debut as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (1999), and her European debut as Dorabella in Così fan tutte in Hanover (2000). Notable roles include Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), Carmen (Carmen), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Amneris (Aida), Queen Elizabeth (Maria Stuarda), and Mrs. De Rocher (Dead Man Walking), among many others.

She has collaborated with esteemed artists including Bryn Terfel in a Cape Town Opera gala and worked under the baton of Sir Richard Bonynge in Lucia di Lammermoor (2013). Violina is also celebrated for her concert and sacred music performances, appearing as a soloist in major oratorios by Mozart, Bach, Händel, Verdi, and others.

In addition to her performance career, Violina has a strong passion for teaching and currently serves as a Senior Voice Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, College of Music. Her lieder repertoire spans a wide range of composers including Schubert, Brahms, Britten, Fauré, Rachmaninov, Dvořák and more.

Photo: Freya Photography

Lauren Dasappa, a distinguished South African soprano originally from KwaZulu-Natal, is celebrated for her versatility across opera, oratorio, art song, musical theatre, jazz, and contemporary classical repertoire. She is a passionate advocate for South African music, frequently showcasing works within classical and folk genres.

Dasappa is also a respected voice pedagogue and serves as a voice lecturer at Stellenbosch University, where she leads a dynamic vocal studio, conducts workshops, mentors recording artists, and directs vocal ensembles. Her extensive experience includes adjudicating national and international vocal competitions, Eisteddfods, and festivals, as well as examining for vocal departments across South Africa.

She currently serves as Secretary and board member of the South African chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), playing a key role in advancing vocal pedagogy nationally.

Her teaching has shaped numerous successful performers, with former students pursuing postgraduate studies, performing in major theatre and opera productions, and excelling in both local and international vocal competitions.

Deeply committed to community development, Dasappa actively supports initiatives that nurture young singers from diverse backgrounds, making a lasting impact on South Africa’s vocal and musical landscape.

Minette du Toit-Pearce began her vocal training under the tutelage of Dr. Magdalena Oosthuizen at Stellenbosch University where she received the degrees BMus, BMus (Hons) and MMus (cum laude), specializing in vocal performance. She completed the UNISA Teacher’s and Performance Licentiates (both cum laude).

Minette regularly performs as a soloist in oratorios and recitals and is an accomplished singer of lieder both locally and abroad. She has performed with all major orchestras in South Africa, most notably the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra. She made her American debut as soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis in 2018 and accompanied the orchestra on their South African tour as part of their “Mandela 100” celebrations. In 2022 she performed at the Neues Lied Festival in Würzburg, Germany and recorded a CD titled “Nagmusiek” with South African pianist Marika Hofmeyr in France featuring works by Arnold van Wyk and Hendrik Hofmeyr. In February 2024 Minette sang the role of Principessa in Puccini’s opera Suor Angelica for Cape Town Opera for which she received a Fleur du Cap nomination.

She has performed at most of the major arts festivals around South Africa and has been nominated for four kykNET Fiësta Awards and was the recipient of two WoordTROfees.

Minette is an experienced adjudicator at eisteddfods and singing competitions in South Africa but also travels outside of South Africa to Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to adjudicate, teach and perform. She is the head of the Singing Division at Stellenbosch University and holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Singing. She is currently working towards her PhD in Music.

Photo: Antonia Steyn

Recognised as one of South Africa’s most accomplished and versatile musicians, James Grace maintains an extensive performance schedule throughout Southern Africa, Europe, and the UAE. He has appeared as a guest soloist with every South African orchestra and has performed at all the major National Arts Festivals, both as a soloist and in collaboration with various artists. His creative presentations and varied programming have drawn a wide, appreciative audience.

Notable achievements include receiving the KANNA Award for Best Male Artist at the 2010 Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and the KykNet Fiesta Award for Best Solo Production in 2011.

Grace’s seventh solo guitar studio album, Andaluza – Music of Spain III, recorded and released under his independently owned record label, Stringwise Records,  was awarded the South African Music Award (SAMA) for Best Instrumental Album 2019.

A graduate of the Royal College of Music in London, James Grace made history as the first guitarist to receive the Tagore Gold Medal, an honour presented annually to the institution’s most outstanding student.

Currently based in Cape Town, James performs, records, and lectures, directing the guitar programme at the University of Cape Town’s South African College of Music.

With a warm, velvety voice and masterful bel canto technique, soprano Clara Hugo adeptly navigates complex 20th-century repertoire while preserving lyricism and expressiveness. She has recently performed Schoenberg’s Erwartung and taken on the role of Matilda in Jonathan Blair’s opera The Summoning for Cape Town Opera. She portrayed the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Chigiana International Festival in Siena, and appeared as Bubikopf in Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis at the Momus Festival in Milan and Parma.

She has appeared as a soloist at the Leipzig Opera House and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Her concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and Great Mass in C minor at Église Saint-Louis-en-l’Île; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at the Cirque d’Hiver with the Paris Symphony Orchestra and Choir; Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater at Église de la Trinité in Paris; and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Ut Cinquième Orchestra.

Clara has given chamber music recitals across South Africa, at the Liederiadi Festival in Milan, and the Annecy and Auvers-sur-Oise festivals. She collaborated with the ensemble La Nouvelle Athènes for the Pentecost Festival in Rueil-Malmaison, where they recorded a critically acclaimed CD. She has also appeared in recital with Jan Hugo, performing on the historic 1806 Érard fortepiano at Château de Malmaison and Villa Viardot.

She has worked with conductors including Matthias Foremny, Kai Röhrig, Xavier Ricour, Felix Benati, Pierre-Michel Durand, and Christoph Eschenbach.

Clara Hugo is an alumna of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan, and the CRR de Paris. She began her musical training at the Maîtrise de Paris, performing her first solo role at age ten in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde. She recently completed a Master’s in Applied Musicology at Sorbonne University, focusing on bel canto vocal style.

Photo : Capucine de Chocqueuse

South African pianist Jan Hugo began his musical studies in Pretoria and made his concerto debut at the age of 12. He later trained in Italy, graduating cum laude from the Modena Conservatory and continuing his studies at the Accademia Pianistica di Imola under Franco Scala and Boris Petrushansky. He holds Master’s degrees from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, and a specialised Master’s in fortepiano performance and research from Sorbonne University and the Paris Conservatoire.

A prize-winner in numerous competitions, Jan has received First Prizes at the UNISA National Piano Competition, the Royal Over-Seas League (London), and the SAMRO Bursary Competition, among others. He has performed extensively across Europe and South Africa, in venues such as Salle Gaveau (Paris), Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Sala Mozart (Bologna), and at festivals including Liszt-en-Provence and MITO SettembreMusica (Milan/Turin). As soloist, he has appeared with the Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal, and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras.

Jan is also active as a vocal coach, chamber musician, fortepianist, and conductor. In 2024, he served as assistant conductor at the Académie du Palais Royal in Paris. Since November 2024, he has been Head Vocal Coach at Cape Town Opera, where he also worked as assistant conductor on the recent production of Aida. He regularly performs in a voice-piano duo with his wife, soprano Clara Hugo, with a special focus on art song.

South African pianist Esthea Kruger obtained her BMus and MMus (Piano Performance) degrees (both cum laude) at Stellenbosch University under the guidance of Prof. Nina Schumann and Prof. Luis Magalhães, and was awarded Stellenbosch University's prestigious Chancellor’s Medal in 2009. After she had received scholarship offers from several music schools in the United States, she enrolled in a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Prof. Vladimir Viardo. Having completed her doctorate in 2012, she then commenced her Meisterklasse degree at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, Germany, studying in the class of Prof. Bernd Glemser. She was awarded the Meisterklassendiplom at the beginning of 2015. Additionally, she specialised in Art Song Accompaniment, obtaining a second master’s degree in 2019 in Liedgestaltung from the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg as student of Prof. Gerold Huber.

Esthea Kruger has won prizes at many major competitions in South Africa, such as the SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition, the ATKV-Muziq Competition, the FMR/Pick 'n Pay Travel Award Competition, the Stonehage Bursary Competition, the Mabel Quick Overseas Scholarship Competition and the UNISA National Piano Competition.

Apart from her solo performances, Esthea Kruger regularly appears in concert as chamber musician, in South Africa and abroad. As Lied accompanist she was awarded the pianist prize at the Armin Knab Singing Competition of the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg in 2013, 2015 and 2017. In 2018 she performed at the DAVOS FESTIVAL – young artists in concert in Switzerland. She is the founder and artistic director of Neues Lied, a festival for contemporary art song that she organises yearly in Germany. The festival was awarded the City of Würzburg’s Culture Prize in 2020. Neues Lied took place for the first time in Cape Town in 2022.

Since 2019 Esthea Kruger is piano lecturer at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town.

Photo: Lize Lake

Paulina Malefane is a Cape Town-born opera singer who studied with Virginia Davids at the University of Cape Town’s South African College of Music. Later she became co-founder and co-Music Director of Isango Ensemble. She saw worldwide success playing the role of Carmen, both on stage and in the Golden Bear-winning feature film U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, for which she won a Golden Thumb from Roger Ebert. She was awarded the Best Actress Award at the South African Film & Television Awards for the film Son of Man.

In 2006 Paulina made her Proms debut at London's Albert Hall with the songs of Kurt Weill. In 2009, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, she sang a series of concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, which were broadcast on German television. 2012 saw Paulina playing the role of Venus in Isango's Venus & Adonis, which opened the Globe-to-Globe season at Shakespeare's Globe in London. On Isango’s USA Tour in 2015, she once again played Carmen and sang Titania in the new adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2016 Paulina created and played the roles of Yindy and Sadicya in A Man of Good Hope, based on Jonny Steinberg’s book of the same name, at London’s Young Vic and New York’s BAM. Paulina performed with the Berlin Philharmonic again in 2017 in The Cunning Little Vixen (conducted by Sir Simon Rattle), semi-staged by Peter Sellars and she reprised her role in 2019 when the piece was presented by the London Symphony Orchestra; for the recording of The Cunning Little Vixen Paulina was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 2019 Paulina was appointed as a lecturer in vocal studies at the South African College of Music. In 2021 she reprised her role as Yindy in Isango Ensemble’s A Man of Good Hope at the National Theatre of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. In October 2022, Paulina played the mother in Isango Ensemble’s Treemonisha in France and Luxemburg.

South African soprano Siphamandla Moyake graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Kwazulu-Natal and at the University of Cape Town with her postgraduate Diploma in opera studies.

While at university she performed the roles Anne Truelove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s progress, Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Saartjie in Hofmeyr’s opera about the life of Saartjie Baartman.

Siphamandla is a former staff soloist at the Cape Town Opera company where she performed the roles Musetta in La boheme, Marzelline in Fidelio, Frasquita in Carmen, Winnie Mandela in Mandela trilogy, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. Major stage debuts include Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, and Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux in France, where she sang the role of Clara in Cape Town Opera’s international touring production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Other works performed include Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart C minor Mass with the Cape Town Symphonic Orchestra, Mozart Requiem Mass as well the Brahms Requiem Mass.

She was a finalist at the Hans Gabor Belvedere international singing competition, Lassoluta Virginia Zeani competition and Tbilisi Opera Crown Competition where she was awarded an engagement prize to perform at the Tbilisi Opera House and later performed the role of Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen.

She appeared as the soprano soloist in a performance of Michael Tippett’s ‘A Child of Our Time’ presented by the Spanish TV-Radio Orchestra in Madrid.

Recent performances include Countess Almaviva in a production of Le Nozze di Figaro by the Cape Town Opera Company at the Artscape Opera house and at the Roodepoort theater, Clara in Porgy and Bess with the Shanghai Symphony orchestra both in Shanghai and Beijing, and Judith in a very successful run of Bluebeard’s Castle by Cape Town Opera.

Photo: Thando Mpushe

As a full-time House Soloist with Cape Town Opera (CTO), Brittany Smith has emerged as a significant figure in the opera world. Her roles with CTO include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Leïla in The Pearl Fishers and Violetta in La traviata. Her outstanding portrayal of Susanna garnered her the Best Performance in an Opera – Female at the 58th Fleur du Cap Awards in 2022.

Brittany obtained a BMus in Opera at the University of Cape Town (UCT) under Professor Virginia Davids. Her early roles at UCT included participation in the chorus in Don Giovanni and Il viaggio a Reims, with her debut solo role being Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro in 2016, followed by Adele in AGL Opera’s Die Fledermaus. Her early career featured several awards, including the Ruth Ormond Prize for Most Promising First Year UCT Female Opera Student and the Schock Foundation Opera Competition Female Classical Winner. Her role as Pamina in CTO’s production of The Magic Flute led to a Fleur du Cap nomination for Best Female Opera Singer in 2017.

Joining CTO’s Young Artist Programme in 2018, Brittany performed roles including Norina in Don Pasquale, Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Despina in Così fan tutte, Magda in La rondine, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (earning her another Fleur du Cap nomination), Reeva in Trial by Media and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

Her significant contributions to entertainment and classical music were recognised with an Artes Award, inclusion in the 2022 Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans list and a Fleur du Cap for Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Musical for her role as Maria in Pieter Toerien and Cape Town Opera’s The Sound of Music in 2023.