Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha
Biography
Rising star Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha was the winner of the Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition 2021 and is an alumna of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
During the 22/23 season, Masabane Cecilia sang Mathilde Guilliame Tell and the title role in Iphigenie en Tauride at Theater Bern. She will also return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Liù Turandot conducted by Antonio Pappano. On the concert platform, Masabane Cecilia will perform Mendelssohn’s Lobegesang at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied at Theater Bern, Elgar’s The Apostles with the Hallé Orchestra, and make her US debut with the Washington Symphony Orchestra for Barber’s Knoxville – The Summer of 1915 followed by another performance of Knoxville with Cincinnati Symphony. She will also give solo recitals at Wigmore Hall and Opéra National de Bordeaux.
Previous performances at Theater Bern have included Élisabeth de Valois Don Carlos, and Elettra Idomeneo. Recent concert highlights include Verdi’s Requiem with BBC Symphony conducted by Sakari Oramo at the First Night of the BBC Proms, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Adam Fischer with the Orchestra Age of Enlightenment, Vaughn William’s Sea Symphony conducted by Sir Mark Elder with The Hallé Orchestra, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder under the direction of Paul Daniel at Opéra National de Bordeaux and performing as part of Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall.
Future seasons will see a series of exciting house and role debuts, including Staatsoper Hamburg, Semperoper Dresden and returns to the Royal Opera House and on the concert platform with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony and Chicago Symphony.
Masabane completed her PGDip at the University of Cape Town, where she studied with Virginia Davids, and then went on to study Vocal Performance at Tshwane University of Technology. Masabane was the winner of the Audience Prize and two special prizes in the 2019 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition.
Masabane Cecilia is a current BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
Photo Credit: Vera Elma Vacek