MAGDALENE MINNAAR, soprano
Magdalene Minnaar was born and raised in Pretoria, where she attended the Pro Arte arts school and was an enthusiastic and passionate musician from an early age. She played violin and bassoon in various orchestras (including the National Youth Orchestra) and sang in several choirs (including the PACT opera choir, and the National Youth Choir where she was a soloist in 1997 and 1998). Now living in Cape Town, she received her Honours degree in music (voice) with distinction from UCT in 2005. While studying she was active as a chamber and orchestral violist, notably with the all-woman Muse String Quartet and the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2004 Magdalene won the vocal category of the ATKV Musique competition, and later that year she also won the Chisholm Centenary competition. For three consecutive years (2004-2006) she won the prize for the best performance of a South African work at the ATKV Musique competition. In 2005 she appeared on national television in the drama Known Gods, and was also a prize winner in the UNISA National Voice competition. In 2006 she won the prestigious Mimi Coertse Bursary competition.
She has attended master classes given by Kamal Kahn, Daniel Lichti, Stefano Algieri, Valerie Guillorit and the American soprano Barbara Bonney. She represented Africa at the Schlern International Music Festival and Competition in Italy in 2005.
Magdalene features regularly as a soloist in concerts and sacred works, notably under the baton of Dr Barry Smith and Professor Kåre Hanken, with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Camerata Tinta Barocca ensemble. She is currently a member of the Cape Town Opera Studio and for them she has performed in various operas, including Papagena in the William Kentridge production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Pousette in Massenet’s Manon, and Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She is continuing her tuition under Dr Nellie du Toit.
