J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo, South African Composer Born June 20, 1932, Gave Momentum to Opera in South Africa

[J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo (b. 1932)]

The South African Composer, Arranger & Choral Director J. S. Mzilikazi Khumalo is also a Professor Emeritus of African Languages. He was born June 20, 1932 and is profiled at AfriClassical.com:

SAMRO, the Southern African Music Rights Organization, maintains a comprehensive biography which is the primary source for this page. It begins with the composer's birth in 1932 on a Salvation Army farm: “James Stephen Mzilikazi Khumalo was born on 20 June 1932 on the Salvation Army farm, KwaNgwelu (known as Mountain View in English), in the Vryheid district of Natal, South Africa, where his parents were being trained as Salvation Army ministers.”

A detailed interview with Prof. Mzilikazi Khumalo is found at the SAMRO website:

http://www.samro.org.za/news_detail/helping_local_music_talent/

On June 8, 2011 AfriClassical posted a recent review of Winnie the Opera which speaks of the importance of an opera of Mzilikazi Khumalo in establishing a specifically African operatic idiom:

“Winnie a triumph in African style

Beeld newspaper (English translation from Afrikaans)

Pretoria 1/5/2011

By Thys Odendaal

Winnie (Ndodana-Breen)

State Theatre (opera), Pretoria

“The African style opera gained momentum in the early 1990’s with Roelof Temmingh and Michael Williams’ Enoch, Prophet of God; the most successful thus far was Mzilikazi Khumalo’s Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu from Opera Africa which was performed just after the centenary in Durban, at Speir near Stellenbosch and in Gauteng. These operas and already a small group of others, have established a specific African idiom and this genre finds resonance in Bongani Ndodana-Breen’s opera Winnie which had a triumphant premiere in Pretoria on Thursday."

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Thanks for all that you do for African classical music! Bongani Ndodana-Breen