As a graduate of the South African College of Music (SACM), at The University of
Cape Town (UCT), Makudupanyane Senaoana has had the pleasure of being
trained in vocal studies by well-known teachers, Professor Kamal Khan and
Hanna van Niekerk. Further training saw the young tenor working with Josef
Protschka, as a result of having won the Johannesburg International Mozart
Festival’s “International study award”. This award allows its recipients to moved
to Germany, and to study at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz for at least a
year. Senaoana is also a graduate of the world-renowned Drakensberg Boys
Choir School, where as a senior, he served the choir as musical leader.
Other training prospects saw Senaoana working with the Glimmerglass Festival
as a 2012 Young Artist, where he was seen on the main stage as Absalom Kumalo
in Lost In The Stars, and as an understudy of the role Le Chevalier Danois, in Jean
Baptiste Lully’s Armide. In 2013 Makudupanyane was one of the young artists
chosen for Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and in 2015, he
served and was educated as a fellow of the Steans Music Institute, at the famous
Ravinia Festival in Chicago.
The young tenor is the recipient of various prizes and honors:
In 2020 he was the winner of the 3rd prize in the International Grand Prix of
Romania. In 2016, he won the first prize in the Voices of South Africa
International Opera Competition, live in Durban where he was also awarded the
Artsong and African song prizes. In 2013, Senaoana was the first prize winner of
the Olitalia/Rialto study award, at UCT.
When it comes to stage experience, Senaoana began his stage career with the
role of Tom Rakewell, in the Rake’s Progress with UCT Opera School. He has gone
on to perform a multitude of roles from various composers including but not
limited to: Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Monteverdi, Verdi and Strauss. He
has performed on professional operatic stages in South Africa, France, Germany,
Spain, England, America and various other countries and cities.