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Sibongile Khumalo was the owner of Magnolia Performance, a music industry based organisation involved in performance, production and management. She enchanted diverse audiences all over South Africa and beyond. Sibongile’s singing talents ranged from opera to jazz, choral music and musical theatre, always grounded by the traditional and folk music’s of South Africa. Her musical capacity launched her into the limelight when she won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music, at the National Arts Festival, Grahams town, in 1993. She had been lauded as one of the great singing talents of her time, and had inspired the creation of new music by South African composers, both in the classical art song, opera as well as jazz genres. She held music degrees from the University of Zululand (B.A. Mus.) and Wits University (B.A. Hons), as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Wits Business School). She had been conferred with 3 Honorary Doctorates (Rhodes University; University of Zululand and Unisa), and was a recipient of the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver-2008)
She was an arts activist and her primary interest was in Arts Education and how it can be used for social upliftment and justice. She had served in various arts industry structures, including the National Arts Festival, Grahams town and Opera Africa. She was the Musical Director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 (AFCON 2013).
Sibongile was the Acting Chairman of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), and was a Fellow of the fourth class of the Africa Leadership Initiative-South Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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