Siphesihle Mdena’s relationship with Cape Town Opera stretches back to his high school days: thanks to a programme that brought opera to Queenstown, he was able to explore a love for music that had been sparked while performing with his school choir in an Eisteddfod. Awarded a scholarship for his studies at UCT, he completed his Performer’s Diploma in Music, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance. Looking to the future, he hopes that his talents will take him even further afield: he’d like to grow his skills as a soloist and then one day travel to Germany, France and more of Europe to perform. When he’s not immersed in music, he can be found focused on sport, whether watching it on TV or playing soccer and touch rugby with his friends from UCT.