Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu
Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu is a South African opera, with music by Mzilikazi Khumalo and a libretto by Themba Msimang. Orchestration, arrangements and additional music by Michael Hankinson.
More often referred to simply as Princess Magogo.
The original text
Based on the life of the Zulu princess, composer and Imbongi Magogo kaDinuzulu. Commissioned by Opera Africa in Durban.
The opera is to a large extent a reflection of historical events: Constance Mago go kaDinuzulu (1900-1984), daughter of King Dinuzulu (direct lineage of Shaka), and mother of South Africa's former home affairs minister and Zulu chief, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was a gifted musician and teacher who played an important role in saving the cultural heritage of the Zulu nation when the British tried to annihilate it. Even though Magogo enjoyed a long life, reaching the age of eighty-four, the opera deals only with the first twenty-three years, presented as flashbacks from her deathbed.
Performance history in South Africa
2002: First performed in Durban at the Playhouse. Directed by Themi Venturas. Conducted by Gerhard Geist. Chorus master Hein de Villiers. Set and costume designs by Andrew Verster. With Sibongile Khumalo, Fikile Mvinjelwa, Mhlonishwa Dlamini, Linda Bukhosini, Joyce Moholoagae, Ntombintathu Mfeka, Nomthandazo Mkize, Bongani Vilakazi, William Silk, Themba Msimang, Bongani Tembe, Siphiwe Blose.
2004: Performed by the African Renaissance Opera at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, USA, in 2004. Set and costume designs by Andrew Verster.
2006: Presented at Spier (24–26 February)
Sources
Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.
Ivan Meredith. 2006. 'Opera in South Africa during the first democratic decade'. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Cape Town.
Margaret von Klemperer. 'Opera in Africa'. News24. 17 May 2001.
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