26.09.2016  Young 24-year-old soprano, Palesa Malieloa, won the the ATKV-Muziqanto 2016 competition. The announcement was made at the final round of the competition held at the Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium in Cape Town on Saturday 24 September.

The final round featured five finalists who performed with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Brandon Phllips.  They were sopranos Cecilia Rangwanasha, S’Bongile Mntambo and Palesa Malieola, mezzo soprano Fikile Mthetwa and baritone, Chuma Sijeqa.

As the overall winner, Malieloa received prize money worth R45 000. She is currently a freelance artist furthering her vocal studies with Hanna van Schalkwyk. 

Cecilia Rangwanasha received R25 000 with an overall second place and S’Bongile Mntambo received R15 000 in overall third place. A prize of R6 000 was also awarded to Rangwanasha for the best interpretation of a South African work during the second round of this competition. She received this award for her interpretation of Isithandwa sam, composed by B.P.J. Tyamzashe.
                 
ATKV-Muziq has been the ATKV’s annual contribution to classical music in South Africa the past 15 years. However, the ATKV decided in 2011 to make a new contribution, apart from Muziq, to the stimulation of vocal music in South Africa. This is known as Muziqanto and is a national classical vocal competition.

With total prize money of R91 000 at stake, the first round of the competition took place during May this year. Participants had to be between 18 and 35 years old.

The second and final round of ATKV- Muziqanto took place in Cape Town the past weekend. Only ten candidates were chosen nationwide to take part in this round.   

The panel of adjudicators for these two rounds were Lize Thomas (Coetzer) who is renowned for her work in the South African Opera world; well-known bass Rouel Beukes; as well as the head of the University of KwaZulu Natal ‘s Opera School, Lionel Mkhwanazi. Ms Jaunelle Celaire, voice lecturer at the University of Alaska‘s Fairbanks campus in the USA, was the fourth member of the panel of adjudicators.

The national Afrikaans radio station, Radio Sonder Grense, was the media partner of this competition once again. 

Photo: Chuma Sijeqa, Cecilia Rangwanasha, Palesa Malieola, S’Bongile Mntambo, Fikile Mthetwa