Opera singer backs his impressive music career with UFH bachelor's degree

He has won several international opera competitions and performed for President Cyril Ramaphosa, and now, Sazi Gcaba is a proud University of Fort Hare (UFH) music graduate.

The 24-year-old from Flagstaff, Eastern Cape, rose to stardom in his second year when — after several rounds of judging by acclaimed opera singers such as the late Sibongile Khumalo, Andrew Staples and Marsha Thompson — he was crowned winner of the London-based Voices of SA International Opera (Vosa) 2020 online competition in the under-22 category.

The Vosa victory was the first of many international opera competitions he would claim.

In 2021, Gcaba won at the Aspiring Opera Singing Voice Competition under the emerging artist category — a US-based competition that aims to create a platform for music students around the world to showcase their talents.

He was selected out of 121 students who submitted their pre-recorded auditions. The judges’ citation read: “Out of 121 videos, your performance exemplified a combination of stellar technique and great acting skills — creating a captivating performance.”

Gcaba has also won in the:

• 2021 Online London International Music Competition,
• 2022 Medici International Music Competition; and
• 2023 Birmingham International Music Competition.

In April 2022, he was selected to join 20 opera singers from around the world in an international fundraising event for Ukraine war victims. The Artist for Peace production was organised by Opera Cecilia, an international opera company.

“My time at Fort Hare has been the highlight of my life. I enrolled in 2019 and a year later I was already singing and winning on international stages. Amazingly, I went on to perform and win four more international competitions.”

Last year, during a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between the ANC and UFH at the De Beers Art Gallery, he gave a brilliant performance in front of Ramaphosa with his rendition of Ngabe Kwenzenjani? — a powerful piece about the 1976 Soweto Youth Uprising. 

“I don't know how many times I've relived that moment in my life where I performed in a room full of people, and among the audience was the president of the country. I will forever cherish that moment,” he says. 

Gcaba says he owes his success to several people who have supported him, including his grade 9 music teacher, Zandisile Fada, who recognised his talent. 

At Fort Hare, he says he found three “fathers” who shaped his singing career, Tamsanqa Ncokwana, his voice trainer; Ndumiso Mtshali, ethnomusicologist and music lecturer, and the former head of department , Nduduzo Makhathini.

“I learnt from them, I learnt from the best.”

Makhathini, a renowned multi-award winning jazz maestro, named Gcaba as one of the most hard-working students in the department.

Gcaba plans to enrol at the University of Cape Town Opera School in 2024, a step which he believes will unlock his future aspirations to study abroad and become a global opera singer.

Gcaba says his graduation was both sad and joyous. Sad because his biggest supporter, his mother, was not be there to witness it. “She passed away in 2021 due to Covid-19. Knowing that she didn't see me graduate is painful, but knowing that she is proud of me makes up for it all.”

This article was sponsored by University of Fort Hare.