Heading the entire team is the legendary Magdalene Minnaar. It’s quite an adjective to use, given how young she is (41), but it makes sense when you consider what she’s achieved in a short time. A mother, wife, singer, director and entrepreneur, she somehow manages to be extraordinarily focused and innovative.
Cape Town Opera’s latest production is Handel’s Alcina. In October 2022, the company presented a short season of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, which Magdalene directed. It was unusual in many ways – they performed at The Theatre on the Bay, an intimate theatre not generally viewed as a place to stage opera, and the musical accompaniment consisted of a single pianist on stage, his back to the audience. The choreography was witty and contemporary; the surtitles were hilarious. It was a triumph: audiences raved about it.
As a soprano, Magdalene has sung over 30 operatic roles, including Lucia in , the Queen of, and Gilda in . She’s a frequent soloist in concerts and oratorios, notably Handel’s , the vocally challenging and Mozart’s . She also played
