Young baritone Bongani Justice Kubheka was born in Newcastle, South Africa and studied singing at the University of Cape Town. Sponsored by Wales Millennium Centre, he continued his training in Cardiff with Dennis O’Neill and attended master classes with Kiri Te Kanawa, Della Jones, Susan Bullock, John Rawnsley and Ryland Davies.

In the current season Bongani Justice Kubheka will make his house debut as Escamillo (Carmen) at Theatro Municipal Sao Paulo in Brasil.

In the 2021/22 season he made his debut at Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Don Fernando (Fidelio). Bongani Justice Kubheka’s debuts as Jake (Porgy and Bess) at the Theater an der Wien, in the title role in Sweeney Todd at the Staatsoper Hannover and his debut as Escamillo at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, as Melot (Tristan und Isolde) at Opéra National De Lorraine and Trinity Moses (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) at De Vlaamse Opera were cancelled due to COVID-19.

He performed with the Cardiff Sinfonietta alongside Bryn Terfel and Lezhneva at a gala of the Wales International Academy of Voice and the Wales Millennium Centre, and has appeared in Rossini’s Petit Messe solennelle in Llandeilo. He has sung in Handel’s Messiah at Jameson Hall and Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre in Cape Town and in a scenic production in Durban. In the title role in Don Pasquale he appeared at Baxter Theatre and Artscape Opera House and won the Fleur Du Cap Theatre Award for his performance.

In productions of the University and in collaboration with the Cape Town Opera he has appeared as Luther/Crespel (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Don Basilio (Il barbiere die Siviglia), Lord Sydney (Il viaggo a Reims), Grenvil (La traviata), Puppet Maker in Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco as well as in the title role in Le nozze di Figaro.

Bongani Justice Kubheka was finalist in Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition, won the Schock Foundation Prize for Singing, the Stuart Burrows International Voice Award and the 1^st prize at the ATKV Voice Competition in South Africa, 2nd prize in the “Neue Stimmen” International Singing Competition and 1st prize in the Emmerich Smola Förderpreis.