Eswatini-born Southern African baritone Thandolwethu Mamba continues to establish himself on opera and concert stages and has been described as “possessing an extraordinary capacity for timbral flexibility which he exploits with artistic maturity and musical tact” (Classical Voice of North Carolina).

Recent engagements include his Metropolitan Opera debut in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Il Dancaïro (Carmen) with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Frost Opera Theater, Baron Duophol (La Traviata) with Opera Wilmington, Town Magistrate (Signor Deluso) and Max (Stone Soup) with Florida Grand Opera. His creation of the role of Don Calogero Sedàra in The Leopard by Michael Dellaria has been released on Naxos Records' American Opera Classics.

As an artist who always seeks to create experiences that will reach a diverse audience, his concert program with pianist David Heid, Paths & Journeys, debuted in North Carolina in the Fall of 2022 and was described as “a vibrant and enriching collaboration” (CVNC).  He regularly features music from diverse cultures and languages, including music from Sub-Saharan Africa and his home country, Eswatini.  At Duke University, he was awarded the prestigious Louis Sudler Prize as well as the Benenson Award for the Arts.  Named the First Place and Grand Prize recipient of the 2022 Heafner/Williams Vocal Competition, he is also a winner of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra Rising Stars Competition, which led to his orchestral debut in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Recently, Mamba was a finalist and prize winner in the Mary Jacobs Singer of the Year Competition, Pasadena Vocal Competition, Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, and Benjamin Mathews Vocal Competition.

Mamba is a recent double graduate (Artist Diploma and Master of Music) of the Frost School of Music in Miami where he studied with Metropolitan Opera baritone Kim Josephson. Thando, as he is more commonly known, is originally from Eswatini in Southern Africa and is committed to developing the growth of opera as a celebrated and sustainable art form in his home country and the continent of Africa at large.