The Artists
Three voices, one conversation
Ongama, Ntando and Kabelo met as students at the University of Cape Town’s Opera School, where a shared love of the art form grew into a lasting friendship. The Class of Opera, founded in 2017, grew naturally from that bond — a way to share what they were learning with anyone curious enough to listen. Their careers now span three continents; the conversation continues.
Who are we:
Ongama Mhlontlo
TENOR & COMPOSER
Ongama Mhlontlo is a South African tenor and composer whose expressive voice has carried him from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape to the stages of New York. A versatile artist equally at home in opera and musical theatre, he is known for performing and premiering his own original works alongside the classical repertoire.
Mhlontlo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Cape Town and a Master’s in Classical Voice from the Manhattan School of Music. Recent performance highlights include singing at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York and the lead role in the world premiere of Sarah Norcross Hough’s Ulysses Missa.
As a composer, he has premiered Stranger in New York on Broadway, Nature’s Secret, Struggles and Hope at The Tank Theatre, and The Truth Above All Things in his hometown of Mthatha. His work has been described as a bridge between South African musical traditions and the wider operatic world.
In 2023 he was named one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans. Ongama is the founder of The Class of Opera, the platform he launched in 2017 to share his love of the art form with a global audience.
Ntando Ngcume
Baritone, Composer & Music Educator
Ntando Ngcume is a South African baritone, composer and music educator whose career sits at the intersection of operatic performance and community arts leadership. Based in Cape Town, he is known for using music as a tool for social impact.
Ngcume trained at the University of Cape Town, earning a Performance Diploma in Music with fourteen distinctions, and went on to complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. He has appeared as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and his own compositions have been performed in New York and Germany.
In 2022 he founded the Langa Youth Choir, which he continues to direct, and went on to win the ABC Motsepe Music competition as a musical director. Through the Songs of Hope initiative at UCT, he has used music to open conversations about mental health among students.
Ntando is a co-founder of The Class of Opera, contributing his perspective as a performer-educator rooted in South African community arts.
Kabelo Lebyana
Bass-Baritone
Kabelo Lebyana is a South African bass-baritone whose career has carried him from the opera stages of Cape Town to the leading houses of Germany. Known for the warmth and authority of his lower register, he is currently a member of the International Opera Studio at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.
Lebyana trained at the South African College of Music in Cape Town and the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart. His operatic breakthrough came in 2014, as Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and King Jongintaba in the world premiere of Madiba the African Opera.
His roles in Germany include Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, the title role in Don Giovanni, and Merlin at the Tiroler Festspiele. At the Staatstheater Nürnberg his recent roles include Moralès in Carmen and Wurzelzwerg Willibald in Armide.
Kabelo is a co-founder of The Class of Opera, bringing the perspective of an international opera house artist to the group’s work.