The South African baritone Theo Magongoma has won the 2023 Elizabeth Greenfield Award.

The Elizabeth Greenfield Award was conceived to honor a trailblazing Black singer and recognize outstanding present-day Black singers by providing meaningful financial assistance to further their careers.

Magongoma is a dramatic baritone who is a graduate of the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town and a former member of both the Cape Town Opera Studio for Emerging Young Artists and Dallas Opera’s first Young Artists Studio.

He is a recipient of two distinguished scholarships, one from Queensland Opera (Australia) and a Bruce Foote Scholarship from The Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas (USA). He has performed in leading operatic roles with the orchestras of South Africa, for Cape Town Opera, for Touring Opera Companies, and at Art Festivals around the world in the USA, UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Singapore, and Japan.

Past recipients include Imara Miles and Ariana Wehr.