Praised for his “chilling refinement in bearing and voice” (Opera Wire), baritone Thandolwethu Mamba is a member of The Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera, a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the 2025-2026 season. In November 2023, Mr. Mamba made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the ensemble of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, followed by his role and house debut as Sonora in La fanciulla del West with North Carolina Opera. Prior to this, he created the role of The Guide/Chris in the NYC Premiere of The Cost of Believing, by Paul Brill.  As a 2024/25 Opera Orlando Studio Artist, Mamba had role debuts in Macbeth, 4 Lost Santas / Amahl and the Night Visitors, Cendrillon, Werther, Beatrice & Benedict, Cavalleria rusticana, and Treemonisha. He rounded off his 2024/25 season with his role debut as Don Giovanni at Opera Wilmington. 

Other recent roles have included the title roles in Le nozze di Figaro and Gianni Schicchi, Baron Duophol in La traviata, Dancaïro in Carmen, Don Calogero Sedàra in The Leopard, Town Magistrate in Signor Deluso, and Max in Stone Soup with Opera Wilmington, Frost Opera Theater, Si parla, si canta, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Florida Grand Opera. Mamba’s concert work includes collaborating with pianist David Heid for Paths & Journeys, which debuted in North Carolina in 2022, and as the soloist for the Opera Wilmington 2025 Caterina Jarboro Recital. 

Mr. Mamba has been awarded the Louis Sudler Prize, the Benenson Award for the Arts, and First Place and Grand Prize in the 2022 Heafner/Williams Vocal Competition. He was also the winner of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra Rising Stars Competition, leading to his orchestral debut in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.  In the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Mamba was a prize winner in the Eastern Regionals, as well as a New York District winner.  

Originally from Eswatini in Southern Africa, Thando is committed to promoting the growth of opera as a celebrated and sustainable art form in his home country and across the continent of Africa.