Winner of First Prize at the 2010 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, Njabubo Madlala was born in South Africa. He studied on the post-graduate opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under Robert Dean and at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice. He has been supported by The Oppeheimer Memorial Trust, The South African National Arts Council, the Sir Peter Moores Foundation, the Countess of Munster Trust and the Music Benevolent Fund. Njabulo Madlala is a Britten Pears Young Artist, a Samling Foundation Scholar and a prize-winner of the Young Kathleen Ferrier Bursary and The Kenneth Loveland Gift Prize.
At the Guildhall, Njabulo Madlala sang Le Calender La Rencontre Imprévue and The King The King Goes Forth to France. In Autumn 2009, he was a member of the Glyndebourne On Tour Chorus, and his engagements elsewhere have included Peachum The Threepenny Opera at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Rangwan Koanga at Sadler"s Wells Theatre, Fisherman Bird of Night for ROH2, Porgy Porgy and Bess at the Cheltenham Festival, Bello La Fanciulla del West and Schaunard La Bohème for Opera Holland Park and Mel The Knot Garden at the Montepulciano Festival, a performance broadcast on RAI. His broadcasts have further included The Disciple '“ An Angel The Mysteries for BBC TV.
Njabulo Madlala has taken part in master classes given by, amongst others, Isobel Buchanan, Dame Anne Evans, Yvonne Kenny, Marie McLaughlin, Ann Murray, Philip Langridge, Sir Thomas Allen, Ildebrando d"Arcangelo, Philip Langridge, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau and Paul Farrington. Conductors and directors with whom he has worked include Martin André, Paul Wynne Griffiths, Charles Hazelwood, Martin Lloyd-Evans, Jan Latham Koenig, Antonio Pappano, John Cox, Martin Lloyd-Evans, and Graham Vick. With Sarah Walker, he has made a special study of recital repertoire, appearing as part of the Oxford Lieder Festival as well as at the Wigmore Hall. He participated in the Steans Young Artists Programme at Chicago"s Ravinia Festival, and his other concert engagements have included Messiah with Daventry Choral Society, Mozart Requiem with Aberystwyth Choral Union and Cheltenham Bach Choir, Carmina Burana for Windsor & Eton Choral Society, John Rutter"s Mass of the Children conducted by the composer and Vaughan Williams" Songs of Travel at the Tavistock Festival.
Recent and current highlights include Don Fernando in Fidelio for Opera Holland Park, Moralès in Carmen for Dorset Opera, the 2011 Opera Highlights tour for Scottish Opera, Scarpia in Tosca for Grange Park Opera "Rising Stars", J. S. Bach Ich habe genug with the Ten Tors Orchestra conducted by Simon Ible, Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for the London Philharmonic Orchestra"s Foyles First Series conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Sancta Civitas with the BBC Concert Orchestra, In Tune for BBC Radio 3, a recital at the Buxton Festival 2011 and Gathering Wave at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford 2012.