SEVEN opera students recently won first place at the Dante Talent Show, held at the Italian Club in Durban North.
The talent show pays homage to the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri. The group walked away with a R10, 000 cash prize for their performance on their rendition of the classic Italian song O Sole Mio.
On winning the competition Mr Sizwe Hadebe said: “We gave it our best and we won! It feels great to hold first place in this competition. We worked quite hard, putting in extra hours and perfecting our performance. We are also planning to use the cash prize as an investment for our group.”
The students are planning to enter more competitions and to secure further gigs.
“We want to make a name for ourselves. For all of us, it was never a choice. We always knew that we wanted to perform music. Music is our life. It’s our passion,” said Mr Njabulo Sholozi.
The students further expressed gratitude to their lecturer Mrs Federica Bellusci for assisting in teaching them the correct pronunciation of some of the Italian words in the chosen song and for her overall support and encouragement.
Mr Philangenkosi Mashabane added: “We will be carrying the UKZN flag high and winning more competitions like this but we hope that by doing so, the University will offer more support to the opera students. We need it.”
They also advised other students to pursue their dreams and never give up.
