Hailed by Opera Magazine as “At once powerful, radiant, timbrally beautiful, and balanced throughout the range, her soprano is that of a singer at the top of her game,” Durban-born South African Fulbrighter, BRONWEN FORBAY’S operatic successes include critically acclaimed performances of Mozart’s Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Eugene Opera, and Tulsa Opera. Other celebrated roles include Orasia, Queen of Thrace (U. S. premier of Telemann’s Orpheus), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore), Velmyra (Wading Home) by Mary Alice Rich, Violetta (La Traviata), and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Cape Town Opera. Concert appearances as a soloist include standard and modern works including Bach’s B Minor Mass (Santa Fe), Handel’s Creation (Cincinnati), Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor (Cincinnati), Mozart Requiem (on tour in Northern Italy: Venice, Verona, Vicenza), Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Dallas), Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Plano, TX) and Missa Solemnis (Tulsa), Miller’s ReWind Cantata for Voice, Tape, and Testimony (Royal Festival Hall, London, England), and Mnomiya’s Ingqai sivele we-Africa (Durban). An avid recitalist, Forbay has performed throughout South Africa, the US, and Europe at various notable venues including the American Cathedral in Paris (France) Les Arts Georges V recital series, and with Dr. Stephen Pierce (piano) at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles). Successful in numerous voice competitions, Forbay was awarded the 2007 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music (a prestigious national South African award whose recipients include Pretty Yende). Selected for the renowned National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program in 2013, Forbay has presented at the Dallas-Fort Worth NATS, TEXOMA NATS, South Africa Chapter NATS, National NATS, College Music Society (CMS) National Conferences, and the International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT). She is a highly sought-after adjudicator and clinician and frequently serves in this capacity for the Schmidt Vocal Arts. Forbay was a featured soloist with the Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestras (South Africa) and Greenville Symphony Orchestra during their 2023-2024 seasons. She is delighted to return to the GSO as Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro.
An Associate Professor of Voice at Furman University (Greenville, SC), Dr. Forbay served on faculty at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban, South Africa) while fulfilling her Fulbright two-year homestay requirement. She has also taught at the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor (Belton, TX), Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, TX), and the McLennan Community College (Waco, TX). Dr. Forbay holds degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Manhattan School of Music, Southern Methodist University, University of Cincinnati, CCM, and is the first South African woman to earn a DMA in Voice Performance. She served as TMTA Voice Contest Chair from 2018-2021, is a member of the NATS International Advisory Committee, Treasurer of the South Africa Chapter of NATS, and President of Furman’s Black Faculty and Staff Association. Her book coauthored with Dr. Christian Bester (Assistant Professor of Voice, OSU) titled “Afrikaans Art Song Literature: Translation and Pronunciation Guide” will be published by Oxford University Press in 2025.