William Kentridge’s Sibyl
Opera
Film
Visual Art
With music composed and conceived by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Kyle Shepherd
Oct 8–11
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Visual and performing art collide and synthesize in this work from one of the world’s most distinctive storytellers.
William Kentridge electrified the opera world with his acclaimed stagings of works by Berg, Mozart, and Shostakovich, performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Théâtre National de l’Opéra (Paris), and beyond. In Sibyl, he offers a two-part production that confronts our desire to know the future—and the forces that obscure it. Sibyl earned Kentridge the 2023 Olivier Award winner for outstanding achievement in opera.
Inspired by the ancient myth, Waiting for the Sibyl is a chamber opera featuring ten performers immersed in Kentridge’s dynamic visual language: hand-painted backdrops, animated ink drawings, projected text, collage, and shadow play. The score by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Kyle Shepherd layers South African vocal harmonies with rhythmic chant and piano.
The evening opens with The Moment Has Gone, a film by Kentridge with live musical accompaniment featuring Shepherd’s original piano score and an all-male vocal chorus led by Mahlangu.
Part 1
The Moment Has Gone
Part 2
Waiting For The Sibyl
SOUTH AFRICA
“Relentless, vertiginous and astonishing … Kentridge at his best.”
—The Guardian
“Combining art, theater, music, and dance, Sibyl is 21st-century international culture par excellence.”
—Financial Times
★★★★★
“William Kentridge blows up the future, in spectacular style . . . Continuously original, deeply humane, and vividly thought-provoking, the South African William Kentridge is one of the greatest artists of our time.”
—The Telegraph
Running Time
85 min (one intermission)
Content Note
Language
About the Company
About the Artist
William Kentridge is a globally celebrated South African artist working across drawing, animation, sculpture, theatre, and opera. Known for his handmade stop-motion films and erasure-driven drawings, Kentridge explores the psychological and political residues of apartheid and colonialism. His stage works, including Refuse the Hour, The Head & the Load, and The Great Yes The Great No, integrate music, movement, and projection into dynamic visual scores. Sibyl continues this legacy. Kentridge has exhibited at MoMA, Whitechapel, and UCCA Beijing and has received honors including the Kyoto Prize, the Princesa de Asturias Award, the Charles Eliot Norton Lectureship at Harvard, and induction into the Beaux Arts in Paris (February 2025).
creative team
Concept | Director: William Kentridge
Choral Composer | Associate Director: Nhlanhla Mahlangu
Composer | Music Director: Kyle Shepherd
Editing | Compositing: Žana Marović
Costume Design: Greta Goiris
Set Design: Sabine Theunissen
Lighting Design: Urs Schönebaum
Lighting Design Associate: Elena Gui
Cinematography: Duško Marović SASC
created and performed by
Kyle Shepherd (Piano)
Nhlanhla Mahlangu (Vocalist | Dancer)
Xolisile Bongwana (Vocalist | Dancer)
Thulani Chauke (Dancer)
Teresa Phuti Mojela (Dancer)
Thandazile ‘Sonia’ Radebe (Dancer)
Ayanda Nhlangothi (Vocalist)
Zandile Hlatshwayo (Vocalist)
Siphiwe Nkabinde (Vocalist)
S’busiso Shozi (Vocalist)
Sponsors
Sibyl is co-commissioned by Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and Dramaten-Stockholm
Executive Producer: THE OFFICE performing arts + film
Photo credit
Stella Olivier