Thandi Ntuli

South African multi-award-winning jazz pianist and vocalist Thandi Ntuli has a rich musical heritage. Since the release of her debut album The Offering (2014), she has made an imprint on the global jazz community as one of the leading voices of modern South African jazz. A recent highlight of her career has been working with William Kentridge in the collaborative workshop process of developing The Great Yes, The Great No. Over the course of her 16-year career, Ntuli has worked with various artists around the globe, demonstrating her fluidity with various genres—a notable characteristic of her overall compositional style. This work includes projects with South African artists Steve Dyer, Thandiswa Mazwai, and Neo Muyanga, to name a few, as well as her recent engagement as a featured soloist with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra. Ntuli’s most recent album release, a collaborative effort with the Los Angeles-based producer and percussionist Carlos Niño, was released in November 2023 by the Chicago-based International Anthem label. Ntuli has received many awards and nominations over the years, including the coveted Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz in 2018. At the tender age of four, she started taking classical piano lessons under the tutelage of Ada Levkowitz. However, her keen interest for jazz was kindled later in life, leading her to enroll and earn her BA in jazz performance at the University of Cape Town.