She was, however, an active member of her church choir which was directed by her mother and performed a cappella music in the African choral tradition.

She portrayed the title role in a student production of Emmerich Kálmán's Gräfin Mariza during her first year in the program.

Other opportunities soon followed, including recitals given for Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki and a performance for the United Nations delegates at the Earth Summit 2002 in Johannesburg.

[1] After completing her studies at the Pretoria Technikon, Maswanganyi sang the role of Maria in a performance of West Side Story for Spier Opera Company in Cape Town.

[1] Soon after she helped form Amici Forever with which she released two successful albums, The Opera Band (2004) and Defined (2005).

Some highlights of her career include the title role in Carmen Jones with the London Philharmonic at Royal Festival Hall and Bess in Porgy and Bess at the Cape Town Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Norwegian National Opera.

[3] In April 2011, she portrayed the title role in the world premiere of Bongani Ndodana-Breen's Winnie: The Opera at the State Theatre in Pretoria.