Pretty Yende

Pretty Yende

Yende at a concert performance of Lucia di Lammermoor in Cape Town in April 2013

Yende at a concert performance of Lucia di Lammermoor in Cape Town in April 2013
Born (1985-03-06) 6 March 1985
Piet Retief, Mpumalanga
Nationality South African
Alma mater
Occupation Opera singer

Pretty Yende, OIS (born 6 March 1985) is a South African operatic soprano.[1] She has performed leading roles at opera houses internationally, including La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.

Early life and education

Born in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga,[2] Yende was inspired to learn opera at age 16 after seeing a British Airways TV advertisement that featured the Flower Duet from Lakmé.[3] She subsequently enrolled at the South African College of Music, where her teachers included Virginia Davids, and from which she graduated cum laude. She also graduated from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy.

Career

Yende won first prize in operetta and opera at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition 2009 in Vienna, and in 2010 the first prize at the Vincenzo Bellini International Competition. In 2011, she won first prize at Operalia, The World Opera Competition, held that year in Moscow.

In 2012, she sang the role of Musetta in Puccini's opera La bohème at La Scala in Milan.[4] Yende made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York City on 17 January 2013, in the role of Adèle in Rossini's opera Le comte Ory, as a substitute for Nino Machaidze.[5][2] In 2015 she portrayed Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Los Angeles Opera.[6] In 2016 she portrayed Rosina in The Barber of Seville and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Paris Opera.[7]

Yende is credited for her vocals in Andrea Bocelli's Concerto: One Night in Central Park (2011), and as a primary artist for the "Ode À L'Humanité" (Ode to Humanity, previously called Aria) track on the Yanni/Plácido Domingo collaboration Inspirato (2014).[8]

Yende signed a long-term recording contract with Sony Classical in October 2015.[9] Her first recording under this Sony contract was "A Journey".[10]

Awards and honours

Yende was conferred the Silver Order of Ikhamanga on 27 April 2013. In a statement by the chairperson of the National Orders Advisory Council, Dr. Cassius Lubisi, Yende was conferred the honour "for her excellent achievement and international acclaim in the field of world opera and serving as a role model to aspiring young musicians."

See also

References

  1. ↑ Staff (1 February 2013). "Pretty Good Met Debut for Yende". Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 Neophytou, Nadia (3 February 2013). "SA Soprano Pretty Yende takes NY by Storm". Eyewitness News (South Africa). Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim (2013-02-01). "Little Time to Prepare; Now a Legacy to Keep". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  4. ↑ La Scala Database (undated). "La bohème – Giacomo Puccini – Teatro alla Scala Production – From 26 September to 26 October 2012". La Scala. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim (2013-01-18). "Wily Suitors and the Challenges of Chastity". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  6. ↑ "Pretty Yende: An Opera Star Whose Rise Began With A Fall". NPR News. March 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ Tom Huizenga (September 8, 2016). "Review: Pretty Yende, 'A Journey'". NPR News.
  8. ↑ "Pretty Yende / Credits". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  9. ↑ Mazzaro, Maria (January 2016). "Noteworthy & Now". Opera News. 80 (7). Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  10. ↑ Erica Jeal (2016-09-29). "Pretty Yende: A Journey CD review – fearless singing by new-wave South African". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
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