[imagesource:instagram/@pretty_yende_official]
This small-town girl has made it big, set to perform in Westminster Abbey tomorrow (May 6) as part of the coronation ceremony for King Charles III.
Star soprano Pretty Yende has already performed on some of the world’s most iconic concert stages, but this will be her most historic performance invitation to date.
The king apparently invited Pretty himself, making her the first African solo performer at a British coronation.
But if it weren’t for a chance encounter with opera in a TV advert once upon a time, she may never have discovered her talent and landed where she is now.
ClassicFM tells the story of a girl, born in March 1985 in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, who discovered her voice when she was 16.
View this post on Instagram
Upon seeing a TV ad from British Airways which featured the ‘Flower Duet’ from Delibes’ opera, Lakmé, she immediately set out to sing just like that.
Her voice soon blossomed and she enrolled in the South African College of Music before studying at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy:
Speaking to Classic FM presenter Anne-Marie Minhall in 2014, Yende said of her first exposure to opera: “Those ten seconds gave me the whole world of classical music, the richness of the music, the limitless power of that music.
“I didn’t even know it was humanly possible, it sounded so supernatural to me.”
She made her professional operatic debut in 2010, in the Latvian National Theatre’s production of Bizet’s Carmen, playing the role of Micaela.
View this post on Instagram
Since then, she’s become one of the best operatic soprano singers out there, performing major roles at many of the world’s major opera houses and theatres, including her Met Opera debut as Adèle in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory.
In 2013, Pretty was endowed with the South African honour, the Silver Order of Ikhamanga, for her contribution to singing:
Dr Cassius Lubisi, chair of the National Orders Advisory Council, said she had been recognised “for her excellent achievement and international acclaim in the field of world opera and serving as a role model to aspiring young musicians”.
See her inspire a whole generation of young ones in SA:
View this post on Instagram
Then in October 2015, Pretty signed an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical and has released two solo albums with the label to date. Her album A Journey won the best recording solo recital award at the International Opera Awards in 2017, and in 2019 she also became a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy.
As for her connection to King Charles III? She first met the king at a 75th-anniversary event for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which was when Charles was announced as the orchestra’s royal patron.
Tomorrow, she will dazzle the royal again, this time with her premiere performance of Sarah Class’ Sacred Fire as one of 12 new pieces commissioned for the event by 12 different British composers.
View this post on Instagram
Go Pretty, Go! PS. while you’re at it, don’t you just want to get the Star of Africa back for all the Saffas asking?
[source:classicfm]
[imagesource:flickr] Humans are capable of amazing engineering feats if we put our mind...
[imagesource:wikimediacommons] The Karoo is semi-arid and sparse. But that is the pe...
[imagesource:flickr] Swift-mania reached a fever pitch this week when the singer releas...
[imagesource:pexels] I screen, you screen, we all scream for more screen! It's true,...
[imagesource:iol/cc] The recent Philippi Training College scandal is not doing anything...