Born in South Africa, Pretty Yende reached the top of her opera career with extraordinary speed, and quickly became one of the brightest stars in world of music. Since making her professional operatic debut at the Latvian National Theatre in Riga as Micaela in Carmen, she has been seen at nearly all of the major theaters of the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Opernhaus Zürich and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Vienna Staatsoper as well as many major concert venues.
This season, Pretty Yende returns to the Wiener Staatsoper to star in La Sonnambula. She comes backs to Paris Opera to appear as Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann; at the Royal Opera House Pretty will reprise in Verdi’s Rigoletto. 2024 will start with La Traviata performances at the Staatsoper Berlin and a later return to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Adina in L’elisir d’amore. At the Franfurt Opera Pretty will be making her role debut in Handel’s Guilio Cesare in Egitto as Cleopatra in the new production directed by Nadja Loschky. Pretty will finish this season with another role debut with the title role in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Additionally, Ms Yende will also make multiple recital and concert appearances, including Paris, Antwerp, Palermo, Dortmund, Abu-Dhabi, Tokyo, Madrid, Bordeaux, Saint-Denis. Pretty will continue a tour of uniquely special series of concerts in collaboration with Nadine Sierra around Europe.
Last season, Ms Yende made her San Francisco Opera House debut as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata. She returned to Wiener Staatsoper to star in the title role in Massenet’s Manon, and as Marie in La fille du regiment. Pretty reprised the role of Michaela in Carmen at the Staatsoper Berlin. At the Staatsoper Hamburg she made her role debut as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and returned to all four heroines Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella in Offenbach’s Le Contes d’Hoffmann.
On the concert stage, Pretty Yende made her return with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall and Kimmel Center performing Mahler's Symphony No. 4 under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Last season, Ms Yende also made multiple recital appearances in Kansas, Princeton, Geneva, Naples, Gstaad, Vienna, Festival Auvers-sur-Oise. Additionally, she made a guest appearance in Paris for the annual Concert de Paris to celebrate Bastille Day.
On 6 May 2023 Ms Yende performed at King Charles III Coronation at Westminster Abbey. She became the first African solo artist to perform at the coronation of a British monarch. Pretty sang Sacred Fire, a piece written by composer Sarah Class specifically for the occasion, followed by Handel: ‘Oh, had I Jubal’s lyre’ from Joshua and Handel: ‘Care selve’ from Atalanta.
(photo: Dario Acosta)
