With her magnetic charm, acclaimed operatic and concert performances worldwide, and a critically lauded discography, South African soprano PRETTY YENDE has established herself as one of the brightest stars of the classical music world.
Since making her professional operatic debut in Riga as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, she has appeared at nearly all of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Opéra national de Paris; the Metropolitan Opera; Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Staatsoper Berlin; Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; Opernhaus Zürich; Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; and the Wiener Staatsoper, as well as at major concert venues worldwide. She has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Frizza, Giacomo Sagripanti, and Sascha Goetzel.
Her signature roles include Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Marie in Donizetti’s La fille du régiment, Manon in Massenet’s Manon, Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, and the four heroines (Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta, Stella) in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, among many others.
On the concert stage, highlights include her Carnegie Hall recital debut with pianist Kamal Khan, praised by The New York Times for “a gracefulness that can seem decidedly divine.” She later returned to Carnegie Hall with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Her concert appearances have taken her across Europe, the United States, and South Africa. In 2024, she gave a historic performance of Amazing Grace at the ceremonial reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris. In May 2023, she performed at the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey, becoming the first African solo artist to sing at the coronation of a British monarch.
In the 2025/2026 season, Pretty Yende returns to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Opéra de Monte-Carlo for a special gala series dedicated to Josephine Baker. She concluded 2025 with L’elisir d’amore at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, as well as gala, Christmas, and New Year concerts in Bologna, Paris, and Dresden. She opened the new year with a return to the Royal Opera House in Richard Eyre’s La traviata, a role she reprises later in the season at the Opéra national de Paris. Further highlights include appearances at the Vienna Opera Ball, her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, and engagements at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (Requiem, La bohème, and her role debut as Liù in Turandot). She also returns to the Wiener Staatsoper for L’elisir d’amore and appears in Il trovatore at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, alongside an extensive series of recitals and gala concerts across Europe and the United States.
Her discography with Sony Classical includes the award-winning albums A Journey (2016), which received the International Opera Award for Best Recording (Solo Recital) and the Echo Klassik Award for Best Newcomer, and Dreams (2017), which won the Readers’ Choice Award at the International Opera Awards.
A graduate of the Accademia of Teatro alla Scala, Yende made her debut there in 2010 as Berenice in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro. That same year, she became the first artist in the history of the Belvedere Competition to win top prize in every category, followed by First Prize at the Operalia Competition in 2011.
Among her many honours are the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver), awarded by the South African government for her international achievements and inspirational role, and the Italian knighthood Ordine della Stella d’Italia, recognising her contribution to cultural relations—making her the youngest South African ever to receive this distinction.
Photo by Pierre Mouton