A Journey Pretty Yende

• Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868): Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act I, No. 5:
• 1Una voce poco fa06:08
• Lakmé, Act I, No. 2:
• 2Viens, Mallika... Sous le dôme épais (Flower Duet)06:13
• Beatrice di Tenda, Act I, Scene VI:
• 3Respiro io qui... Ma la sola, ohimè! son io... Ah, la pena in lor piombò12:36
• Le Comte Ory, Act I, Scene VIII, No. 4:
• 4En proie à la tristesse... Vous que l'on dit sensible... Céleste providence09:46
• Roméo et Juliette, Act IV, No. 17:
• 5Dieu, quel frisson court dans mes veines!... Amour, ranime mon courage05:58
• Lucia di Lammermoor, Act I, No. 3:
• 6Ancor non giunse!... Regnava nel silenzio... Quando rapito in estasi12:59
• I puritani, Act II:
• 7O rendetemi la speme... Qui la voce sua soave... Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna!15:23
• Lakmé, Act II, No. 10:
• 8Où va la jeune Indoue08:09
• Total Runtime01:17:12

Info for A Journey

Meet the beautiful South African soprano, Pretty Yende, a rising star with a modern faity-tale story. Many know Pretty from her International breakthrough at her sensational Metropolitan Opera debut at the age of 27 in 2013. Each track on Pretty Yende’s debut recording, A Journey, celebrates a milestone of her extraordinary musical journey. This recording has been a joyful labor of love for Yende, as it celebrates the milestones in her extraordinary musical journey, rising to the top of the opera world with unparalleled speed.

“It was instantly clear to everyone there that she was ready for the world's greatest stages. She has an extraordinarily beautiful voice with a phenomenal technique, and she lights up the stage with charisma.” (Plácido Domingo)

Besides the much-loved Lakmé duet, which transformed Yende’s life and opened her heart to the world of opera, the recording also includes the touching scene ‘Vous que l’on dit’ from Rossini’s Le comte Ory. Yende gained dazzling international recognition in this opera when she starred opposite Juan Diego Flórez at the New York’s Metropolitan Opera in January 2013.

Juliette’s ‘Amour ranime mon courage’ from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette represents the aria performed at the International Belvedere Competition in 2009, in which she made history by becoming the first artist to win first prize in every category. This success also led to an offer to join the prestigious young artists’ programme at La Scala in Milan.

With ‘Ah, la pena’ from Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda, Yende continued her success at international competitions. This time she scintillated in Plácido Domingo’s renowned Operalia Competition in 2011. Again she was the first singer in history to receive not only the first prize but also the prize of the public and the Zarzuela prize.

A particularly significant and moving event for the young singer came when she returned to her homeland in 2013 to sing the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in Cape Town. From this opera she has chosen the much-loved aria ‘Regnava nel silenzio’.

The recording also includes ‘Una voce poco fa’ from Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (the opera of her Opéra National de Paris debut in February 2016)

Pretty Yende performs with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Torino under Marco Armiliato.

Pretty Yende, soprano
Kate Aldrich, mezzo-soprano
Coro Sinfonica di Milano della RAI
Marco Armiliato, conductor

Pretty Yende
Born in 1985 in the small town of Piet Retief, about two hundred miles from Johannesburg, Yende’s journey to become one of the world’s most sought-after sopranos is like a modern fairy-tale. She was initially introduced to singing in a manner familiar to many South Africans - in her church choir. Then at the age of sixteen, she heard the Flower Duet from Lakmé on a British Airways television advertisement, and was so enraptured by its beauty that she determined to find out what it was. On learning that it was opera, she decided at that moment to abandon her plans to become an accountant, and train to become an opera singer instead.

She gained a scholarship to study at the South African College of Music in Cape Town with Professor Virginia Davids, the first black woman to appear on opera stages during the apartheid years in South Africa. With Davids’s help, Yende triumphed at the 2009 Belvedere Competition and Operalia Competition (2011) and has joined the prestigious young artists’ programme at La Scala in Milan. She continues to study with the celebrated soprano Mariella Devia.

International Award winning soprano, crowned winner in Moscow, of the 2011 Placido Domingo's Operalia World Competition, the audiance agreed to for the first time with jury as they also declared her as their favorate singer, as well as winning the prize for Zarzuela, first time in the history of the competitin that one singer wins all top prizes. She is South African born from Mpumalanga Province in a town, Piet Retief, Matriculated in Ndlela High school as top student and furthered her studies at the South African Collage of Music in University of Cape Town for A Performer's diploma in opera as well as graduate studies, graduated cum laude, under the guidance of Ass. Prof. Davids and Prof. Gobbato. She has just recently graduated from the prestigious Accademia Teatro La Scala, in Milan, a two year course on specialized training on opera.

Winner of Belvedere international singing competition 2009, montseraat caballe singing competition 2009, savonlinna international competition 2010, Leyla Gencer singing competition 2010, Bellini international singing competition, Operalia World Competition

Booklet for A Journey