Pretty Yende (b. 1985, Piet Retief, South Africa) discovered opera as a teenager after hearing an aria used in a British Airways advertisement, and went on to study at the South African College of Music before training at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2013 as Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory and has since appeared at La Scala, the Paris Opera, and Los Angeles Opera in coloratura roles by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. She won several international vocal competitions between 2008 and 2011, received the South African Order of Ikhamanga in 2013, and performed at the coronation of King Charles III in 2023. She records for Sony Classical.

Yende is regarded as one of the leading coloratura sopranos of her generation and a prominent ambassador for opera in South Africa and internationally.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Yende