PHOTOGRAPH BY ZACH GROSS
IN ONE WAY, the soprano Pretty Yende’s successful Metropolitan Opera début, as Countess Adéle in a 2013 staging of Rossini’s “Le Comte Ory” (she’s at present singing Pamina, in a revival of “Die Zauberflöte”), is a familiar story. Young unknown learns daunting role on short notice; crowd goes wild; critics approve. But the individual poise of her musicianship—the unforced fullness of her timbre, a tonal warmth that persists even through flights of treacherous coloratura—makes her distinctive, as well as a leading figure in a new wave of classical musicians from South Africa. “UBUNTU,” Carnegie Hall’s upcoming festival of South African music and arts, will feature not only Yende’s New York recital début (Oct. 13) but also concerts by another young Met star, Elza van den Heever, and…
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The New Yorker (Digital) - 1 Issue, Oct-06-14