Who is Pretty Yende? South African soprano and Classic BRITs performer

15 June 2018, 17:05 | Updated: 22 June 2018, 16:56

Here's everything you need to know about South African operatic soprano Pretty Yende.

Pretty Yende is a South African operatic soprano, born in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga on 6 March 1985.

She was inspired to study opera aged 16, when she saw a British Airways TV advert that featured The Flower Duet from Leo Délibes' opera, Lakmé.

In 2012, Pretty sang the role of Musetta in Puccini's La bohème at La Scala in Milan. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in 2013, in the role of Adèle in Rossini's Le comte Ory.

In 2015, Yende played Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Los Angeles Opera, and in 2016 she starred in Rossini's The Barber of Seville as Rosina.

Pretty has a record contract with Sony Classical. Her first album with Sony was A Journey, which was released in 2016.

Classic BRIT Awards 2018

At the Classic BRIT Awards on Wednesday 13 June, Pretty teamed up with British composer and pianist Alexis Ffrench.

Alexis French: 'People want to be entertained by classical music, not educated'

Alexis began with his composition ‘Bluebird’, joined by his ballet dancer daughter Savannah, before Pretty wove in the beautiful traditional South African song ‘Shosholoza’ with ‘Bluebird’ and Rossini’s ‘Una Voce Poco Fa’.

The Classic BRIT Awards will be broadcast on Sunday 17 June at 10.30pm on ITV1.