In the month of August, Pretty Yende travels to Pesaro to participate in the Rossini Opera Festival, where she stars as Zoraide in Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide opposite Juan Diego Flórez on August 11, 14, 17 and 20.
The rest of the cast features Sergey Romanovsky as Agorante, Nicola Ulivieri as Ircano, Victoria Yarovaya as Zomira, Xabier Anduaga as Ernesto, Sofia Mchedlishvili as Fatima, Martiniana Antonie as Elmira and Ruzil Gatin as Zamorre. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts.
Pretty Yende has been featured on this year’s “50 Badass Women” by InStyle Magazine. This is the quote included for her: At age 16, the South African soprano traded her ambition to be an accountant for curtain calls. Now she is commanding the world’s biggest stages. “I never thought anyone who looked like me could learn [opera] and inspire other girls to do the same, but the color of my skin doesn’t matter,” she says. “The pure {…}
On October 5, 8, 11, 14 and 19, Pretty Yende returns to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in another bel canto role following her triumph in Don Pasquale, to star as Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani. Opposite her is Javier Camarena, one of the present day’s most applauded tenors. Christopher Franklin conducts. A perennial tale of love against the backcloth of wars between Protestants and Catholics provides the framework for the last of Vincenzo {…}