Pretty Yende received the Ordine Stella d’Italia (OSI) for her work in building extraordinary relations between Italy and other countries in Cape Town on December 10, 2019, making her the youngest South African ever awarded this accolade.
In his speech, Pollio described Yende both as a daughter of South Africa and of Italy and said she “was an extraordinary ambassador of the Italian culture in South Africa.”
Pretty Yende has been nominated by Forum Opéra for their 2019 Awards in the Best Female Lyric Singer category alongside Karine Deshayes, Marina Rebeka, Vannina Santoni and Gaëlle Arquez. Follow this link to vote!
This spring, Pretty Yende returns to Paris to star as the protagonist of Massenet’s Manon at the Opéra Bastille from February 29 until April 10. When, in 1731, l’Abbé Prévost wrote L’Histoire du chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut – the work that inspired Massenet’s Manon – he portrayed an entire era, that of the Regency, which saw the old order fade away and a new order, full of the promise of unprecedented freedom, rise from its {…}