Pretty Yende has joined the pantheon of the great opera stars. This young South African soprano sang at the coronation of the UK's Charles III, and is in demand on stages around the world.
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00:00Priti Yende is singing Cleopatra on stage, something she would never have dared to dream
00:19of as a little girl from South Africa.
00:22Discover how Priti Yende became more than just a queen on stage and sang for royalty.
00:30For me performing is not really performing.
00:34I am alive on stage.
00:37My soul becomes alive, like there's a smile, there's an inner joy that I can't explain.
00:44It's much more deeper than just being an opera singer, I'm ministering sound literally.
00:52In the Frankfurt Opera's make-up room, she makes the final touches and meets with the
00:56director before the dress rehearsal.
00:58I think it's good when you have a little, just over the shoulder, like, ah, he's awake,
01:05that's good.
01:06And then you go to your position where you, from the hiding place, where you look at him.
01:11Her debut as the Egyptian queen Cleopatra in Handel's Baroque opera Giulio Cesare is
01:17both a challenge and a very special role for Priti Yende.
01:23Cleopatra is one of the most legendary of characters and, of course, she's an African
01:32queen and I'm from the tip of Africa, so it is very, I don't know if there's something
01:37there, but just the mere fact of seeing how her character is portrayed compared to other
01:43characters that have played from the European ladies.
01:48Opera fans know Priti Yende as a soprano who sings on the world's premier stages.
01:57She was introduced to mass audiences in 2023 when she sang for the British king Charles
02:02the Third and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey.
02:07She's the first African soloist to sing at a coronation.
02:12It was once in a lifetime kind of an event and to be part of it has been truly extraordinary.
02:18I have such joy just remembering that I was part of it in a very special way.
02:25It was the highlight so far of Priti's international career which began with her studies at La
02:30Scala in Milan in 2011.
02:33Priti was born to a family of musicians in 1985 in a small town in eastern South Africa.
02:40Her family accompanied her singing in the school and church choirs, but she only heard
02:44opera for the first time at 16 in a ten-second commercial.
02:49It was 2001, we were a homeward family watching TV and then I heard this music on the background
02:54and it was the Lakme duet and it was really the power of the music behind, the power of
02:59the voice that really invited me to this amazing art form and world.
03:05She was invited to London to record a studio version of Sacred Fire.
03:21The title for King Charles III's and Queen Camilla's coronation was written by composer
03:26Sarah Classe, especially for Priti Yende's performance.
03:32That's amazing. You're very much in tune. That's fantastic.
03:39The singer and composer were personally chosen by King Charles for his coronation. The two
03:44continue to collaborate. Sarah Classe records another track for her new album with Priti.
03:52I guess we have a better beyond.
03:56She just brings that depth to every note. She brings the depth, she brings the draws
04:05from the well within her so beautifully and you can feel that power within every note.
04:13I think for me that's the thing that creates this special, I think, euphoria, you know.
04:22She has that.
04:27Back at the dress rehearsal in Frankfurt, Priti Yende gets ready for her performance
04:31in the third act. In moments like this, she sometimes thinks back to her younger self,
04:38discovering opera at 16. What would she tell her?
04:42If you hadn't said yes when you first heard those ten seconds, none of it would have come
04:49true. So that courage that you had in that small, unique moment of ten seconds of your
04:56life and saying yes, thank you so much for that and for not giving up, no matter what.
05:05Whether as Cleopatra or as a soloist at the coronation of King Charles, Priti Yende, the
05:11soprano from South Africa, has long been singing at the top league of international opera.