South African soprano Pretty Yende first came to international attention in 2010 when she became the first artist in the history of the Belvedere Competition to win First Prize in every category. In 2011, she was the first prize winner of Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition. Yende made her professional operatic debut at the National theatre in Riga as Micaela in Carmen. She has since been seen at nearly all of the major theaters of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and many others.

Engagements for the ²⁰¹⁵⁄₁₆ season include her debut at the Paris Opera in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, productions of Lucia di Lammermoor and L‘Elisir D’Amore in Berlin, Die Zauberflöte in Geneva, and I Puritani in Zurich.

In January 2013 Pretty Yende made a sensationally acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut, stepping in on a few weeks’ notice as the Countess Adele in Le Comte Ory opposite Juan Diego Florez. Immediately after, she made her Vienna debut at the Theater an der Wien in the same opera. The ²⁰¹²⁄₂₀₁₃ season also included the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in concert.