THE CHARMED LIFE OF PRETTY YENDE

Thembalethu Zulu spends a morning with South Africa’s brightest opera star, home from Milan to launch her debut album

PRETTY Yende has a commanding presence — which might explain why, despite my limited knowledge of opera, I have always found her fascinating. Never mind the hours of research I have done and the opera I have listened to in preparation for our meeting, I feel under-prepared when the 31-year-old soprano floats into the View restaurant at the Four Seasons Westcliff hotel in Johannesburg.

She exudes so much warmth that it suddenly doesn’t seem to matter that she is running late. “I am so sorry,” she says.

Yende’s accent is a strange mixture of Zulu and Italian, thanks to her having been based in Italy since she was 23. Her charming drawl also has hints of French and German, languages she regularly sings in.

Despite the melting pot that is her accent, Yende says she always streams Zulu radio station Ukhozi FM wherever she goes.

“You should see me when I hop off a plane and see my people — I smile like crazy because I miss that,” she says.

Kitted head to toe in one of her favourite designers, Dolce & Gabbana, Yende wouldn’t be out of place on the runways of Milan, the fashion capital where she lives a 10-minute walk from La Scala opera house.

“I had seen this dress on the runway and I liked it,” she says of her open-back dress patterned with flowers in her favourite colour, red. It’s perfect for the day we meet — the official start of spring. The ensemble is completed with a pair of yellow heels.

Yende is flawlessly put together, down to camelesque false lashes. “I think I was a queen in my previous life. There’s something about castles and big homes I like,” she says of her choice of hotel.

Yende says she always tries to stay in the same room at the Four Seasons when in Johannesburg. “So far, I’ve been lucky.”

For stays longer than a week, however, she will choose an apartment, basing her decision on the kitchen and the size of the stove. She loves to cook and says she cooks every day in Italy, sometimes with South African spices which she tops up on when she is home.

There is no food she avoids. “I made a deal with the voice. I said, OK, you keep me normal; I’ll take care of you,” she says. “I do eat chocolate every now and then. A happy singer is a successful singer.”

But alcohol is a “no-no”. Each time it touches her mouth, her body “just says ‘no’, so I’ve stopped trying”.

Yende, originally from Piet Retief, is in South Africa to promote her debut album A Journey. The album was recorded in Italy in August last year after a lengthy gestation that started about seven years ago.

“I was approached by Sony Classical in 2009 — and they were not the only recording label,” she says nonchalantly. “At the end of the day, I chose [Sony] because I felt at home [with the label].”

Yende says she needed to be ready before attempting to record an album.

“When they approached me the first time, I knew I wasn’t ready vocally and psychologically. I needed to grow as a person and as an artist so I asked them to wait for me.”

There is no doubt she is a perfectionist, something she admits reluctantly. “I’ve learnt to be kind to myself. I cannot expect myself to do the impossible,” she says.

The “Pretty Army” keeps her on track, a crew that includes her New York-based management company, vocal teachers, friends and family. Her social circle is small.

“I’m always at rehearsals from the morning until evening so my group of friends is usually my colleagues . . . and I travel so much,” she says.

Travel is one of the ways she treats herself. She does not compromise on comfort. “I always try to travel business class or first class.”

Considering the list of achievements she’s racked up over her career, Yende deserves it. They include being the first artist in the history of Operalia — an international opera competition launched by Placido Domingo in 1993 — to win in every single category.

She joined Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Canadian rocker Bryan Adams in a concert for the grand finale of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. That year she became the first artist in the history of the Belvedere singing competition in Vienna to take first prize in both categories, opera and operetta.

And next month she will become the first black person to perform at the Opera National de Paris in the role of Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

The University of Cape Town alumnus has performed at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Met in New York, La Scala and London’s Wigmore Hall.

But Yende says she does not feel famous. “The thing about fame is people give you fame.”

When we go to Fordsburg for a photo shoot, and wait for the pigeons to arrange themselves in just the right way, she does draw attention — but apparently because of the cameras and drama, rather than because anyone has recognised her face.

In Milan, however, she does get recognised. “People will ask me: ‘Are you Pretty Yende?’ and I say, ‘Who is Pretty Yende?’ ”

Her rise to the top of the operatic world has not been without its trials. Racism has reared its head over the course of her career.

“I’m always finding myself the only black person in the theatre,” she says. “It has not been easy. But I am living in a time when that does not have to matter anymore. I can choose not to accept it. I expect that life should be good to me because I am good to life.” Yende is nothing if not positive. About the way she has taken the largely whitedominated opera world by storm, she says: “It was a shock for everyone there. So I would give it a smile. I would say to myself, ‘It’s new for them, as much as it is new for me.’ ”

Yende is expressive, speaking animatedly with elaborate hand gestures for effect, her constant laughter revealing her dimples.

“The dream is to get to Hollywood one day,” she says of her future aspirations. She also hopes to write a book and become a mother to twins. Currently however, she is “happily single”.

If and when she retires, Yende hopes to return to South Africa to live on a farm with horses and livestock. But that is still a while away. “I’m about to peak in a few years . . . from 35 to 75,” she says, laughing.

The only time she looks forlorn is when I ask about her upcoming media commitments. “There are quite a few,” she says, fatigue showing for the first time.

As we drive back to her temporary castle, she is back to her inspirational best. “You want to know what motivates me? That guy,” she says, pointing to a construction worker on the pavement. “The father who is afraid he won’t be able to provide for his family, the mother selling amagwinya [vetkoek]. I am the black girl who was told I shouldn’t sing opera because I don’t look the part. I am that black girl who grew up with a candle at home, but inside her there was always that hope.”

A Journey became available on CD and all digital music platforms this week.

‘I AM THAT BLACK GIRL WHO GREW UP WITH A CANDLE AT HOME, BUT INSIDE HER THERE WAS ALWAYS THAT HOPE’