From small-town living in mpumalanga, to performing on the finest stages around the world, pretty Yende reflects on her incredible career, the things she’s had to Sacrifice, what keeps her going, and why she hasn’t achieved her dream yet
Pretty Yende is a vision in red when we meet at a cosy coffee shop in Johannesburg. She asks that we sit outside. ‘I love the sun,’ she says, ‘I love being outside.’ We discuss the menu, but don’t expect Pretty to drink tea with lemon just because she’s an opera singer. Instead she orders a coffee and reveals that there’s no point in denying oneself the small pleasures in life. That too, she says, can contribute to feeling healthy. ‘Life is very precious to me, I want to live each moment as best as I can. And doing what I do, I need to be in good health.’ I ask her if she has any guilty pleasures. She answers without so much as a moment’s hesitation. ‘Chocolate, definitely. Give me anything with chocolate in it. And sweet-potato fries, too.’
Her second album Dreams was released in October and follows her critically acclaimed debut album A Journey that propelled her to international fame. She has won several prestigious awards, more recently including a prized Echo Klassik and an International Achiever Award at the 23rd SAMAs. After our meeting, Pretty will return to Italy to prepare for her upcoming performances. There seems to be no stopping her incredible momentum.
We talk about Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Antonín Dvorak’s Rusalka and her singing other opera classics, when the conversation moves to her family, who are dear to her heart. ‘My parents suffered because of apartheid, but at home we were never told about those things – about how cruel the world really was. In Piet Retief, they created a beautiful, safe and loving world for my two brothers, sister and me.
Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Marie Claire South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Marie Claire South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
These Women Are Not Real
These women have millions of Instagram followers, front-row seats at fashion week and the latest designer clothes … but they’re not real. This new social-media trend is the most futuristic yet: computer-generated avatars that look, talk and behave like real people. But, asks HANNAH-ROSE YEE, is this really the future of the influencer industry?
One Moment In Time
In February this year, para-athlete and journalist Palesa ‘Deejay’ Manaleng won gold in the women’s H3 hand-cycle event at the 2018 SA National Road and Para-Cycling Championships in Outdshoorn, Western Cape. Four years earlier, she had lost the use of her legs in a terrible cycling accident. Here, she shares that terrifying experience and her personal story of recovery
Never Had Sex But Trying For A Baby
For this 40-something-year-old, becoming a mother is high up on her priority list. And the fact that she’s a virgin, is not going to stop her from reaching her goal
Living In A Man's World
What really happens in the secret world of men? We asked four men who were born female to share their unique perspective on what it’s like to be parachuted into the opposite gender
Get In The Mood
You’re ready to ring in 2019, but that dreaded dress code has you in a panic. There’s no need to stress. Tarryn Oppel thinks you may already have a winning piece in your wardrobe. You just don’t know it yet...
A Charmed Life
Jewellery designer Ambra Gambale ’s handcrafted work has a curious undercurrent of magic realism, with a strong emphasis on bespoke pieces
Chelsea Lately
Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton talks privilege, female leadership, dealing with critics – and how Trump ‘degrades what it means to be an American’
Delivering Excellence
NOMZAMO MBATHA chats to Afika Jadezweni about her red-carpet style, why women need to support one another, and how she’ll never forget where she comes from
Soul To Soul
If There Were Ever a Visual Representation of the Expression ‘wearing Your Heart on Your Sleeve’, Lukhanyo Mdingi’s ‘soulful Ii’ Collection Would Be It, as Afika Jadezweni Finds Out
It's Kim's World
…We Just Live In It. How An Underestimated La Socialite Became One Of The Most Powerful Women Of The 21st Century