ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

Pretty Yende has performed in the world's grandest opera theatres. She'll tick off even more this year, but she's driven not by a bucket list but by a burning curiosity to see how far she can challenge her voice and herself.

- CHRISTI NORTIER

Pretty just happened to be within earshot when the British Airways advert came on TV. The two female voices stopped Pretty in her tracks as they trilled together, rising higher and higher. It couldn't be humanly possible to sing like that, she thought. But the next day, her teacher explained this thing called "opera" and that, while it sounded superhuman to Pretty, it was indeed humanly possible. And so, at just 16, Pretty was determined to figure out how this magic works.

In the 23 years since that day, she has like those impossible voices - risen higher and higher. She has sung the very song that inspired her - Léo Delibes' famous 'Flower Duet' and many other classics on some of the world's biggest and most beloved stages, and the South African soprano shows no signs of stopping.

When asked what drives her to ever higher heights, she still talks about that elusive "magic". It's calling her name - as it always has.

HYMNS AT HOME

At five years old, Pretty and her grandmother would walk to church every week in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga. Being old, her grandmother needed frequent breaks and she filled those breaks with hymn-singing sessions. "She taught me how to sing in that way and it planted the seed," Pretty recalls. "We would also sing as a family after supper every night.

There was always music at home. I really grew up with it." Pretty believes she was born to sing opera, even though it only came to her attention on that fateful day when she was 16. As if by fate, the Department of Education introduced opera to the curriculum (and competitions) to schools shortly afterwards - and Pretty's beloved 'Flower Duet' just happened to be a prescribed piece.