The 38-year-old soprano was personally chosen by Charles III to sing at his coronation. He had heard it at Windsor Castle in April 2022.
Dressed in a yellow dress, the South African singer Pretty Yende became this Saturday the first singer from the African continent to sing solo for a British coronation.
She interpreted within the walls of Westminster Abbey, in London, the song Sacred Fire, composed by Sarah Class, shortly before the ceremony officially began.
Personally chosen by Charles III
She had been chosen personally by the British sovereign, after having performed in front of him at Windsor Castle in April 2022. To AFP, the soprano had remembered a “very warm” king, who had “praised” his voice.
Pretty Yende has been in demand for ten years in the most prestigious opera houses in the world, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York to the Paris Opera, but also La Scala in Milan. Critics praise his charisma and timbre.
“Opera is a gift for Humanity”
The singer, who was born in 1985 in a South African township, while the country was still living under the apartheid regime, insisted on supporting the symbolic nature of her performance.
Singing in Westminster Abbey this Saturday, she became the first African singer to sing solo at the coronation of a King or Queen of England.
“Opera is a gift for Humanity; this art has something divine too, so it must be shared,” said Pretty Yende before her performance.
