Born in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga,[2] she grew up with two brothers and a sister; the family, also with the grandparents, sang often.[2] Yende was inspired to learn opera at age 16 after seeing a British Airways TV advertisement that featured the Flower Duet from Lakmé.[2][3] She subsequently enrolled at the South African College of Music, where her teachers included Virginia Davids, and from which she graduated cum laude. She also graduated from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Her younger sister also became an opera singer.[4]
Yende is credited as a primary artist for the "Ode À L'Humanité" (Ode to Humanity, previously called Aria) track on the Yanni/Plácido Domingo collaboration Inspirato (2014).[25]
Yende accused French border police of police brutality and racial discrimination. She detailed on social media her experience of being treated like a criminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport on 21 June 2021 while arriving for her fourth La sonnambula performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She said she was strip searched and held in a dark room with all her belongings taken.[27] The French National Police disputed that it was she that had a South African passport without a visa to enter. She did present her residence permit issued in Milan, with which she had always travelled throughout Europe,[28] yet they said she needed a separate one-time visa, while Yende and her lawyer claimed she had all the documents required.[27] They also denied having ordered her to undress but a pat-down by a female officer in accordance to standard procedure, and she left around 6 pm with a regularisation visa.[27][29][30]
DIRCO, aware of the incident, demanded explanation and investigation from the French authorities through the South African Embassy in Paris. It also voiced their intention to démarche the French Ambassador to South Africa, based in Pretoria, to convey its displeasure.[31]
Awards and honours
Yende was awarded Siola d'oro in 2011.[32]
She won an Arca d'oro Italia Young Talents Award in 2012,[33] and performed a recital in Turin on 30 March 2013 owing to the award.[34]
She was conferred the Silver Order of Ikhamanga on 27 April 2013. In a statement by the chairperson of the National Orders Advisory Council, Dr. Cassius Lubisi, Yende was conferred the honour "for her excellent achievement and international acclaim in the field of world opera and serving as a role model to aspiring young musicians."[35][36]
She was one of the winners of the 2013 Women of the Year Awards by Glamour South Africa.[37]
In September 2013 she received an Mbokodo Award in the category of opera.[38]
Yende won the Best Recording Solo Recital Award for her album A Journey in the 2017 International Opera Awards,[39] and was awarded the International Achiever Award in the 23rd South African Music Awards.[40] She won a Readers' Award in the 2018 International Opera Awards,[41] and the Cologne Opera Award (Kölner Opernpreis), received during the city's Floraball.[42]
In 2019, she was invested a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy.[43]
Discography
Yende signed a long-term recording contract with Sony Classical in October 2015.[44] Her first recording under this Sony contract was "A Journey".[45]
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