To have one star soprano in the family is good fortune. To have two is extraordinary. And for two sisters to emerge from a South African township to conquer the world stage is, to my mind, a cause for serious celebration. Nombulelo Yende, 33, is the younger sister, by about five years, of the international star Pretty Yende. Her 2019 triumph at the Neue Stimmen Competition in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, has put her soundly onto the international map.
“Neue Stimmen was the first international competition I did,” says Yende, speaking to me via video call from South Africa. “I went in with no expectations, but they were so kind and supportive. I think it’s one of the most important competitions I’ve ever done.
“I had a great experience there. It’s more than just a competition; it’s a great workshop. We had career advice, and sessions on finance and how to navigate agents. I even had my first professional headshots taken there. You meet a lot of agents and a lot of important people from the opera world. This was where I met Bernd Loebe, intendant of Frankfurt Oper.
“It didn’t even feel like a competition most of the time, because we had so much to do and so much support. When we sang on stage, it was as if we were all just singing in a concert; and some people would be singing in the next concert and some people wouldn’t. Everybody was in unity, wanting each other to do very well – there was no pressure for any of us to say ‘I need to win,’ because we were so relaxed. We were made to feel we could just take it all in, learn as much as possible and enjoy the process.”
Indeed, the competition proved life-changing. “It was the most important step I could have taken. If I hadn’t gone there, I never would have been able to audition for Bernd Loebe. I met him in the early rounds. He came to me immediately afterwards and said, ‘You should come to Frankfurt,’ even before the semi-finals. Had I not been there in that moment, at that at that time, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet him.”
The Covid pandemic forced her to put plans on hold, but when the world opened up again, the offer stood: Yende went to Frankfurt to become a company member. “When I eventually got there, Bernd and his team were super supportive. I was given the most heartwarming welcome. I was immediately put on stage, I was trained and given wonderful opportunities to learn, to make mistakes and to grow. He trusted me, and that trust made me feel more confident that maybe I am OK! With the competition, I was in the right place at the right time.”
Nombulelo, Pretty and their two brothers (both of whom became DJs) grew up in the township of Mkhondo, about four hours from Johannesburg. Their father owns a taxi and the singing, Yende says, came from their mother, who had a beautiful voice and used to sing in church. “I was about five or six years old when I was already in the children’s church choir. From the church it progressed to school choirs, and developed from there.”
Life in the township was arduous – and the Yende sisters were born before the fall of the Apartheid regime – but she credits her parents’ strictness with instilling her with self-discipline and a sense of direction. “All I did was wake up, go to school, come back, and we go to church, and church equalled choir practice. So it was music all the time, and if you’re not at church, you’re at home. Very simple!”
Pretty Yende has spoken often of how she was inspired towards opera by hearing a British Airways advert on the radio – the company’s ubiquitous Flower Song from Delibes’ Lakmé. For the younger sister, however, the choice was less immediate.
“When my sister discovered that she had a voice and could really sing opera, the teachers at my school thought that if my sister had the talent, then I have it too – but I wasn’t necessarily interested in opera. I sang a lot of other, different music, which I enjoyed very much. When I got to high school, I had stopped being involved in anything musical at school. But I had a teacher who was the conductor at the time and forced me to join the choir. She spoke to my parents and told them, ‘she’s going to join the choir’. So I did. That’s where I discovered that I did have a liking for classical music, and I actually enjoyed it very much.
“I never thought of it as a way to have a career, or something that I would do for the rest of my life. I had other plans, totally different, and I was just doing it for fun. When I was matriculating, I applied for medicine at the University of Cape Town. Medicine was my first choice, and then I had to have a second choice…” That was how she fetched up at the Cape Town University Opera School, alma mater of most of the astonishing voices emerging from South Africa. Yende is following in the footsteps of not only her sister, but also Golda Schultz, Pumeza Matshikiza and Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, to name a few.
“I think it’s down to the teachers and lecturers,” Yende says. “They have real passion for what they're doing, and they instil that passion and discipline in us. And the school has great, great support for young artists. There are other opera schools and opera training facilities in South Africa, but Cape Town is just different. It’s the teachers, it’s the community, and also, I think, the people in Cape Town support opera and classical music more than other places. That is a great motivation for people to say that, OK, we need to do more and we need to get better all the time. So we always bring the best we can.”
Yende certainly has brought her best. Her successes in a number of other competitions – Operalia 2023, handily held in Cape Town, where she won the CulturArte Prize, or in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, where she was a finalist and made a powerful impression in the Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin – continue to spread the word.
She and her sister enjoy singing together – “we used to do more in duo before I moved to Frankfurt,” she says – although, or perhaps because, they have such contrasting voices. “I think that’s why it works so well. We are very different – but then when we sing together, it sounds like it's one voice. That's the really funny thing about it!”
Pretty Yende has made her name in virtuoso bel canto roles and Verdi, while Nombulelo Yende’s burgeoning lyric soprano sound, shot through with coppery brightness, shines in repertoire such as Micaëla in Carmen, which she recently sang in Frankfurt, rather to her own surprise: “That was a role I didn’t think I they would give to me so early. I got to sing it on the main stage, and the audience received it very well.”
Among treats ahead this season are the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. “I like emotional music: music that really touches the heart. I like mature roles, actually. I think I do well in the young soprano roles, but I connect more with roles like the Countess.” Her dream role would be Bellini’s Norma. “I love Norma. I know she’s older, but she’s very close to my heart. Everything in her really speaks to me. But I’m still too young! Maybe in a few years...”
She is excited to be part of the international expansion for South Africa’s musical talent. “There are so many great African voices. We’ve discovered that we have really great talent when it comes to opera. Also the more of us get out there, the more also some African and South African operas can get onto European stages. I think some of that African music could be a great addition into the typical European classical repertoire.” She cites Madiba, about Nelson Mandela, with music by Sibusiso Njeza and a libretto by Mandela’s grand-nephew, HRH Chief Unathi Phathuxolo Mtirara, and Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu, by composer Mzilikazi Khumalo and librettist Themba Msimang: “This is great, beautiful operatic music – in an African language.”
As Yende’s journey into European opera continues, her magnificent voice is helping to fly the flag. It’s time for us all to sit up and listen.
See upcoming performances by Nombulelo Yende.
Watch Neue Stimmen 2024 via live stream! The semifinal concert on Wednesday, October 9th, 6pm CET, will be available on www.neue-stimmen.de. The final concert on October 11th, 7pm CET, will be broadcast live on the opera streaming platform OperaVision.
This article was sponsored by the Neue Stimmen Competition.
