BWW Reviews: Here, There, Everywhere - All Over Town with PRETTY YENDE

Pretty Yende--a name that in itself brings certain expectations as well as smiles--burst on the New York opera scene at the start of 2013, in a baptism by fire. At just 27, the South African soprano from Piet Retief, Mpumalanga memorably stepped into one of the lead roles in the revival of Rossini's LE COMTE ORY (opposite, no less, star tenor Juan Diego Florez) on short notice. I somehow missed those debut performances, so I recently took the opportunity to catch up with her at a trio of different venues: the Met, where she sang Pamina in DIE ZAUBERFLOTE, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Avery Fisher Hall and, finally, her recital debut in the very intimate Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

A surprising debut

The circumstances of her debut at the Met was surely enough to bring terror to the heart of even a more seasoned performer--since limited rehearsals and no stage time for production revivals are par for the course. Add to that was that she had never sung the role before: She reportedly learned it in a week. Perhaps the piece de resistence of terrors was a trip down the stairs as she made her entrance during a pantomime at the start of the opera, landing flat on her face. (Thankfully, it was into a heap of satin.) But she recovered like a pro and reports had the audience cheering her during the final curtain calls.

This year's Met ZAUBERFLOTE opening, luckily, included no such misstep but still suffered from the same lack of rehearsal time. The voice was intriguing, beautiful and bigger than expected, as I wrote earlier, but the performance seemed under-rehearsed--certainly a problem in Julie Taymor's charming but tricky production. (I heard that she improved greatly by later performances.) She was in good form at the Tucker Gala, first with "Qui la voce" from I PURITANI and then "I Feel Pretty" from WEST SIDE STORY, the latter a great choice reflecting both her name and physical attributes and had the audience in the palm of her hand.

A gorgeous voice

Her recital at the Weill hall was part of a citywide festival exploring South African arts and culture, "Ubuntu: Music and Arts of South Africa," but the program didn't show off much music from her home territory. It did, however, reveal many of her fine attributes as a performer, including a gorgeous voice, while also reinforcing the fact that she still needs some seasoning, particularly with intonation and the languages of the opera repertoire.

While I appreciated her attempt to go outside the usual arias-based program for her New York recital debut, I'm not sure they all showed her at her best. She began with some less-than-scintillating songs by three great Italian opera composers--Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti--that were sung elegantly but staidly and I thought didn't connect her with the audience.

Early songs by Debussy

For me at least, the program took off with her set of five early songs by Debussy, to text by some great French poets and accompanied wonderfully by pianist Kamal Khan. I particularly liked "Fleur des bles" (text by Andre Girod) in which Yende's voice glistened and the beautiful "Beau soir" (Paul Bourget), which she sang pensively and wistfully. The sensitive "Clair de lune" (Paul Verlaine) was also tender and gorgeous, showing off the richness of her voice, while she really seemed to connect to the liveliness of "Mandoline" (also Verlaine). Finally, "Apparition" (Stephane Mallarme) brought out many aspects of her fine musicality and allowed her to soar.

Glittering high notes

The two arias on the program were very different. While the sweetness and flexibility of her voice came through in both--Meyerbeer's "O beau pays" from the grand opera LES HUGUENOTS and Bellini's "Ah! Non giunge" from LA SONNAMBULA--she was at her best in the latter, with great bel canto style, glittering high notes and poignant expression. Her dramatic abilities, however, still have a way to go.

Yende captured the zest of a trio of Spanish songs--including "Sierra de Granada" and "La tarantula e un bicho mu malo"--from zarzuelas by Jerónimo Giménez, where her charming personality easily came through. It was also fun to hear her perform Giménez's "Me llaman la primorosa" ("They call me exquisite") from his version of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.

As with many performers, Yende seemed to relax greatly when the printed part of the program was over, delivering a soaring version of "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's GIANNI SCHICCHI and a lovely Zulu song, "Thula mntwana," that was clearly close to her heart.

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Photo: Pretty Yende as Pamina in Mozart's DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE at the Met.

Photo by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

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