Pretty Yende - ROSSINI Bel raggio lusinghier (Semiramide)

[@maireadtallon1897]

Pretty is A1. Also the pianist is so very good and it’s good to see him. We can’t hide the accompanists at these Recitals. What would the World of singing do without them. Bravo. Mairead Tallon, Dublin, Ireland

[@jewelmarkess]

Some people keep living in the past believing that no today's singer can compare to their memory of past stars forgetting that at the time of these past stars there were people saying exactly the same thing. She is wonderful.

[@diezpiedrasnegras1703]

My thoughts exactly. :)

[@Richardflo15]

The Met Opera should consider her next time they do Semiramide... her voice is a gift

[@sibonelombanjwa4172]

Great performance Pretty Yende! Proudly South African

[@acitipo]

Timbre bellísimo, agilidad propio Rossiniana, una soprano que hará una gran carrera.

[@hugothebear]

Absolutely delightful, predictably there will be some who can pick holes and find fault, I hear a charming young singer who deserves to be heard

[@Capetenor1]

I agree about the intonation/pitch issues. Her instrument is gorgeous and there is loads of color in her voice, especially for the coloratura repertoire. Have not heard her in person but have listened to many recordings over the past 10 years and she has made great strides in finessing her coloratura technique for a voice that has more weight than many of this fach. Her highest notes remind me of one of the most famous dramatic coloraturas of this century. I would be not be surprised to see Pretty move on to more lyric repertoire in the years to come a la Netrebko.

[@silverkitty2503]

Her high notes are like tin. This is not her range her voice does not like it up there. Her technique is solid though.

[@clefnoteproductions6695]

Perhaps more lyric like Marguerite, Juliette, Micaela, Mimi, but she'd be crazy to go where Netrebko is now. Netrebko in my opinion should have have stayed in the full lyric soprano up to Desdemona, and stayed away from the dramatic coloratura. She was gorgeous as Adina and Norina.

[@clefnoteproductions6695]

Mimi, Musetta, Micaela, and Leila would all be wonderful. Netrebko went too far. She completely changed her technique or vocal production to sing the dramatic repertoire. In my opinion, it's been disastrous! She we was beautiful in Mimi, Adina, Norina, Desdemona, and Ludmilla. She went too far with Anna Bolena, Trovatore, Lady Macbeth, and Turandot

[@limonyron1]

Amazing. We are very proud of you.

[@fabriziolamari5094]

Splendido colore di voce e variazioni veramente di buon gusto!!!!......... BRAVISSIMA!!!!

[@DUBLINSTIX]

As a South African living in Ireland this is just beyond words!! SO PROUD OF YOU PRETTY - ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT - I dream of the day I, as a white South African, can return to my country…a country full of people like Pretty, Mark Shuttleworth, Elon Musk, Patrice Mosepe, Anton Rupert, Cyril Rmaphosa and myself…with politicians and visionaries like Mandela and without the likes of Z and political parties that could not get it right to embrace true democracy and the reconciliation of Mandela and Tutu…I will return when openly white reversed apartheid discriminatory legislation against white males particularly is officially renounced and I and my family can return to a true democratic South Africa where Mandela's words and dreams came true in full…for all peoples of South Africa. WELL DONE PRETTY - you are a true inspiration and reflection of a modern and free (partly) South Africa

[@Monnarchmonnarchy]

It is not about nationality or inspire! She did her job so bad!!! And this is redicilous!!! Is it become a normal to do a job a do it terrible? By making a lot of money! If you are inspired by her, please do much better!!!

[@esaritac]

Flawless

[@laurolita]

Just saw her in the opera Carmen in Los Angeles. She was amazing.

[@isaballaserrano4991]

Bravaaa 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️❤️❤️

[@КаринаСимонянц-ъ8л]

Браво, браво.! 🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀

[@vusumzisojada3454]

BEAUTIFUL MISS.

[@ConfidentBelle]

Wow! Words fail me...

[@TravisPrattofficial]

This is Gorgeous Singing!!!! Bravo Pretty!

[@willemtates8232]

It is Brava for lady 🌷🌷🌷🌷

[@jmiller05]

Indeed. Ornamentations when done with great taste and respect can be wonderful. Like Callas's Armida (some of those ornaments sound like they could've been written for her) or Dessay's incredible interpolations in Alcina.

[@gcmacyman]

Great coloratura ! As she continues to perform her voice gets better and better. Rossini is exceptionally challenge to interpret and deliver.

[@TheFirefox8192]

Those South African Sopranos are gifted.

[@LuluOperadiva]

She is YOUNG and WILL Improve!! how about you support the future Opera singers of Today instead of bashing them, I don't see you on stage being the perfect performer!! have some pity!!

[@rosecoloredbubble]

I always find it sooo funny when these so called Masters degree critics spout off about how educated they are and we must all listen to their great wisdom. Please! You can get a Masters degree in Music online for goodness sake!. All you need is a student loan (or parents money) and a half dead Bachelors of Music degree from some sorry college that is desperate for your money. There are a lot of music schools that are filled with "Singers" who can barely turn a tune and that is a fact. You can get a Masters degree from one of the hundreds of colleges just in the USA alone that houses a lame Music Dept. Your Masters degree does NOT mean you are talented or even really musical. An audience will listen with their hearts, and if this Soprano moves you it is because she has touched your emotions in some way. Enjoy Pretty my friends, because she has a gift that is naturally beautiful and charming.

[@fatimacantora1700]

Maravilhosa 🇧🇷

[@smtaz7631]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@robertlaryea2723]

Thanks, I really like this lady's voice, it's magnificent.

[@jmiller05]

As for Miss Yende. Bel Raggio is not supposed to be a show-case for high coloratura, but a piece to show the subtleties of the Bel Canto line, breath control, expanse of tone, vocal shading, depth in the middle-to-lower voice. It was written for Colbran whose voice was rapidly disintegrating upwards.

[@silverkitty2503]

wut? I cannot understand a word you are saying?

[@ransomcoates546]

@@silverkitty2503You cannot sing this piece successfully with an undeveloped chest voice, as her performance proves. Stick to Norina, Ms. Yende, and improve the intonation.

[@mariomazzi7894]

@@ransomcoates546 Will you please upload an aria of your singing so we can learn from you?

[@necessarydiva]

Her gigs are aplenty so all the coach critics can go out back and smoke.

[@TravisPrattofficial]

THAT PART!!!!!

[@christiaandhooghe]

Very tasteful what she does. Loving It!!!!!!! Perfect for Semiramide. Curious what the future will bring. Brava!!!!!

[@asianfil]

I thought she's Dramatic after seeing her earlier performances... But this one, her voice is very light... Weird... But Beautifully weird! Hehehe

[@Maso_Ndy]

I don't mean to start a war but if you think her coloratura was a mess in the Met I have one question for you: Have you read the reviews? I mean the critics loved her.

[@vusumzisojada3454]

NICE APPROACH AND PITCH.

[@albertcombrink]

Fine singing and fine accompaniment by James Vaughan

[@jacohattingh5206]

And the person who left the previous comment is Jan Venter not Jaco Hattingh.....

[@jmiller05]

The thing with fioratura and general interpolations and embellishments is that ultimately they have to pertain to the music. When singers throw in High E's, F's, bizarre runs and scales, staccato etc, it means that they are neglecting the core music that they are supposed to be singing. It'd be like an actor suddenly rambling some lines that have nothing to do with the script for absolutely no reason.

[@angryjalapeno]

It's called virtuoso display in an already flamboyant opera. Maybe it is tacky and tiring for a recording but it is absolutely welcomed in a live performance for people who actually paid money to be there.

[@misscameroon8062]

pretty Pretty ....

[@LohengrinTh]

Dessay's Morgana is indeed one of THE BEST ornaments we have ever heard... completely incorporated into the music, enhancing the melody and not distorting it... written by GM Moore and E Haime.. I also loved Renee's ornaments in Alcina, actually I loved them.. Impossibly dreadful ornaments (besides most of Sutherland's) are the orn in Fleming's Lucrezia.. Also, Roland Gagnon, Sills' ornamenter was extremely musical (he would actually re-write every line placing it higher to avoid Sills' middle)

[@RICARDOCALADO]

Very very good! Loved her! Perfect! BRAVA.

[@LohengrinTh]

I think I would have recognized the common Sutherland ornaments in her usual Bel raggio but I didnt.. still I would accept them as being Sutherlandian because they seem completely disconnected with the Music as 90% of Sutherland's ornamanets It isnt as messy as it was in her Met debut (no one told her NOT to debut in a big house unless you are truly ready), she is improving and Devia is a good coloratura trainer (but nothing more)

[@Homoclassicus]

Just as they said about Netrebko and Kaufmann and previously about Domingo... What an appropriate nickname... lol

[@cozene35]

Beautiful voice

[@officialemmayinotu]

Who is disliking this,?! If you dont like, what brought you here?!

[@dougbarker3019]

Don't be so stupid. How do you know you don't like it unless you come here to hear it?

[@diezpiedrasnegras1703]

Reading the comments below it's as if we had all seen another video. This is close to perfect, guys, be honest. The day any of you can do anything remotely as good that's when you get to criticize.

[@LohengrinTh]

As for Callas' armida well I cant tell there where Rossini ends and ornaments begin... Callas though did sing once a quite dreadful ornament, in her live Non si da folia maggiore in 1950.. the ending cadenza is ridiculous.. Visconti's request ;)

[@Gav640]

Completely agree on all counts! I even forgot to bring up those terrible ornaments. Had me thinking wtf?

[@KevinSalgadoKevinStene66]

Im in love with Pretty Yende =) I love her fina it was so perfect that High E =) Mega LIKE

[@jamesvincent59]

She is in her early 30's so she can still get away with a lot. This will start to change by the mid-thirties. She needs to find someone who can teach her to not sing on the throat. I hear a lot of pressure losses because she is way under supported--that is why you hear flatness, wandering pitches and forced high notes. I also hear too much breathiness--she is passing too much air which is causing her vocal chords to bow--again because of lack of support. This will only get worse as she gets older. Unless she gets help that voice won't last ten more years. The older a singer gets the more they must rely on solid technique because natural talent takes a walk on you. She has the agility but agility is not enough when the foundation is shaky. She is singing at the Metropolitan Opera but she is not ready for an A-House. In years past she MIGHT have made chorus but then the same could be said about so many of the singers today but that's what's out here and you have to use what you have. I wish her the very best.

[@timbruneau6602]

Learn how to spell vocal “cords,” if you want people to take your pedagogical opinions seriously.

[@henrytudor8537]

pretty has got the speed and agility to her voice. I think she needs a confidence boost cos she's also got the pitch. bravo!

[@willemtates8232]

It is Brava for lady🌷🌷🌷🌷

[@marcelo3791]

Great rendition!

[@jmiller05]

I think her voice has gotten more solid and less sharp in the upper register, if still with some sloppy moments in coloratura when everything gets mushy and notes become indistinct. Breath control through the entire line needs rectifying too. The low notes are nothing though. Expected, but still.

[@Gav640]

They are not all Sutherland's ornaments. A lot are much worse than Sutherland ever sang. Plus, she does a weird thing where she vocalises on the "oo" vowel at about 4:58. This is a mess.

[@glgree1]

Late to the game here, but it's a gorgeous instrument. I do hope she develops some chest register (Strangely, even musical theatre singers today are avoiding learning true chest register!) As she grows as an artist, I hope to "see" less technique, and more character!

[@jacohattingh5206]

All this going on about the freeking dress why dont you fashion afficionados go and play in the traffic......she is singing and its fabulous...

[@jmiller05]

I always found 99% of Callas's ornaments tasteful and musical. The only interpolation I hated was the E-flat she flung out at the end of Di Tale Amor in 51? It didn't correlate with the music at all. The rest though-peerless. Sutherland's interpolations in I Puritani are wonderful if a tad too embellished. Her ornaments to disguise the lack of low notes in Anna Bolena though are absolutely hideous.

[@Gav640]

A light coloratura soprano singing Rossini with no low notes? Never seen that before... :)

[@arnaudledû-d6w]

Et il y avait une June Anderson …..

[@willthebestbest9667]

beautiful BLACK WOMAN. :))

[@prosdocimo]

She should have sung this instead of Meade at the MET.. coloratura is far far better..

[@DiomedesDioscuro]

This is amateurish, to be generous. But every now and then I get the impression that she could get quite good if she took the care of developing some low register and chest voice, of which she completely lacks.

[@Ludvich-y8i]

Ugh

[@dougbarker3019]

Lots of people are being kind to her here which is nice, but I think the kindest thing is to judge her by the highest possible standards in which case this is a fail. As Joan Sutherland once remarked when giving a public masterclass, "If you can't sing coloratura perfectly accurately, then don't sing it at all." There are lots of technical imperfections still in Yende's singing which she has exposed by picking such a difficult aria that is presently beyond her. Perhaps one day she will have worked on her technique sufficiently to do the aria justice but I even doubt that this is the best repertoire for her in the first place. I also doubt that she really understands what she is singing about given this dramatically sterile performance.

[@venussimo]

This is an old video, she even has a phoenomenal trill now

[@silverkitty2503]

she can't do it on proper tempo yet ...and she is not a high soprano ...so technically this is not actually her fach ..the middle bits sound good though but she is off tempo she slows down to get the runs

[@LohengrinTh]

start reading books instead of the youtubers or forum psychopaths and you will eventually run into it..

[@yfzhou8074]

Wow....she is good. She is definitely showing off butt she has the voice to do it.

[@LohengrinTh]

Opera singers especially coloratura stupids are so focused on the fioritura they forget they sing Music... so they even improvise themselves. Bellini had said once: want a cadenza to sing? ask me to write one for you.. do not make one on your own! From the contemporary singers I have to admit I admire deeply DiDonato's ornaments which she writes on her own (with assistance) and I do have to say that the worst ornament I have heard in my life was my beloved Fleming's G6 cadenza in her Lucrezia

[@dougbarker3019]

Why are you obsessed with Bellini? Donizetti was quite resigned to ornamentation and even the substitution of arias from other opers if the singers preferred them. Stop being so literal.

[@HollyMore]

She is GOOD shame!!!

[@gcmacyman]

She's young and has time to develop her technique better for sure. The Bel Canto operas of course are very difficult and Rossini is a tough one but give her time, I've heard better interpretations but keep going Pretty !

[@josephhapp9]

No ,,,,

[@raularango5973]

She is a liric coloratura soprano.

[@skitzo429]

Nice voice, the pitch is questionable on some high notes though. The approach to the high E at the end was kind of a disaster, I don't even know what notes she was trying to sing.

[@justenh3276]

Your kind of a disaster.

[@skitzo429]

Bea Zey I have a masters degree in music, I know what I'm talking about; sorry if you have a problem with objective critical commentary, there isn't a rule against that.

[@justenh3276]

Ur a master jack ass. Clearly more successful than your career in music. Bye Felicia

[@skitzo429]

Bea Zey Get an education.

[@operskapevacica1]

skitzo429 I agree with you. Not crazy about the voice. Frankly, I've heard better..Doesn't wow me and her pitch was often under and that's due to lack of support..

[@LohengrinTh]

Bellini had said that himself... I suppose you know better than Bellini :))))

[@riccardocallas2301]

Joan Sutherland she ain't!!!!!! Lovely soubrette, e basta!!!!

[@Hako2004]

She was occasionally under the pitch, particularly in the first few minutes...maybe just nerves. I still think there is a lot to like. Good agility and interesting colors in the voice. As singers mature they find their "fach" and that can be the missing piece. Not polished, but a good effort.

[@Pathetikos]

Terribly forced high notes, flatness. She'll be gone in some years, like so many other "rising stars" of the past decades.

[@dougbarker3019]

So true.

[@Monnarchmonnarchy]

Disasteralia prove it!

[@ransomcoates546]

Undeveloped chest voice, unsupported middle producing much flatting, aspirated coloratura. Typical contemporary singing. C+ - a gift grade.

[@MonsieurLu77]

HORRIBLE!

[@LohengrinTh]

Ornaments vary enormously among them.. that is why Bellini wanted to write the ornaments himself... They can DESTROY a musical piece... that is something 99% of coloratura lovers do not understand at all but they dont even listen to the Music.. just the high notes... Worst example ever of ornament writing is Sutherland's studio Linda di Chamounix aria.. (in Donizetti in general they ABUSED! the compositions) One of the greatest ornaments is Callas' Amina written by Bernstein himself

[@dougbarker3019]

I like Sutheland's ornaments. They are very tasteful and suit her voice. Why are you not panning Sills, Guberova and Anderson who are the real villains here?

[@lordnievergeeldennetherlan8281]

Horror Uff Uff Uff

[@silverkitty2503]

well lets just hope her singing a good half an octave above where her voice is meant to be doesn't ruin her voice

[@chrispi7151]

i am no professional. just to make the "bla you are judging with no qualification" sissies shut up right away. the final top note sounds exciting and resonant but that her whole body is shaking, PROBABLY to produce the vibrato, does not seem healthy. dont get me wrong. i believe she is a fantastic singer. just caught my attention as its right at the end.

[@diezpiedrasnegras1703]

No, it's not to produce vibrato, that's not how vibrato works. She was probably just nervous. An E (Mi) is very high and many sopranos with a good middle and low register have it. This is quite amazing.

[@LohengrinTh]

Her coloratura is more finely tuned though and not the terrible mess it was in the Met... at least that will be improved by Devia... her Eb6 here is not good, it loses clarity, the added ornaments are of the lowest taste, wonder who wrote them. Her middle voice is dry and thin and ofc there is no low voice... this is not a voice for Bel Canto but for light coloratura roles... she will sing bel canto though and be admired by the very few devia fans

[@sutherlandfan64]

Dreadful

[@MyOperaWorld]

I think opera had already died right now....What a terrible singer in the world