Nadine Sierra & Pretty Yende
Biography Nadine Sierra & Pretty Yende
Nadine Sierra
Praised for her vocal beauty, seamless technique, and abundant musicality, Nadine Sierra is being hailed as one of the most promising new talents in opera today. Having made a string of successful debuts last season with the Met, La Scala, Paris, and Berlin State Operas, the American soprano — recently named the winner of the 2017 Richard Tucker Music Award — is quickly on her way to becoming a fixture at many of the world’s top houses. In 2016-17, Nadine Sierra returned to the Paris Opera, where she debuted as Zerlina in Don Giovanni last year, and opened its season at the Palais Garnier as Flavia in a new production of Cavalli’s »Eliogabalo«. Shortly after, she performed at the Opéra Bastille as Pamina in »Die Zauberflöte« and Gilda in »Rigoletto«.
Following a breakout Metropolitan Opera debut as Gilda in 2015, she sang Zerlina at the house in the fall of 2016, followed by both her role and Live in HD debuts as Ilia in Mozart’s »Idomeneo«, under the baton of James Levine. Highlights of the 2016 summer season included debuts with Lincoln Center’s »Mostly Mozart Festival« on its opening night program, titled »The Illuminated Heart«, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
Nadine Sierra made her professional debut as a teenager with the Palm Beach Opera in her native south Florida, and received her first national exposure at age 15, when she sang Puccini’s »O mio babbino caro« on NPR’s young artist showcase »From the Top«. After graduating from New York’s Mannes College of Music, she entered the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera, where she made her company debut in 2011, creating the dual roles of Juliet and Barbara opposite Thomas Hampson in the world premiere production of Christopher Theofanidis’s »Heart of a Soldier«. Appearances soon followed with the Boston Lyric Opera, Atlanta Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera Festival, Israeli Opera, and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.
Other notable engagements from recent seasons include Norina in »Don Pasquale« and Tytania in »A Midsummer Night’s Dream« at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Gilda at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and Lucia at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and at la Fenice in Venice. Nadine Sierra’s La Scala debut in 2016 as Gilda, opposite Leo Nucci as Rigoletto, made headlines when, on opening night, they were prompted by the audience to encore the duet, breaking with a La Scala tradition prohibiting encores, dating back to Toscanini. The vehicle for Nadine Sierra’s Berlin Staatsoper debut was Amor in a new FESTTAGE-opening production of Gluck’s »Orfeo ed Euridice«, directed by Jürgen Flimm with sets designed by Frank Gehry and led by Daniel Barenboim. The soprano continues to make frequent appearances with the San Francisco Opera, where she has performed in »La Bohème«, »Le nozze di Figaro«, »Die Zauberflöte«, and »Lucia di Lammermoor«.
On the concert stage, Nadine Sierra has joined the Cleveland Orchestra in both Cleveland and Miami, sung with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, performed at the Arena di Verona, Vienna’s Musikverein, and at the Ravinia Festival, conducted by James Levine. She has also been featured in televised concerts from Venice’s Teatro la Fenice for the Concerto di Capodanno, from Lincoln Center as part of the Richard Tucker Gala, and from Paris as part of the televised »Concert de Paris«, under the baton of Valery Gergiev. In recital, the soprano has appeared at venues ranging from Carnegie’s Weill Hall to the Opéra Garnier, to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she has performed alongside both Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson.
In 2007 and 2009 respectively, Nadine Sierra became the youngest winner to date of both the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as recounted by Nick Romeo in his book »Driven: Six Incredible Musical Journeys« (2011), a chapter of which is devoted to Nadine Sierra’s Grand Finals triumph. In 2010 she also took home first prizes at the George London Competition, Gerda Lissner Foundation International Competition, and Loren L. Zachary Society Vocal Competition, and was a recipient of a Richard Tucker Music Foundation Study Grant. In 2013, she placed first at the »Neue Stimmen«, Caballé, and Dunne International Singing Competitions, and won a Richard Tucker Music Foundation Career Grant. She has been featured in »Vogue«, »Nylon«, »Bon Appétit«, »Opera News«, »Elle« and on the cover of »Classical Singer« magazine. She currently resides in New York City, and recently signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and Universal Music Classics in the US. Her 2017/2018 season includes a role debut as Susanna in »Le nozze di Figaro« at The Metropolitan Opera, Nannetta in »Falstaff« at the Staatsoper Berlin, a concert tour with Andrea Bocelli, and Norina in »Don Pasquale« at the Opéra National de Paris.
Pretty Yende
Born in South Africa, Pretty Yende made her debut in Riga in the role of Micaela in Carmen. In 2010, she was awarded first prize in both the opera and operetta categories of the Vienna Belvedere Competition. In 2011, she won the Placido Domingo Operalia Competition and also graduated from the La Scala Academy for young artists in Milan. She then made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York, at the Theater an der Wien (Countess Adèle in Count Ory), at the Los Angeles Opera (Micaela) and the Hamburg Staatsoper (Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia).
She has performed at the Metropolitan Opera in The Barber of Seville, Romeo and Juliet, I Puritani, and Lucia di Lammermoor. She made her Munich Bayerische Staatsoper debut in L’elisir d’amore and also performed the role of Marie in La Fille du régiment at the Maestranza in Seville. She has sung in Riccardo and Zoraide in Pesaro, I Puritani at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Les Pêcheurs de perles and La Fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera New York, La Sonnambula at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurich Opera and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lucia di Lammermoor and L’elisir d’amore at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Il viaggio a Reims at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, La Traviata at the Vienna Staatsoper.
During the 2022/23 season, she has performed Violetta Valéry (La Traviata) at the San Francisco Opera and Vienna Staatsoper, Marie and the title role in Manon at the Vienna Staatsoper, Micaëla at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, Gilda (Rigoletto) and the four heroines in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Hamburg Staatsoper. On 6 May 2023, she sang at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III at the Westminster Abbaye.
At the Paris Opera: The Barber of Seville (Rosina), 2016; Lucia di Lammermoor (title-role), 2016; Benvenuto Cellini (Teresa), 2018; Don Pasquale (Norina), 2019; La Traviata (Violetta Valery), 2019; Manon (title-role), 2020; L’elisir d'amore (Adina), 2021; The Magic Flute (Pamina), 2022; Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), 2023.
