South African star soars in 'La Traviata' for social media age

Yende decided on an opera career after hearing Delibes' 'Flower Duet' on a television advertisement at home. — AFP

South African opera singer Pretty Yende, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last years, has hit new heights in a Paris production of La Traviata where the heroine is a social media influencer destroyed by the same society that propelled her to fame.

In the new Paris Opera version of Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece, the heroine Violetta is an Internet celebrity like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian, with her own brand of perfume and millions of followers.