This is an operatic aria you should be familiar with: "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" (Well, then? I'll go far away) from the opera "La Wally" by Alfredo Catalani. This rendition is being performed by a soprano from South Africa, Nombulelo Yende, at the Opera Gala for the German AIDS Foundation 2023 in Bonn. It’s conducted alongside the Beethoven Orchester Bonn by Dirk Kaftan.

NOMBULELO YENDE | Soprano
BEETHOVEN ORCHESTER BONN
DIRK KAFTAN | Conductor

"La Wally", premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1892. Today, it’s considered to be one of the most important operas composed in the years separating Verdi and Puccini. In September 1892, Arturo Toscanini conducted the second production of La Wally in Lucca. He admired Catalani and his opera so deeply that he even named his daughter "Wally,” after the main character. The libretto is loosely based on the popular novel "Die Geier-Wally," by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836-1916). Wally, short for Walburga, is a courageous and confident young girl who grows up on a farm in the Alps. She is given her nickname because she manages to clean out a vulture's nest on a cliff and raises the chick she finds as her pet.

Wally's aria, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" is the most famous song from the opera. Catalani composed the music for it as early as 1876 under the title “Chanson Groenlandaise,” which was later incorporated into the opera as an aria. The aria has appeared in numerous films. It became especially popular in 1981, when it was used in the French cult film “Diva,” by Jean-Jacques Beineix. The aria was also performed by Maria Callas in the 1993 film “Philadelphia,” a drama about a man living with AIDS, starring Tom Hanks.

Nombulelo Yende was born and raised in Mkhondo, located in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. She started singing in a church choir at the age of 4. After completing high school, she studied opera singing at the University of Cape Town. While studying, she sang in a variety of productions at various theatres in Capetown. Nombulelo was a prizewinner at the Concours International de Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini in France and received the Audience Award at the Bertelsmann Stiftung's International Singing Competition Neue Stimmen 2019 in Gütersloh. In 2022, she won several awards at the 11th Stanisław Moniuszko International Singing Competition, and in 2023, she reached the final round of the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

© 2024 Deutsche Welle

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