South African star soars in `La Traviata` for social media age
(Artdaily.org)

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. Yet her fame turns to despair and solitude as she is forced to abandon her love for Alfredo -- and the smiling emoji faces turn to tears. Greeted with a standing ovation on opening night, the 34-year-old Yende, who was born in the small South African town of Piet Retief, conquered the vocal demands of Violetta in the first time she has taken on the emblematic role. But she also proved an inspired