Lyric soprano Danielle de Niese was a star performer at Last Night of the Proms 2015. It was another milestone in this Australian-born American star's glittering career. Growing up, Danielle won various talent and television competitions and debuted at New York's prestigious Metropolitan Opera House when she was 19 years old. She says she knew she wanted to sing opera from the age of eight. Described as "opera's coolest soprano", Danielle is best known for her performances of Handel, Mozart, baroque music, as well as her reality TV shows, including The Diva Diaries.
South African soprano Pretty Yende discovered opera by chance. She was 16 years old and watching a television advertisement for an airline, which featured The Flower Duet, from the opera Lakme by Léo Delibes. Pretty fell in love with the sound and instantly wanted to imitate it. She went to be classically trained at Cape Town University and then got a place at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, in Milan. In 2011 Pretty won first prize in Placido Domingo's Operalia competition and two years later she shot to fame when, at short notice, she had to stand in to perform Countess Adele in Rossini's opera, Le Comte Ory. This was Pretty's Metropolitan Opera House debut.
(Picture: Opera singers Danielle de Niese (left) and Pretty Yende. Credits: Chris Dunlop/Kim Fox)