A Top Soprano Brings Some Zulu to the Met Opera. And It Clicks.

It is a brief, charming moment — and subtle enough that some audience members may miss it. But it speaks loudly as a symbol: the distinctive clicks of Zulu, the African language, echoing from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

It comes during Donizetti’s comedy “La Fille du Régiment.” Pretty Yende, the bel canto soprano singing the title role — Marie, an orphan raised by an army regiment — ad-libs a brief spoken monologue as her character gives vent to overwhelming, conflicting emotions of love and frustration as she deals with laundry and peels potatoes.

In this production, by the director Laurent Pelly, the moment has always been an opportunity for singers to depart from the French libretto in a rush of words and sounds, flights of verbiage that leave subtitles in the dust. When Ms. Yende, 33, made the part her own in the current revival, she decided to incorporate Zulu, which she grew up speaking in South Africa.

As the broader field of classical music lags in diversity — and as opera companies have sometimes struggled to preserve what is great about works like “Aida,” “Otello,” “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot” while jettisoning their outdated, often offensive portrayals of non-European cultures — it sends a powerful message.

Read the article at The NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/arts/music/pretty-yende-la-fille-du-regiment-met-opera.html