Francesca Chiejina: The Sublime Soprano and Rising Star of Opera, Changing the game
African vocalists have explored and triumphed in virtually all forms of singing – from choral to pop and everything in-between, but there have not been many opera singers from the continent – apart from a small but highly electric group from South Africa including the great soprano Pumeza Matshikiza and Pretty Yende. Perhaps the lack of role models in the rest of Africa has contributed to this. If so, the Francesca Chiejina, is on song to change all this. She spoke to Omar Ben Yedder.
The talented Soprano Francesca Chiejina is one of the rising stars of the opera world. Over the past couple of years, she has appeared in several productions in the UK including Puccini’s La bohème, Handel’s Amadigi, as the soloist in Berg’s Seven Early Songs and Britten’s Miss Jessel in Turn of the Screw.
She is currently on an eight-month contract with the UK’s Royal Opera House. She will be touring and participating in numerous performances including as the High Priestess in Aida in London, which runs until June 2023. In this interview, she discusses how she became so passionate about this form of art and why more needs to be done to encourage greater diversity in the industry.
