[2] Yende was inspired to learn opera at age 16 after seeing a British Airways TV advertisement that featured the Flower Duet from Lakmé.

[2][3] She subsequently enrolled at the South African College of Music, where her teachers included Virginia Davids, and from which she graduated cum laude.

[11] During her time at the studio of La Scala in Milan, Yende performed roles by Rossini, Berenice in L'occasione fa il ladro in 2010 and Elvira in L'italiana in Algeri in 2011.

[12][13] She appeared in four roles the following season, the Priestess in Verdi's Aida, Barbarina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Musetta in Puccini's La bohème.

[14] Yende appeared in the closing concert of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on 9 July 2010, two days before the final, alongside Bryan Adams and Andrea Bocelli.

[21] Later that year she returned to the Met as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, singing between performances at the Richard Tucker Gala and at Carnegie Hall for a solo recital.

She detailed on social media her experience of being treated like a criminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport on 21 June 2021 while arriving for her fourth La sonnambula performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

She did present her residence permit issued in Milan, with which she had always travelled throughout Europe,[29] yet they said she needed a separate one-time visa, while Yende and her lawyer claimed she had all the documents required.

In a statement by the chairperson of the National Orders Advisory Council, Dr. Cassius Lubisi, Yende was conferred the honour "for her excellent achievement and international acclaim in the field of world opera and serving as a role model to aspiring young musicians.