January 15, 2011

26-year-old bass-baritone Shen Yang was the winner of the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a 2008 winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and a 2010 winner of the Montblanc New Voices at Stars of the White Nights Festival. He also has won First Prize at the International Opera Competition in Verona, the 2007 Verona Orfeo Singing Competition, and the 2005 Verona Don Giovanni Singing Competition.

Born in Tianjin, China, Shen Yang studied with Professor Ping Gu at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and of The Julliard School Opera Center. He has received master classes with James Levine, José Van Dam, John Fisher, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto, Sir Thomas Allen, Håkan Hagegård, Christa Ludwig, Barbara Bonney, Malcolm Martineau, Stephen Wadsworth, and Renée Fleming.

As a student, Shen Yang’s operatic performances have included Masetto (Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and Caronte (L’Orfeo) in Verona, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, and Berlin. In the leading roles of Fleishman’s Rothschild’s Violin and Mussorgsky’s The Marriage with James Conlon at the Juilliard Opera Center, the New York Times heralded his performances as “impressive” and praised his “husky voice and deadpan demeanor.”

Shen Yang embodies a 21st century bridge between the cultures of East and West. His celebration of the human voice is heard this season on an international tour with Edo de Waart and the Hong Kong Philharmonic with performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and of excerpts from Mahler’s Des knaben Wunderhorn as well as in performances of Handel’s Messiah with Helmuth Rilling and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The artist joins the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ragnar Bohlin for Bach’s Mass in b minor, the Cincinatti Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon for Mendelssohn’s Elias, and appears at Carnegie Hall in a concert performance of Mozart’s Zaïde with Ensemble ACJW conducted by David Robertson. Shen Yang also returns to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera to reprise his portrayal of Colline in La bohème conducted by Carlo Rizzi.

During 2007 the artist sang Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra and was a featured soloist at the opening concert of the China National Grand Theatre in Beijing. Engagements of the 2008-09 season included a Metropolitan Opera debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni under the baton of Louis Langrée, performances of Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten with John Nelson at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, solo Lieder recitals at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Shanghai Grand Theatre, and in New York at Lincoln Center under the auspices of The Juilliard School, a Young Singers Concert with Ivor Bolton at the Salzburg Festival, and Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer with James Levine and Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall. Highlights of his 2009-10 season calendar included a New York Philharmonic debut with Messiah performances under the baton of Helmuth Rilling, the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elias in his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (in Boston and at Carnegie Hall), an arias concert conducted by Valery Gergiev at the White Nights Festival, and La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Marco Armiliato. The artist has recorded Schubert’s Winterreise (Chinese Premiere recording), released by FengLin Records.


Provided by IMG.

Related video


Photo credit: juilliard.edu