Ying Huang
Encyclopedia
Ying Huang is a Chinese
operatic soprano
. She first came to international attention when she sang the title role in Frédéric Mitterrand
's 1995 film adaptation of Madama Butterfly
and went on to an international career both in opera and on the concert stage.
She was born and raised in Shanghai, and at 18 began five years of study at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music
. After winning second prize in the 19th Concours International de Chant de Paris, she appeared regularly on Shanghai television and performed in Taiwan and North Korea in various cultural exchange programs. In 1994, director Frédéric Mitterrand and conductor James Conlon
saw a video tape of her performance in the Paris Concours de Chant and auditioned her for the lead role in Mitterrand's film of Madama Butterfly. Her success in the film led to Conlon inviting her to perform in several concerts with the Cologne Philharmonic and to her operatic stage debut as Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff
at the Cologne Opera in 1996. That same year she appeared with Plácido Domingo
and Michael Bolton
in the Christmas in Vienna concert which was both televised and released on CD.
Her US operatic debut came in 1999 when she sang Sophie in Massenet's Werther
opposite Denyce Graves
and Andrea Bocelli
at Michigan Opera Theater. She later returned to the Michigan Opera Theater to appear as Despina in Così fan tutte
, as Norina in Don Pasquale
and as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro
. She made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera
on 29 December 2006 as Pamina in The Magic Flute
, the first of its operas to simulcast in movie theaters, returning in 2009 as Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice
and as Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore
.
Ying Huang's world premiere performances include:
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
operatic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
. She first came to international attention when she sang the title role in Frédéric Mitterrand
Frédéric Mitterrand
Frédéric Mitterrand , a Franco-Tunisian citizen, is the French Minister of Culture and Communication. Throughout his career, he has been an actor, screenwriter, television presenter, writer, producer and director.-Biography:...
's 1995 film adaptation of Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
and went on to an international career both in opera and on the concert stage.
She was born and raised in Shanghai, and at 18 began five years of study at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music
Shanghai Conservatory of Music
The Shanghai Conservatory of Music , as the first music institution of higher education in China, was founded on November 27, 1927. The teachers and students have won numerous awards both home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name, “the cradle of musicians”.-History:The Shanghai...
. After winning second prize in the 19th Concours International de Chant de Paris, she appeared regularly on Shanghai television and performed in Taiwan and North Korea in various cultural exchange programs. In 1994, director Frédéric Mitterrand and conductor James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
saw a video tape of her performance in the Paris Concours de Chant and auditioned her for the lead role in Mitterrand's film of Madama Butterfly. Her success in the film led to Conlon inviting her to perform in several concerts with the Cologne Philharmonic and to her operatic stage debut as Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
at the Cologne Opera in 1996. That same year she appeared with Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
and Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...
in the Christmas in Vienna concert which was both televised and released on CD.
Her US operatic debut came in 1999 when she sang Sophie in Massenet's Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
opposite Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Early life:Graves was born on March 7, 1964, to Charles Graves and Dorothy Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the Bellevue section of Washington...
and Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
at Michigan Opera Theater. She later returned to the Michigan Opera Theater to appear as Despina in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, as Norina in Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
and as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
. She made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
on 29 December 2006 as Pamina in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, the first of its operas to simulcast in movie theaters, returning in 2009 as Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
and as Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
.
Ying Huang's world premiere performances include:
- Du Liniang in Tan DunTan DunTan Dun is a Chinese contemporary classical composer, most widely known for his scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.-Early life in China:...
's Peony Pavilion at the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna (12 May 1998). - MarianneMarianneMarianne is a national emblem of France and an allegory of Liberty and Reason. She represents the state and values of France, differently from another French cultural symbol, the "Coq Gaulois" which represents France as a nation and its history, land, culture, and variety of sport disciplines in...
and Marie AntoinetteMarie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
in Roger WatersRoger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
' Ça Ira at the Parco della MusicaParco della MusicaAuditorium Parco della Musica is a large multi-functional public music complex in Rome, Italy. The complex is situated in the north of the city, in the area where the 1960 Summer Olympic Games were held....
in Rome (17 November 2005) - The Moon in Guo WenjingGuo WenjingGuo Wenjing is a Chinese composer and educator.-Biography:He began attending the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing in 1978, the year of that institution's reopening, and later served as the head of the composition department there; he remains on the faculty.He has composed for both Western...
's Poet Li Bai at the Central City Opera FestivalCentral City OperaCentral City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
in Colorado (July 2007) - Madame White Snake in Zhou LongZhou LongZhou Long is a Pulitzer-prize-winning Chinese American composer.-Biography:Born into an artistic family, Zhou Long began studying piano from an early age. Due to the artistic restrictions implemented during the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to delay his piano studies and live on a state-run...
's Madame White Snake at Opera BostonOpera BostonOpera Boston is an opera company in Boston, Massachusetts. It specializes in innovative repertoire and rarely heard works, along with opera education and outreach programs designed to bring opera education to children, in schools and after-school programs throughout the Boston area.Its home base is...
in Boston (February 2010)
Recordings
- Merry Christmas From Vienna – Plácido Domingo, Michael Bolton, Ying Huang, Vienna Symphony OrchestraVienna Symphony Orchestra-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
, Steven Mercurio (conductor). Label: Sony Classical 711325 - Danielpour: Elegies; Sonnets to Orpheus – Ying Huang, Frederica Von StadeFrederica von StadeFrederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
, Thomas Hampson, Perspectives Ensemble, London Philharmonic, Roger Nierenberg (conductor). Label: Sony Classical 60850 - Waters: Ça Ira – Ying Huang, Bryn TerfelBryn TerfelBryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
, Paul GrovesPaul Groves (tenor)Paul Groves is an American operatic tenor. In 1991 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and in 1995 he won the prestigious Richard Tucker Award...
, Rick Wentworth (conductor). Label: Sony Classical 60867 - Puccini: Madame Butterfly: Ying Huang, Richard TroxellRichard TroxellRichard Troxell is a United States operatic tenor who hails from Thurmont, Maryland. As a Academy of Vocal Arts graduate, he made his soloist début in 2003, performing Bach's Magnificat in Carnegie Hall...
, Richard Cowan, Liang Ning, Orchestre de ParisOrchestre de ParisThe Orchestre de Paris is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel.-History:In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture,...
, James Conlon (conductor). Label: Sony Classical 69258
Sources
- Chan, Wah Keung, "Bocelli Makes North American Operatic Debut", La Scena Musicale, Vol. 5, No. 4, December 1999.
- Kimberly, Nick, "Ready to spread her wings ", The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 21 June 1997. - MetOpera Database, Huang, Ying (Soprano)
- Riding, Alan "Ying Huang: A 'Butterfly' By Way Of Shanghai", New York Times, 28 April 1996.
- Shulgold, Marc, "Daring opera triumphs", Rocky Mountain NewsRocky Mountain NewsThe Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
, 11 July 2007
External links
- Biography - Columbia Artists ManagementColumbia Artists ManagementColumbia Artists Management is an international leader in managing the careers and touring activities of the world's most prominent performing artists and institutions.Led by Chairman and CEO Ronald A...
- Video - A conversation about Chinese and American opera with Ying Huang and Beverly SillsBeverly SillsBeverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
, Charlie RoseCharlie Rose (talk show)Charlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated...
, 21 July 1997.