Opera's rising star charms Carnegie Hall

Hong Zhiguang, a bass-baritone from China who graduated from the Yale School of Music in 2016, sings the Chinese art song My Motherland during his recital at Carnegie Hall on Sept 23. Photo by John Park for China Daily

Several well-known Chinese art songs thundered through Carnegie Hall recently, thanks to Chinese bass-baritone Hong Zhiguang.

His Sept 23 recital combined classic Western lieder and modern Chinese compositions.

Hong's rendition of Schumann's 16-song cycle Dichterliebe showed his wide expressive range, from hushed and lovelorn to loud, comic and folksy.

His rich and resonant voice handily carried both the dramatic and musical weight of Poulenc's Chansons Gailardes.

Most impressive were the Chinese songs that ended the program, including Zhu Qing's The Great River Flows to the East, Sinn Sing Hoi's Ode to the Yellow River and Zaiyi Lu's nostalgic My Motherland, in which Hong showed more variety and depth of feeling than in the prior songs.

"I specially chose four Chinese art songs for this recital because I want more audiences in the US to know and understand about Chinese culture and arts through my voice and performance," said Hong.

Growing up in a musical family in Beijing, Hong has been interested in music, especially opera, since he was a child.

"My parents used to take me to many concerts and musicals when I was very young," said Hong. "When I first listened to my father's vinyl opera records, I was shocked by the way they sang and the beauty and the richness of their voices."

Though he started to learn opera at the age of 17 and when he won the first place at a Beijing high school vocal competition, he came to realize that his voice was well suited for opera.

After graduating from high school, he earned a bachelor of music degree from the China's Conservatory of Music. After graduated, he went to Mannes at The New School of Music for a Master of Music degree in New York in 2014 and an Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music last year – Hong is the first Chinese singer enrolled in the most prestigious Artist Diploma program of Yale Opera Department.

After Hong's debut performance in the title role in Don Pasquale with the AoBeiLa Opera Center in 2011, he has sung and performed in more than 20 operas, staged at Central City Opera House, the Yale Opera Theater, Dicapo Opera Theater, Oscar Seagle Memorial Theatre and more. Hong has also worked with a number of well-known conductors, including Joseph Colaneri and Pacien Mazzagatti, over the past few years.

Hong also received full-scholarships from both Mannes and Yale and in 2016, he was named the Metropolitan Opera National Council Boston's District winner and was honored with the 1st prize at the First International Opera Competition in Hong Kong.

He was the baritone soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Washington Ark Foundation at Strathmore Music Center and recently sung the role of Escamillo in Carmen.

"We met three years ago in Virginia at the International Vocal Arts Institution, and I was his coach," said Alexandra Naumenko, a vocal coach on the faculty of the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, accompanied Hong on the piano for the recital. "He immediately caught my attention by his incredible instrument and his talent — he has a world-class voice."

"It was an excellent recital," said Ricky Nan, an opera student at Yale. "Zhiguang's voice is tremendous, thunderous and huge; it comes with great power."

"Instead of singing the music, he is like being the music, being the character," added Nan. "He is such a great storyteller."

In the encore, it was especially rewarding to hear a duet – "All I Ask of you" from Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Hong was joined by soprano Jessica Pray, who recently performed at New York Public Radio's Green Space. Hong's commitment, charismatic vocal presence, and confident stage presence, combined with Pray's burnished tone, usually succeed in drawing the listener back into confront and experience the song anew.

Hong will cover the title role of Verdi's Falstaff with the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in a collaborative production by the Vienna State Opera and NCPA under the baton of Zubin Mehta in Beijing in December.