Wang Yun-Peng
A Metropolitan Opera artist and native of Shenzhen, China, renowned baritone Wang Yun-Peng is a graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera. He first rose to international attention after winning three different prizes at Plácido Domingo’s 2012 Operalia Competition. Listed as one of the “25 Chinese to Watch” by Financial Times, he has quickly gained international recognition on both opera and concert stages of the world. Featured on the cover of Opera News as one of “opera’s exciting new voices,” Wang Yun-Peng’s extraordinary achievement was recognized by the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: In 2017, he was awarded the Martin E. Segal award at Lincoln Center by the Metropolitan Opera and the Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists. In 2020, he was selected to serve on the inaugurating version of Lincoln Center’s Artist Committee as the only representative from Asia. Same year, Wang became the Artist in Residency at the Shenzhen Opera & Dance Theater for the 2020-2021 season.
 
Hailed as “unusually beautiful voice with elegance and refinement” by the Opera News, Wang’s humanizing warm voice projects with focus and metallic glow. Praised by The New York Times for his “elegant phrasing and keen dramatic instincts”, Wang is known by the opera world for his persuasive characterization and nuanced interpretation. In 2014, Wang became the first Chinese baritone to appear at the Rossini Opera Festival in Italy and he finished his Metropolitan Opera debut the same year. In 2016, he was invited by Maestro Alberto Zedda to sing the title role of Il barbiere di Siviglia under the Maestro’s own baton. In 2017, his role debut as Mercutio in Bartlett Sher’s new production of Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera House was critically acclaimed. Same year, Wang was invited as the only representative from Asia to share the stage with world’s top opera stars for Metropolitan Opera’s 50^th Anniversary at Lincoln Center. In 2018, Wang appeared as the role of Wen Tianxiang in the world premiere of Marco Polo, which is the first original opera produced by Guangzhou Opera House. His return to the same role in a four-city tour in both China and Italy has been critically received by audience around the world.
 
With his rare high-extension, precise French diction and dramatic versatility, Wang received one of the most important roles in his career – the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy. He became the first baritone from Asia to sing this romantic protagonist that challenges the extremes of both vocal range and technique. His stage debut as Pelléas at the Teatro Municpal in São Paulo was received with standing ovation. Praised by Maestro James Levine as the “best Pelléas I’ve ever heard…”, Wang was invited to participate in the production of Pelléas et Mélisande by the Metropolitan Opera in 2019 and in 2020 he will make his Los Angeles Opera debut as Pelléas.
 
Wang’s major appearances on the operatic stage also include: Il barbiere di Siviglia and Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera, La Bohème at the Copenhagen Opera Festival in Denmark, Le Nozze di Figaro at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and Parisina d’Este with the Opera Orchestra of New York among others. He has also appeared in Dido and Aeneas, Gianni Schicchi, Così fan tutte, Thaïs, Iphigénie en Aulide, Faust, and The Pearl Fishers among others.
 
On the concert stage, Wang is a regular at the major concert halls around the world in collaboration with top conductors and orchestras. In 2018, he appeared in Orff’s Carmina Burana with conductor Roberto Abbado and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Last season, he was invited by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to tour Barber’s Dover Beach to three cities in the North America. In June 2019, he was invited by Maestro Tan Dun to sing the title role of his Dunhuang epic Buddha Passion during its Chinese premiere with the Orchestre National de Lyon under composer’s own baton. July 2019, he was invited to sing the title role of Du Fu in world-renowned composer Ye Xiaogang’s world premiere of his original symphonic work, Du Fu Thatched Cottage. In the 2019/20 season, Mr. Wang was invited to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges. His concert appearances also include: Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini with Met+Julliard, Schubert’s Die Winterreise, Walter Rabl’s Vier Lieder Op.5 with Cello and Brahm’s Liebeslieder Walzer among others.
 
Wang has collaborated with world-class conductors and opera directors that include Alberto Zedda, James Levine, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Roberto Abbado, Michael Guettler, Stéphane Denève, Eve Queler, Emmanuel Villaume, Placido Domingo, Michele Mariotti, George Manahan, Kasper Holten, Renaud Doucet, Bartlett She, Yutaka Sado, Tang Muhai, Lü Jia, Tan Dun, Lin Daye and Zhang Jiemin among others.
 
 
Piano: Shah Johan Bin Shahridzuan
Shah Johan Bin Shahridzuan, Malaysian born pianist. In 2015, he graduated from Birmingham Conservatory of Music in the United Kingdom with the highest degree APD (Doctorate degree) in performance. Since 2016, he has been teaching at the School of Music and Dance of Huaqiao University, and previously worked as an opera instructor and vocal accompaniment at the Birmingham Conservatory of Music.
 
In 2008, he was awarded a bronze medal in the 3^rd ASEAN International Chopin Piano Competition held in Malaysia. In 2012, in collaboration with soprano Eleanor Hodkinson, he won the first prize of the Somerset Competition, the most important international vocal accompaniment competition in the UK.
 
In recent years, he has rich experience in collaboration and performance with world-class theaters and artists. Important performances include: performed before Her Royal Highness, Norwegian Embassy for the Royal Family, The Countess of Wessex, GCVO, Colonel-in-Chief QARANC, and the Crown Prince of Norway in a state dinner hosted by the Norwegian Embassy; was invited to the Carnegie Hall in New York to perform with choral composer Eric Whitacre; accompanied in the prestigious Maggie Teyte International Vocal Competition at the Royal Opera House; served as an opera Répétiteur at the Welsh Opera House in the United Kingdom for Puccini’s La Bohème and Madama Butterfly ; served as an opera Répétiteur with the Birmingham Opera House in the United Kingdom for Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina and Tippet's Ice Break; accompanied for the world renowned mezzo soprano Liang Ning at her recitals at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Fujian Grand Theater and Minnan Grand Theater; performed as a piano soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra at the "Special Feature of Guo Zurong's Works Concert"; performed Guo Zurong's Piano Concerto conducted by Bian Zushan in the "Guo Zurong Symphony Concert" at the Concert Hall of the Qishan Campus of Normal University.

 
Program
 
Winterreise
Gute Nacht
Die Wetterfahne
Gefror’ne Tränen
Erstarrung
Der Lindenbaum
Wasserflut
Auf dem Flusse
Rückblick
Irrlicht
Rast
Frühlingstraum
Einsamkeit
Die Post
Der greise Kopf
Die Krähe
Letzte Hoffnung
Im Dorfe
Der stürmische Morgen
Täuschung
Der Wegweiser
Das Wirtshaus
Mut
Die Nebensonnen
Der Leiermann
 
(Please check program updates at the concert.)