Shenyang explains there was method, rather than mere madness, to his repertoire selection at the recently concluded Beijing Music Festival.
The bass-baritone performed works by not only the acclaimed names of the Romantic Austro-German lieder but also those by the genre's more obscure composers, such as Carl Loewe and Hugo Wolfe. He completed his performance with an encore of four Chinese songs - Xia Zhiqiu's Longing for Home, Chen Tianhe's In the Mountain, and Huang Zi's Plum Blossoms in the Snow and Flower in the Mist.
These four songs were composed between 1919 and 1945, which Shenyang calls "the era of Chinese Romanticism".
"Chinese people were exposed to the outside world after the last dynasty's fall, catalyzing an era of Romanticism in China more than 100 years after the West's," he says.
"These works aren't perfect but stand out because of their sincerity and passion."
As for the little-known foreign songs, he says, "I chose this program to provide a wider picture of the Romantic Austro-German lieder, so audiences can feel the influence of destiny and this historical era on composers."
The 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World will perform three operas during the 2011-12 season. He'll stage Rodelinda and Don Giovanni with the Metropolitan Opera, and La Cenerentola with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
"I don't believe Western vocal music belongs solely to the West," the Juilliard School graduate says."I'm performing them against my own cultural background."
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