The year was 2007 when soprano Chen Xiaoduo received a phone call from leading composer Chen Qigang asking her to be part of his production. And, as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Chen was already an acclaimed soprano then, having won Beijing's 2004 National Singing Competition. But, since she started her career as a traditional opera singer, she had not stood on another stage. That phone call in 2007 propelled her from one stage to another, even beyond the country's shores.
She was the first singer of You and Me, the 2008 Beijing Olympics theme song. She was also invited to sing a romantic ballad, Ring, together with pop singer Han Geng.
In 2010, she took a dip into pop and folk singing, as well as dancing, when she performed the lead role in the opera In That Remote Place. The production tells the story of Wang Luobin (1913-96), who's known as the "Father of Chinese Folk Music".
In 2011, she sang the theme song Qin and Huai Scenery for director Zhang Yimou's movie The Flowers of War.
Those were bold and surprising moves, following her role in Chen Qigang's opera Iris Unveiled. In 2009, the opera was staged at New York's Carnegie Hall. Chen's sweet operatic voice, together with that of another Peking Opera-style soprano, Meng Meng, impressed Western audiences.
Having just wrapped up her performances of the opera at the Hong Kong Culture Center in mid-April, Chen will perform in the US in May, under the baton of Edo de Waart. The tour will include Carnegie Hall.
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