Yu Shao

I never decided to have an opera career because everything was evident; the road I had walked so far was leading me here, even though the process was not always expectable.
Mask-Group-13@2x.jpg

Author:

by Bianca L. Nica
June 14, 2023
Read the entire

No.5/2023

of opera charm magazine

INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHY

After four years at the Shangai Conservatory of Music in the class of Wu bo, Yu Shao graduated in 2008. He chose France to continue his training and formation the same year. In 2010, he passed the Radio-France Chorus competition. In 2011, he achieved his diploma in singing, solfeggio and chamber music at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de La Courneuve-Aubervilliers. He worked on his vocal technique with Eléonore Jost and Leontina Văduva. In 2012, he entered the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Belgium and perfected his singing with José Van Dam. He won the Fourth Prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2014 and the Third Prize of the Toulouse Competition the same year. In 2018 He won the first male Prize of vocal competition of Bordeaux. He entered the Académie de l’Opéra National de Paris in 2014 and played Pylade (Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck) at the Théâtre de Saint Quentin en Yvelines, Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte, Mozart) at the Maison des Arts de Créteil and at the Théâtre Anthéa d’Antibes, a Gizmo in a Joanna Lee’s opera, Way back home directed by Kathy Mitchell and Pastore in Monteverdi’s Orfeo directed by Julie Berès at the Amphithéâtre of Bastille Opéra. In 2016 and 2017, he played the Messager (Aïda,Verdi) and Normano (Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti) at the Opéra National de Paris, Steuermann (Die Fliegende Höllander, Wagner) at the Opéra de Lille and Benedict (Le timbre d’argent, Saint-Saëns) at the Opéra Comique.In 2017/2018, Yu Shao performed recitals at the Opéra de Lille and at the Amphithéâtre of Bastille Opéra. He performed Ruiz (Il Trovatore, Verdi) at the Opéra de Paris . He also played the sailor’s chief, a donkey-driver, the first muezzin and the first policeman in Marouf by Henri Rabaud in Bordeaux. In 2019, he plays the role of Steuermann in Wagner’s opera Der fliegende Hollände in Opéra de Renne et Nantes Angers Opéra. In July he gave a récital in Les Estivales de Musique en Médoc. He sang Tamino and Monostatos in the production of L’Aventure de Papageno in Opéra de Nantes Angers in 2019. In the season 2021-2022, he sang Nemorino in Opera de Bordeaux; In Opera Comique de Paris, he interpreted Tybalt in Romeo et Juliette and Marcellus in Hamlet. He was Ruiz in Il Trovatore at the Opéra de Paris and in summer 2022, he sang Ismaele in Nabucco in the DomStufen Festspiele Erfurt. In the 2022-2023 season, he sang Raffaele in Verdi’s Stiffelio and Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon at the Aachen Theater .

Read more

Read less

INTERVIEW

Dear Shao, it is a pleasure to meet you! I would like to start our conversation right from the beginning of your story with opera. Who introduced you to this marvellous art form? Was it love at first sight? I have a father who is a big amateur of Chinese song singing. As an amateur he […]

Your access is restricted because you don’t have a subscription or your subscription doesn’t include this type of content.
Already have an account?
Buy one of our subscription to get access to our exclusive content

RELATED POSTS

Giorgio Misseri
The biggest mistake one makes when tackling a new repertoire is to distort one's own vocality.
April 2024
Alex Suciu
Julie Roset & Stephano Park
December 2023
Alice Lechner

Alice Lechner

Alice Lechner comes from a music-loving family. Her first encounter with the opera universe was at the tender age of six. The grandeur of the stage productions and costumes, the backstage chatter, and last, but definitely not least, the music left her in awe, beginning with Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The overall feeling that opera awakens in anyone who gets a glimpse into this part of artistic eternity, that each and every day passes the test of time, was what drew her to stay and be a part of this world. The Opera House of Brașov became her second home, and the people who worked there were her second family.

Since then, Alice has devoted her spare time to maximising her musical knowledge through instrumental studies, studying both piano and violin for a short time. In the following years, her number one passion stepped out of the limelight and graciously gave way to Law Studies.
Since 2018 she has been studying Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.

Her passion for opera, even if it is no longer her top professional priority in terms of career, it has most definitely become her priority during her free time. Wanting to experience the best of both worlds and extend her musical horizons, she regularly attends opera performances throughout Romania and abroad.
With OPERA Charm Magazine, Alice aims to nurture her creative side to help it flourish and bloom and to discover, alongside the magazine’s readers, the fascinatingly complex world of opera.

Currently, she is an LL.M. in Business Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.

Oana Zamfir

Oana Zamfir is a second year MA student at the “George Enescu” National University of Arts, at the Department of Musicology.

She studied violin for 12 years at the “Stefan Luchian” High School of Art in Botosani, later focusing on the theoretical aspects of music. In 2019 she completed her bachelor studies in Musicology as a student of the National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca. Her research during 2018-2019 brought to the forefront elements of the archaic ritual within works of composers who activated during the communist period, giving her the opportunity to start a research internship at the “Carl von Ossietzky” University in Germany. In this context, she recorded conversations with members of the Sophie Drinker Institute in Bremen, and had access to documents directly from the Myriam Marbé archive.

Since 2019 she has been a teacher of Music Education and Theoretical Music Studies, making full use of interactive methods in the musical training of students and working, at the same time, with the children’s choir founded in the first year of her activity.

Her interests include pursuing a degree in interior design in 2020.

Alexandru Suciu

Alexandru Suciu inherited his passion for art growing up in a family of several generations of musicians. He began his musical studies at the “Augustin Bena” School of Music in Cluj, where he studied piano and guitar. Even though his main study direction was philological, his passion for music prevailed. He began his academical journey at the Faculty of Letters of the “Babeș-Bolyai” University, studying Comparative literature and English. He continued by studying Opera Singing at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy. He also graduated the Musical Education section, followed by Artistic Directing at the Musical Performing Arts department.

His multidisciplinary education opened the doors towards research, which is seen both through his participation in national and international conferences and symposia, such as the Salzburg Easter School PhD-forum, organized by the Salzburg Universität or the Silesian Meeting of Young Scholars, organized by the Institute of English at the University of Silesia, as well as the collaboration with Opera Charm Magazine.

During his student years, he won several prizes, including the Grand Prize at the “Paul Constantinescu” National Musical Interpretation Competition, the Romanian Composers and Musicologists’ Union Prize at the same competition, the First Prize and the Schubert Prize at the “Ada Ulubeanu” Competition.

He further developed his artistic skills by specializing in courses and masterclasses held by personalities such as Vittorio Terranova, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Marian Pop, Ines Salazar, Riccardo Zanellato, Paolo Bosisio, Valentina Farcaș and Manuel Lange in contexts such as the Internationale Sommerakademie für Operngesang Deutschlandsberg, Corso Internazionale di Canto Lirico I.M.C. Licata or the Europäische Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst Montepulciano. Besides his activity on-stage, he currently teaches Opera Singing Didactics, and Pedagogical Practice within the Department for Teacher Education and Training at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy.

Cristina Fieraru

Cristina is a 24 year-old Romanian soprano & a student at the National University of Music Bucharest, where she pursues the MA program in Vocal Performance.

She made her debut in Pamina from “Die Zauberflöte” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at only 19 years old at the Bucharest National Opera House, as a member of the Ludovic Spiess Experimental Opera Studio. Over the years she made her debut in roles such as Contessa d’Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì & Musetta (La Bohème), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) in her university’s opera productions.
Her passion and experience extends in the field of choral music, too.

She has been part of our dream team since the fall of 2021. For a good period of time she took care of OPERA Charm’s social media and took you on the monthly journey through the history of opera through our Legends rubric – and a few times through the Theaters around the World rubric.

Her little soul rubric – from 2021 to present – is definitely the Conductors of the Future, where, every month, she gives you the chance to meet a young star of the world of conducting and, of course, to find out what’s the most charming feature of opera in these artists’ views.

BIANCA L. NICA

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur