Chinese soprano Ying Fang has been praised as “a voice that can stop time, pure and rich and open and consummately expressive” (Financial Times).
In the 2022-2023 season, Fang makes her house debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as Susanna in Le nozze de Figaro, conducted by Philippe Jordan, a role which she reprises for the Handel and Haydn Society under Raphaël Pichon. She returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Ilia in Idomeneo, conducted by Manfred Honeck, and as Zerlina in a new production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann. Additionally, she returns to the Salzburg Festival as Nannetta in a new production of Falstaff opposite Gerald Finley.
On the concert stage, she returns to San Francisco Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, conducted by Robin Ticciati. She debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, led by Sir Donald Runnicles, and performs with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Handel’s Messiah, led by Manfred Honeck. She also performs a series of recitals with pianist Ken Noda at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, Cal Performances and the Dallas Opera.
In the 2021-2022 season, Fang made her house debut at Opéra national de Paris as Susanna in Le nozze de Figaro, in a new production conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and subsequently reprised the role both in a return to the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by James Gaffigan, and in her debut at the Matsumoto Festival in Japan. She also returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and to Dutch National Opera for her role debut as Ännchen in Der Freischütz in a new production by Kirill Serebrennikov.
On the concert stage, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin for a special season-opening performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Additionally, she toured with Ensemble Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon performing the music of Bach, made her debut at the Tanglewood Festival in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Andris Nelsons, and returned to the Verbier Festival both as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, led by Sir Simon Rattle, and in her role debut as Oscar in Un ballo in Maschera, led by Gianandrea Noseda.
A native of Ningbo, China, Fang has won the Martin E. Segal Award, the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, the Rose Bampton Award of the Sullivan Foundation, the Opera Index Award and first prize of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. In 2009, she became one of the youngest singers to win one of China’s most prestigious awards: the China Golden Bell Award for Music. She has been hailed as “the most gifted Chinese soprano of her generation” by Ningbo Daily.
Fang holds a master’s degree and an artist diploma in opera study from the Juilliard School and a bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She is a former member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSOA by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
