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Yi-Kwei Sze

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Yi-Kwei Sze (斯義桂 pinyin: Sī Yìguì, 1915 – November 5, 1994) was a Chinese operatic bass-baritone and music educator.[1][2][3][4]

Born in Shanghai and a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Sze began his career performing and teaching voice in China. In 1947 he came to the United States where he made his professional debut singing at Town Hall in New York City. He continued to study singing in New York with Alexander Kipnis. He went on to have a successful career appearing on the concert stage and in operas, appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, La Scala, the London Symphony, the New Orleans Opera, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Opera among other important ensembles and organizations. He notably performed the role of Elviro in Handel's Xerxes at Carnegie Hall for the inaugural performance of the Handel Society of New York on 20 November 1966 with Maureen Forrester in the title role, Maureen Lehane as Arsamene, Janet Baker as Amastre, Teresa Stich-Randall as Romilda, Alpha Brawner as Atalanta, and John Shirley-Quirk as Ariodate.[5]

Sze's recordings were awarded France's Académie du disque lyrique [fr] in both 1966 and 1967, and the Dutch Edison Award in 1966.[6] From 1971 to 1980 he taught on the voice faculty of the Eastman School of Music.

He died in San Francisco.

Selected discography

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References

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  1. ^ Shiji 1998 "斯義桂於 1915 年出生於上海。 他的祖籍在浙江奉化縣斯張村。 父親斯禮遂是位出色的石匠,青年時代挑著鋪蓋與工具,取道寧波海路,闖進上海灘,在澳門路開了爿石作坊,承建了南京路老九莊綢緞店(現朵雲 軒)、福州路江西路金城銀行(現交通銀行)、 ..."
  2. ^ Song on Record: Volume 1 (2006), Lieder, p. 194 ISBN 0521027969 Alan Blyth: "As a postscript one should mention the performance by the Chinese bass Yi-Kwei Sze, a powerful singer. He was a pupil of Kipnis and had obviously studied his master so closely that he virtually reproduced the older singer's interpretation."
  3. ^ Cathay by the Bay: Glimpses of San Francisco's Chinatown, (1988) George Kao: "We were all eyes and ears when, midway through Act I, the curtain parted and a fanfare announced the King of Egypt in the person of Yi-Kwei Sze, basso, of Shanghai. Dressed in brilliant regal robes, carrying a scepter emblematic of his ..."
  4. ^ West & East, Volumes 1–3 (1956), p. xviii: "Mr. Yi-Kwei Sze, the internationally famous Chinese bass-baritone, with his wife as accompanist and their boy, was here on a two-week sojourn during which he held three concerts for the music lovers of Free China. The famed singer sang a ..."
  5. ^ Allen Hughes (November 21, 1966). "Handel's Xerxes a Skirted Persian; Title Role Sung by Maureen Forrester at Carnegie Hall". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  6. ^ "Yi-Kwei Sze; basso". Operissimo. Retrieved March 17, 2016.

External list

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