March 16, 2023
The star of the opera Hui He will be Tosca at the Teatro Antico on August 19, 2023. After more than a hundred performances in the role, the Chinese soprano will perform Puccini's masterpiece for the first time in Taormina. Tickets are on sale on TicketOne and Boxoffice. An original Aiax production.
The first name of the cast is revealed: the wonderful Hui He. After a careful casting, careful to enhance the best Italian voices, the production took the opportunity to sign a world excellence for which it was possible to make an exception. The Chinese star needs no introduction to the most ardent music lovers: the Chinese soprano Hui He is one of the best opera singers of the World. Her debut as Aida was in Shanghai Grande Theater, she burst into the international music scene with her performance as the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at Teatro Regio in Parma. Hui He completed her musical and vocal studies in China and Italy. In 2000 she won the Second Prize at the Operalia Competition in Los Angeles, while in 2002 Hui He won First Prize at the Voci Verdiane in Busseto. Since her breakout performance in 2002, Hui He has sung at most of the world’s leading theaters, including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Théâtre de la Monnaie of Bruxelles, Lyric Opera in Chicago and Arena di Verona.
When she debuted Madama Butterfly at the Volksoper Wien, Wiener Zeitung described her interpretation as “The best Butterfly you could wish for”. Hui He is one of the most popular Aida of our time, defined by critics as “the reference interpreter of this role” (L’Opera) and “Hui He’s Aida is an epiphany” (Paolo Isotta). Corriere della Sera about her Aida at La Scala wrote “Aida seduces La Scala with Hui He’s voice”. In these last four years Madama Butterfly at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Tosca in Deutsche Oper and in Dresden Semperoper, Il Trovatore at the Opéra National de Paris, La forza del destino at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona and Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Il Trovatore at Chorégies d’Orange, Un ballo in maschera at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Un ballo in maschera and Madama Butterfly at the Zurich Opera, Ernani at Opéra de Marseille, Adriana Lecouvreur in Verona and at Salzburg Festival, Turandot at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Dubai Opera and Grand Theatre of Shanghai, Mimì in La Bohème at Puccini Festival, Madama Butterfly at The Metropolitan Opera, Aida, Tosca and Puccini Gala at the Arena di Verona, La Gioconda at Theatre de La Monnaie in Bruxelles and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She performed every year since 2004 to 2015 at the Wiener Staatsoper and she will come back there for Madama Butterfly in season 2020/2021.
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She performed for eleven years no stop at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in all the major roles of Italian operas. She made Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Aida at the Bayerische Staasoper of Munich, returning often on this stage in last years. She performed every year from 2005 to 2020 at the Arena di Verona, making an historical record for this theatre. In nine years she was invited five times at The Metropolitan Opera House, twice as Aida and three times as Madama Butterfly. In 2019 she made her debut for the Met Live HD series with Madama Butterfly. She played Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Aida at Teatro alla Scala, becoming the first Chinese soprano to have sung the title-roles on the great stage of La Scala. In Summer 2019 she made her debut at Salzburg Festival with Adriana Lecouvreur, in a performance described by critics as “one of the best of all-time” (Klassik begeistert) and “the audience acclaimed her great performance […] she has a warm voice and a beautiful technique and she died with intentisy” (Le Monde). In 2019/20 season she has returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Madama Butterfly, for 10 performances acclaimed by public and critic, every night she was welcomed at the curtain calls with a standing ovation. After that she came back to Shanghai for her Chinese debut as Turandot. After the lockdown she was the first opera singer to perform in a concert with audience in Italy, on June 15. Later she sang two excepts from Madama Butterfly at Arena di Verona, in occasion of the Puccini Gala on August 22. In season 2020/2021 after returning at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with two performances as La Gioconda, she will make her debut in Catania on October 15, with a special recital entitled Malinconia for the Bellini Festival and she will host a masterclass at the Paride Venturi International Academy of Opera (October 20-22). After this she will make her long-awaited debut as Alzira in Bilbao, under the baton of Maestro Daniel Oren, she will return in China for a Concerts tour and Turandot in her hometown, Xi’an, and she will came back at the Wiener Staatsoper with her portrayal Madama Butterfly. Later in 2021 she will sing Tosca at the Hamburg Staatsoper. In addition: in 2019 Sony Classic published the album Verdi Opera Arias recorded with Orchestra and Chorus of Arena di Verona. In the same year the docufilm about Hui He’s life (Hui He: a soprano from the Silk Road directedby Andrea Prandstraller and Niccolò Bruna, produced by RAI, Agnese Fontana, Rosario Di Girolamo, Duan Peng, Fan Weidong) was presented at the Biografilm Festival of Bologna and at Rome Festival Cinema d’iDea after the successful presentations in China and at the Venice Film Festival. In 2017 the journalist Melanie Ho published a book about the life of the Chinese soprano, Journey to the West – He Hui: A chinese soprano in the world of Italian Opera, translated this year in Italian with the title Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! He Hui.
