About
Chinese soprano Ying Fang has been praised as “indispensable at the Met in Mozart” (The New York Times) and for “a voice that can stop time, pure and rich and open and consummately expressive” (Financial Times).
Ms. Fang begins the 2024/2025 season making her long awaited house debut at the Royal Opera Covent Garden as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro in a production by Sir David McVicar, followed by a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the same role. She debuts at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and makes her role debut as Marzelline in Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera opposite Lise Davidsen, conducted by Susanna Mälkki and broadcasted as part of The Met Live in HD series. She also sings Ilia in Idomeneo in her house debut at San Francisco Opera. On the concert stage, she joins the Sydney Symphony and Sir Donald Runnicles for Mahler’s 4th symphony and Lieder of Richard Strauss, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons as Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Eighth symphony, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal and Yannick Nézet-Séguin for her first Beethoven 9, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Raphaël Pichon at Carnegie Hall for a program of Schubert, Schumann, and Weber. She tours with Ensemble Pygmalion and Mo. Pichon, bringing Bach’s Johannespassion to venues including Teatro alla Scala, Notre-Dame de Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. She tours with NHK Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi, bringing Mahler’s 4th Symphony to the Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Dresden Kulturpalast, and Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerp.
In the 2023-2024 season, Ms. Fang returned to Opéra national de Paris as Zerlina in Don Giovanni conducted by Antonello Manacorda, Dutch National Opera as Poppea in Agrippina and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Riccardo Minasi, the Metropolitan Opera in her role debut as Euridice in Orfeo ed Eudidice, and Santa Fe Opera in her role debut as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. On the concert stage, she reunited with conductor Raphaël Pichon for Mozart’s C Minor Mass in her debut with the Munich Philharmonic, and joined Noord Nederlands Orkest for Ein Deutsches Requiem, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Fourth symphony with Susanna Mälkki, and sang Carmina Burana with the St. Louis Symphony under the baton of Stéphane Denève and the Orchestra of St. Lukes at Carnegie Hall.
In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Fang made her house debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as Susanna in a new Barrie Kosky production of Le nozze de Figaro conducted by Philippe Jordan, a role which she then reprised for the Handel and Haydn Society with Raphaël Pichon. She returned 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. On the concert stage, she returned to San Francisco Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Robin Ticciati, debuted with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem led by Sir Donald Runnicles, and performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Handel’s Messiah, led by Manfred Honeck. She also performed recitals at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, Cal Performances, and The Dallas Opera.
Ms. Fang’s previous seasons have included performances with conductors James Levine, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Raphaël Pichon, Carlo Rizzi, Alan Gilbert, James Gaffigan, Gianandrea Noseda, Emmanuelle Haïm, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Manfred Honeck. She has sung at Opéra national de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Santa fe Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra de Lille, Dutch National Opera, Vancouver Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Washington National Opera in such varied operas as Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna), L’elisir d’amore (Adina), Alcina (Morgana), Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Bellezza), Tannhäuser (Shepherd), Falstaff (Nannetta), Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra), Il Viaggio A Reims (Contessa di Folleville), Zaïde (title role), The Nose (Madame Podtochina’s Daughter), and Don Giovanni (Zerlina). Concert engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, New World Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and Music of the Baroque Orchestra in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony Nos. 2 and 4, Handel’s Messiah, Telemann’s Der Tag des Gerichts, Handel’s Silete Venti, Bernstein’s West Side Story, and more. Ms. Fang has given performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Alice Tully Hall, as well as with the Verbier Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Ravinia Festival.
A native of Ningbo, China, Ms. Fang is the recipient of 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 become 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. Ms. 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.