Instead of Chinese singers always coming to the West, Western singers are coming to learn Chinese.” “So it’s about time to reverse the trend. “The future of opera may be in China,” says Tian Hao Jiang, China’s most celebrated operatic export and a mainstay at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Chinese composers have become a major source for opera in Europe and North America, while more opera festivals are staged in the People’s Republic than anywhere else.

Conservatory graduates Emma McNairy, Julia Metzler, and Evgenia Chaverdova.Īs if any more proof was needed of China’s growing dominance, it is now being bellowed at full volume by tenors and sopranos. In 2011, participants included Merola/Adler veteran Thomas Glenn, Merolina Katherine Chu (who was also program director), and S.F. There have been strong connections between the program and San Francisco. The program was originally called I Sing Beijing before it moved to the city of Suzhou. Hao Jiang Tian’s iSING!, which will have its San Francisco debut concert in Herbst Theater on June 30, provides the opportunity for young Western singers to explore the emerging opera scene in China by studying Mandarin and Chinese vocal music while continuing their Italian, French, and other opera training. Among the numerous others, there is one that is unique. San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program is the oldest but certainly not the only international organization assisting young singers at the beginning of their careers. A scene from a 2017 iSing! production | Courtesy of iSing

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