Yi-Kwei Sze

Yi-Kwei Sze (斯义桂 pinyin: Sī yìguì, Shanghai, 1915- San Francisco, 5 November 1994）was a Chinese operatic bass-baritone and music educator.[1][2][3][4]

A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Yi-Kwei 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]

Yi-Kwei's recordings were awarded France’s Academie Nationale du Disque Lyrique in both 1966 and 1967, and the Dutch Edison Prize in 1966.[6] From 1971 to 1980 he taught on the voice faculty of the Eastman School of Music.

Selected discography
  • 1953 Hector Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette. Margaret Roggero (mezzo soprano), Leslie Chabay (tenor), Yi-Kwei Sze (bass), Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society (Artistic director: G. Wallace Woodworth), Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch (cond). RCA Records.
  • Paul Paray: Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc. Frances Yeend (soprano), Frances Bible (mezzo), David Lloyd (tenor), Yi-Kwei-Sze (bass) with the Rackham Symphony Choir and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray
  • Chants Chinois (Chinese songs) : 1. Traditional "All Red The River" (满江红). 2. Qing Zhu to poem of Li Zhiyi (1035-1117) "Separated by the Yangtze River" 我住长江头,君住长江尾. 3 Traditional to lyrics of Tao Xingzhi (1891-1946) "Song of the Hoe" (鋤頭歌) 4. Liu Xue'an to poem of Cao Xueqin "Song of the Red Bean" (红豆词). 5. He Luting, Hongliang Duanmu (1912-1996) "On the Jialing River" (嘉陵江上) 6. Zhao Yuanren (赵元任), to lyrics of Liu Bannong "How can I not think of her" 教我如何不想她 7. "Drinking Song" (奠酒歌). 8 Liu Xue'an, to lyrics of Pan Jienong, "Ballad of the Great Wall" (长城谣). All tracks with Nancy Lee piano. Guilde internationale du disque, 10" LP, France.

References
  1. Shiji 1998 "斯义桂 1915 年诞生于上海。他的祖籍在浙江奉化县斯张村。父亲斯礼遂是位出色的石匠,青年时代挑着铺盖与工具,取道宁波海路,闯进上海滩,在澳门路开了爿石作坊,承建了南京路老九庄綢缎店(现朵云轩)、福州路江西路金城银行(现交通银行)、 ..."
  2. Song on Record: Volume 1, Lieder - Page 194 0521027969 Alan Blyth - 2006 "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 George Kao - 1988 "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 - Page xviii 1956 "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' ASKIRTED PERSIAN; Title Role Sung by Maureen Forrester at Carnegie Hall". The New York Times.
  6. Yi-Kwei Sze; basso. Operissimo concertissimo. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
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