Asian and Pacific Islander (and diaspora) singers of Western classical music: a list that may actually be slightly more complete than its predecessors
The reason I say that — and why most of these artists are still with us — is that this is a fairly recent phenomenon. Still, I’m bound to have missed some. This list includes East, South, and North Asia; the region sometimes known as Central Asia will get its own list.
My disclaimer from earlier posts in this series applies here as well.
Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, baritone, S Korea
Julius Ahn, tenor, S Korea
Brian Asawa (1966-2016), counter-tenor, USA
Seok Jong Baek, tenor, S Korea
Zheng Cao (1966-2013), mezzo-soprano, China
Jeongcheol Cha, bass-baritone, S Korea
Wei En Chan, counter-tenor, Singapore
Mario Chang, tenor, Guatemala
Sejong Chang, Bass, S Korea
Peixin Chen, bass, China
Sungjun Cho, bass, S Korea
Tiffany Choe, soprano, USA
Insik Choi, baritone, S Korea
Jerilyn Chou, soprano, USA
Siman Chung, counter-tenor, S Korea
Paul Corona, bass, USA
Chao Deng, bass, China
Danielle de Niese, soprano, Australia
Adam Diegel, tenor, S Korea
Amartuvshin Enkhbat, baritone, Mongolia
Arthur Espiritu, tenor, Philipines
Hinako Fujihara, soprano, Japan
Ying Fang, soprano, China
Andrew Gangestad, bass, S Korea
Sen Guo, soprano, China
Hui He, soprano, China
Candy Grace Ho, contralto, Hong Kong
Karen Chia-ling Ho, soprano, Taiwan
Haeran Hong, soprano, S Korea
Hei-Kyung Hong, soprano, S Korea
Elenora Hu, soprano, Netherlands
Ya Chung Huang, tenor, Taiwan
Sumi Hwang, soprano, S Korea
Sunhae Im, soprano, S Korea
Shiki Inoue, soprano, Japan
Yeonjoo Katharina Jang, soprano, S Korea
Sol Jin, baritone, S Korea
Sumi Jo, soprano, S Korea
David Minseok Kang, bass, S Korea
Joo Won Kang, baritone, S Korea
Pilgoo Kang, bass-baritone, S Korea
Quinn Kelsey, baritone, USA
Maya Kherani, soprano, USA
Antonia Ahyoung Kim, soprano, S Korea
David Junghoon Kim, tenor, S Korea
Gihoon Kim, baritone, S Korea
Hyoyoung Kim, soprano, S Korea
Jason Kim, tenor, S Korea
Jihee Kim, soprano, S Korea
Kangmin Justin Kim, counter-tenor, S Korea
Kathleen Kim, soprano, S Korea
Konu Kim, tenor, S Korea
Kyungho Kim, tenor, S Korea
Young Woo Kim, tenor, S Korea
Hellen Kwon, soprano, S Korea
Adam Lau, bass, USA
Haegee Lee, soprano, S Korea
Hye Jung Lee, soprano, S Korea
Seungweon Lee, bass, S Korea
Yonghoon Lee, tenor, S Korea
Yunah Lee, soprano, S Korea
Mingjie Lei, tenor, China
Jonathan Lemalu, bass-baritone, New Zealand
Meili Li, counter-tenor, China
Simon Lim, bass, S Korea
Chuanyuan Liu, counter-tenor, China
Long Long, tenor, China
Yitian Luan, soprano, China
Aki Matsui, soprano, Japan
Francesca Mehrotra, soprano, USA
Bejun Mehta, counter-tenor, USA
Misaki Morino, soprano, Japan
Eri Nakamura, soprano, Japan
Nina Yoshida Nelsen, mezzo-soprano, USA
Sean Panikkar, tenor, USA
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano, India
Hera Hyesang Park, soprano, S Korea
Jongmin Park, bass, S Korea
So Young Park, soprano, S Korea
Young Doo Park, bass, S Korea
Amitai Pati, tenor, New Zealand
Pene Pati, tenor, Samoa
Nicholas Phan, tenor, USA
Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano, USA
Ta’u Pupu’a, tenor, Tonga
Ross Ramgobin, baritone, UK
Teddy Tahu Rhodes, baritone, New Zealand
Rodell Rosel, tenor, Philippines
Yasko Sato, soprano, Japan
Shenyang, bass-baritone, China
Yijie Shi, tenor, China
Mika Shigematsu (d. 2019), mezzo-soprano, Japan
Kihwan Sim, bass-baritone, S Korea
Narea Son, soprano, S Korea
Juyeon Song, soprano, S Korea
Andrew Stenson, tenor, S Korea
William Guanbo Su, bass, China
Yeree Suh, soprano, China
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano, New Zealand
Asitha Tennekoon, tenor, Sri Lanka
Pete Thanapat, bass-baritone, Thailand
Brian Vu, tenor, USA
Karen Vuong, soprano, USA
Kang Wang, tenor, China
Yunpeng Wang, baritone, China
Boya Wei, soprano, China
David Won, baritone, S Korea
Hongni Wu, mezzo-soprano, China
Wei Wu, bass, China
Lei Xu, soprano, China
Angela Yam, soprano, USA
Guang Yang, mezzo-soprano, China
Seungwoo Simon Yang, tenor, S Korea
Wooyoung Yoon, tenor, S Korea
Junho You, tenor, S Korea
Kwangchul Youn, bass, S Korea
Guanqun Yu, soprano, China
Lu Yuan, tenor, China
Hyung Yun, baritone, S Korea
Liping Zhang, soprano, China
Meigui Zhang, soprano, China
Wenwei Zhang, bass, China
Yajie Zhang, mezzo-soprano, China
Huiling Zhu, mezzo-soprano, China
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South Asian Opera Singers
Opera singers who are from South Asia (Indian subcontinent) are incredibly rare, and in operas that are set in South Asia and have South Asian characters (Lakmé, set in India, or the British Raj, and Les pêcheurs de perles, set in Sri Lanka), those Indian characters are almost always played by white European opera singers. However, after digging deep, I managed to find some South Asian opera singers. Of course, this list isn’t very complete, so if anyone knows about anymore, please feel free to add on!
Sean Panikkar (Sri Lankan-American): He’s an operatic tenor who has worked with the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Fort Worth Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He’s portrayed the characters of Rodolfo from Puccini’s La bohème, and Tybalt from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. The above photo is of him as Nadir from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) with the Fort Worth Opera, and the above video is of his performance as Tamino from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) with the New Orleans Opera. He’s perhaps the first Sri Lankan tenor to play Nadir.
Maya Kherani (Indian-American): She’s a coloratura soprano who played the role of Meera in the world premiere of Jack Perla’s River of Light with the Houston Grand Opera in 2014. Other roles include Marie from Donizetti’s La fille du régiment and Gilda from Verdi’s Rigoletto. She’s soon to star in the West Edge Opera’s production of Britomarte’s L’arbore di Diana. The above video is her recital performance of ‘Credete al mio dolore’ from Handel’s Alcina.
Kishani Jayasinghe (Sri Lankan-British): A Sri Lankan-British soprano from Colombo, she is the first South Asian soprano to sing as a soloist in the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and at Buckingham Palace, where sang at Prince Charles’ 60th birthday with the Royal Opera House, and has been awarded with the Grand Prix and Audience Prize in Marmade, France. She is also the first Sri Lankan soprano to play the role of priestess Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles with the Nederlandse Reisopera in 2015. Other roles include Mimi from La bohème, Rusalka from Dvorak’s Rusalka, and Violetta from Verdi’s La traviata. The above video is her recital performance of the Jewel Song from Gounod’s Faust.
Nikhil Navkal (Indian-American): Hailing from Massachusetts, he is also one of the few South Asian tenors to portray Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles, this time with Opera Australia. He has also portrayed the roles of Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. The above video is of him performing a Rossini quartet along with Karin Laine, Caroline Tye, and Kofi Hayford.
Alok Kumar (Indian-American): Another Indian tenor, he performed the role of Chyavana in the world premiere of Ravi Shankar’s opera Sukanya. He’s also performed the roles of the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Palm Beach Opera, Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with Baltimore Concert Opera, Don José in Bizet’s Carmen with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth with the Opera Company of Middlebury. Unfortunately, I could not find any videos of his performances.
Danielle de Niese (Australian-American, Sri Lankan Burgher): A Sri Lankan Burgher lyric soprano, not only has she sung with the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden, but she’s sung in Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, won an Emmy Award at 16 years of age, and even performed with rapper LL Cool J. She is most famous for her role as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2005. Other roles include Donna Elvira from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rosina from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Musetta from La bohème. The above video is her performance of V’adoro pupille from Giulio Cesare.
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