Yu Shao © Marine Cessat-Bégler
Exiled from Shangai, tenor Yu Shao has studied singing and worked these last years in Belgium and France. These days he’s at the Opéra Comique on a residency with the Nouvelle Troupe Favart. After having played Bénédict in Le Timbre d’argent, forming a love duet with soprano Jodie Devos (as Rosa), he meets up with her again “At lunch time” to sing one of the finest pages of French opera.
Friday 23 June at 1 pm at Foyer Favart
The ideal work to make people like opera: Carmen by Bizet.
The ideal work to make people dislike opera: none.
The character you like interpreting: Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de perles or Belmonte in L’Enlèvement au sérail.
The character you hate interpreting: none.
The hero you’d like to embody in real life: myself.
The sound, the noise you like: birdsongs.
The female singer you most admire: Callas.
The male singer you most admire: It was Pavarotti for a long time but today I have no idol, I’m even rather reticent to the idea of having one.
The best language to sing: why not Chinese? I find it simpler to sing in your own mother tongue for you think less about the text, you know the various nuances of the language and you can concentrate more on other elements.
The aria or song you sing while taking a shower: I never sing in the shower… otherwise arias I’m going to sing soon.
An opera hero or heroine to govern France: Fidelio/Leonore for her loyalty and her fight against injustice.
Your favorite opéra comique: Carmen.
The artist you’d have liked to meet: Nicolai Gedda.
The song you’d take on a deserted island: “Pourquoi me réveiller?” (Werther)
The song you’re ashamed to sing: all the comic songs because I’m rather inclined to sing “elegant” things.
Your current state of mind: in the moon
