Yi-Kwei Sze Explained

Yi-Kwei Sze (斯義桂 pinyin: Sī Yìguì, 1915 – November 5, 1994) was a Chinese operatic bass-baritone and music educator.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Born in Shanghai and a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Sze 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]

Sze's recordings were awarded France's in both 1966 and 1967, and the Dutch Edison Award in 1966.^[6] From 1971 to 1980 he taught on the voice faculty of the Eastman School of Music.

He died in San Francisco.

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 (conductor). 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" (滿江紅). 2. Qing Zhu to poem of Li Zhiyi (1035–1117) "Separated by the Yangtze River" (我住長江頭，君住長江尾). 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" (紅豆詞). 5. He Luting, Hongliang Duanmu (1912–1996) "On the Jialing River" (嘉陵江上) 6. Zhao Yuanren (趙元任), 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" (長城謠). All tracks with Nancy Lee piano. Guilde internationale du disque, 10" LP, France.

Notes and References

1. Shiji 1998 "斯義桂於 1915 年出生於上海。 他的祖籍在浙江奉化縣斯張村。 父親斯禮遂是位出色的石匠,青年時代挑著鋪蓋與工具,取道寧波海路,闖進上海灘,在澳門路開了爿石作坊,承建了南京路老九莊綢緞店(現朵雲 軒)、福州路江西路金城銀行(現交通銀行)、 ..."
2. Song on Record: Volume 1 (2006), Lieder, p. 194 Alan Blyth: "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, (1988) George Kao: "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 (1956), p. xviii: "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. News: Handel's Xerxes a Skirted Persian; Title Role Sung by Maureen Forrester at Carnegie Hall. Allen Hughes. Allen Hughes. The New York Times. November 21, 1966. November 11, 2023.
6. Web site: Yi-Kwei Sze; basso. Operissimo. March 17, 2016.