While I was in Beijing meeting prospective students for my summer program in Verona last weekend, I was asked by one of the students, "What must we as Chinese singers do to have success in the opera scene in and out of China?"
My answer was:
Stay out of China. Stay out as long as you can. This is not a negative comment on China, not at all!!! What I mean is young Chinese singers must live outside of China for years. Not one or two years, but many years. If you can live outside of China for 10 years, then come back, you can raise the level of teaching and singing in China. If only two years, you have barely taken care of yourself and your needs. If you stay overseas for many years you can truly become more competent in languages, style, repertoire. We must realize that classical opera is a western art form: it takes time to assimilate all the details of what it is. If you can stay out of China and learn more about it and it's languages, then when you come back you can be a great teacher, coach, and better performer. By staying away from home, when you do come back, you add so much more skill and expertise to what is China. So in the long run, you are helping your country by staying away. Does this make sense?
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