Three Scholarly Books

Training Young Singers during Voice-change, a textbook written in Chinese (Dec. 2024)

Shanghai Conservatory of Music Publishing, China (2025-2026)

Peking Opera—Bel Canto in Chinese: Introducing its Training Methodology

LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Germany (01/2018)

The book was translated into 8 languages for worldwide publications (04/2020)

An Infusion of Eastern and Western Music Styles into Art Song: Introducing Two Sets of Art Song for Mezzo-Soprano by Chen Yi

LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Germany (04/2015)

Four Research Articles

Explore Chinese Vocal Art through the Lens of an Academician: A Guide to Performing Modern Chinese Art Songs Journal of Singing (01/2023)

An Infusion of Western and Eastern Singing Styles into Chinese Vocal Art: Introducing the Teaching Methodology for Training Chinese Bel Canto Singers Journal of Singing (01/2016)

Peking Opera—Bel Canto in Chinese: Introducing its Vocal Training Process Journal of Singing (11/2011)
An Introduction to Creating Virtual Choir Projects Choral Journal--ChoirTeach (11/2020)

One Online Course: Vocal Literature

MERLOT.org, OERcommons.org, and CanvasCommons.org (09/2020)

PREFACE

Peking Opera, a national treasure with a history of over 200 years, is widely regarded as the most refined expression of Chinese culture. As a traditional art form, it synthesizes singing, dancing, actions, acrobatics, and instrumental music in highly entertaining and fascinating performances. With unique sound tonality and singing style, Peking Opera has been acclaimed the highest level of singing in China as well as in other Mandarin speaking regions in Asia. It is also known as one of the three main theatrical systems in the world alongside the Roman and Sanskrit theatre. In 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization declared Peking Opera, an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

During the Culture Revolution (1960-1970) in China, the traditional art form was deemed feudalistic and reactionary and its reputation was severely damaged. In the late 1970s, China began opening-up to Western world; Chinese culture, including Peking Opera, started to attract Western society. Many foreigners visited China and wished to learn the art form from its legends. Likewise, Peking Opera also made excellent contributions to the cultural exchanges in the West. Since 2013, the Chinese government has been espousing a Peking Opera Festival touring European countries and the United States to perform traditional repertoires and newly created productions. Oscar-winning Chinese composer Tan Dun adapted a great deal of Peking Opera elements to his new opera The First Emperor, which made a successful premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006, featuring Western opera legend Placido Domingo in the leading role of the Chinese Emperor.

Due to the lack of well-written documents in English on Peking Opera’s artistic value, singing style, and training methodology, it has been left unreachable to the people who do not understand the Chinese language but have a strong desire to learn the art form. This book aims to provide solid knowledge of Peking Opera in terms of its historic development and legendary artists. The purpose is to present reliable information on its vocal training process and offer a user-friendly guide to its foreign fans; in order that they may better grasp its vocal conceptions, the text refers them to these traditional vocalizations as Italian Bel Canto—the most popular classical singing style in Western opera. It is hoped that this book can serve as a channel for English speaking people who wish to reach out to the traditional Chinese art form and become knowledgeable of its performing style. The more they know about Peking Opera, the more they will love it.

This book is available at:

• https://www.morebooks.de/gb/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Peking+Opera-Bel+Canto+in+Chinese

• https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&fieldkeywords=

Peking+Opera-bel+canto+in+Chinesee

• https://www.lap-publishing.com/catalog/details//store/gb/book/978-3-659-78781-2/peking-opera-belcanto-in-chinese

• https://www.bookdepository.com/Peking-Opera-Bel-Canto-Chinese-Wen-

Zhang/9783659787812?ref=grid-view&qid=1527933819234&sr=1-1

PREFACE

Chinese-American composer Chen Yi has been praised as “the most internationally renowned female Asian composer of contemporary music today,” and she “has in particular become a prominent figure in music circles in the United States and China.” Besides her successes in writing orchestral and chamber music, Chen Yi has also written numerous vocal compositions including some art songs. This research book aims to introduce two sets of Chen’s art songs written for mezzo-soprano voice, Meditation and Bright Moonlight, and review the features of these compositions that represent the unique style of her music, which is influenced by Chinese folk music idioms and Western modern music elements.

Chen Yi grew up in both the traditional China before the mid-1960s and the reformed China after the mid-1970s. She took her journey of music study a long way from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing to Columbia University in New York City. She is a Western-trained musician and has launched a successful career of teaching Western music in higher education in America. This research book reveals Chen’s bicultural background, strengthens the link between her cultural uniqueness and her musical creativity, and elaborates on how her bicultural background has influenced her compositional style.

Ancient Chinese poetry and Peking Opera singing style have inspired Chen’s art songwriting tremendously. By reviewing the poetic literature of Tang Shi and Song Ci and the performing practice of Peking Opera, this book will give comprehensive interpretations of Chen’s musical approaches for her Meditation and Bright Moonlight that use the two sources effectively.

The scope of this research book covers a wide collection of Chen’s biographical and educational information, as well as her published vocal compositions and the reviews of her musical works. Some relevant references are gathered from research articles to support the thesis of this research book. The theoretical approaches to analyzing Chen’s art songs emphasize her music expressions that mirror her poetic choices and compositional methods, paying attention to her creative ways of combining Chinese music practices with Western compositional devices. The purpose of publishing this research book is to promote Chen’s solo vocal works and spark contemporary women composers’ musical creativities. It is hoped that professional singers and voice teachers will consider including Chen’s art songs in their contemporary repertoires, making substantial contributions to the tradition of art song within their teaching and performing practices.

This book is available at:

• https://www.morebooks.de/store/it/book/an-infusion-of-eastern-and-western-music-styles-into-artsong/isbn/978-3-659-62480-3

• https://www.amazon.com/Infusion-Eastern-Western-Music-Styles/dp/3659624802

• https://www.lap-publishing.com/catalog/details//store/gb/book/978-3-659-62480-3/an-infusion-ofeastern-

and-western-music-styles-into-art-song

• http://network.bepress.com/explore/arts-and-humanities/music/othermusic/?

facet=institution_title%3A%22University+of+Nevada%2C+Las+Vegas%22

Choral J.pdf