Tenacious tenor singer

Tenor Dai Yuqiang will present Singing for You - Dai Yuqiang and Future Stars on March 5 and 6 at the Poly Theater in Beijing. Provided to China Daily

The celebrated Dai Yuqiang tries his hand at concert hosting. Mu Qian reports.

As one of China's top tenors, Dai Yuqiang has many fans throughout the country.

But few have witnessed his talent as a concert host.

Dai will show it on March 5 and 6 at the Poly Theater of Beijing with two shows of the concert Singing for You - Dai Yuqiang and Future Stars.

Besides performing himself, Dai will introduce promising young vocalists, including Xue Haoyin, Ke Luwa and Yang Guang.

"The future of Chinese opera relies on these young singers," Dai says.

"I hope our society will pay more attention to them."

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As Luciano Pavarotti's only Chinese student, Dai has achieved world fame for his performances at London's Covent Garden and Royal Opera House, Milan's La Scala Opera House and the American Pacific Opera House. He played major roles in operas such as Turandot, La Traviata, Carmen and La Boheme.

Dai believes the Western art of operatic singing is still new to the Chinese, and education is very important. At the Singing for You - Dai Yuqiangand Future Stars concerts, he will introduce the background of each aria and song before the vocalists perform.

Dai and some of the young artists staged a concert at the Beijing Concert Hall in August, and Dai's witty remarks during the performance won him the nickname "Dai Degang" - a reference to the famous Chinese comedian Guo Degang.

Dai says that, during the concerts, he will discuss the background behind the works, anecdotes related to the composers and performers, and the history of the music. Each performance will be a "master class plus concert", he says.

"Although this will make the performances last longer than usual, I believe the audience will also get more out of them," he says.

"I hope people will realize through this concert that vocal arts belong to every person and through all time. Everybody should learn to appreciate or even sing at least one vocal work. That is why we called it 'Singing for You'."

Yang Guang, a blind singer celebrated for his performance on CCTV's talent show Star Way, will also join the concert. Although Yang is best known for crooning pop songs, he has been studying bel canto with Dai and plans to develop an operatic career.

"I'm honored to participate in Singing for You," he says.

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"I hope the audience will hear some of the best voices in China at these concerts."

In 2011, Dai, Wei Song and Warren Mok formed "China's Three Tenors" - the country's answer to the globally acclaimed trio comprising Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.

China's Three Tenors made their debut in Beijing and have since toured more than 30 cities around the world, including New York, London and Cologne.

At the British royal family's invitation, they performed at Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Celebration in November 2012 and received a royal audience with the queen. Their performance was viewed by hundreds of millions of TV viewers around the world.

The three tenors are now preparing for their Chinese New Year Concert at the US Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb 17.

Singing for You will be an extension of China's Three Tenors concerts. Wei and Mok will stage other concerts with young vocalists in Shanghai and Hong Kong later this year.

The shows on March 5 and 6 will be, respectively, devoted to Western and Chinese works.

There will be solos, duos, trios and group songs.

Dai says the shows will present some of the most beloved Western and Chinese vocal music classics.

But he would like to keep the program under wraps to preserve an element of surprise for the audience.

Contact the writer at muqian@chinadaily.com.cn.