Homegrown soprano returns to tour China

The year 1984 is unforgettable for soprano Dilber Yunus. That year, China's women's volleyball team won its first gold medal at the Olympic Games, which were held in Los Angeles.

The same year, while still studying at the department of vocal music and opera at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music, Yunus won second prize at the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland.

"I became a star in the campus like the women's national volleyball team," recalls Yunus, who is better known by her stage name, Dilber.

After finishing her master's degree at the conservatory, Dilber was signed by the National Opera House of Finland in 1988.

Since then, the Kashgar native from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has achieved success overseas, playing Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto and Lucia in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor over her three-decade career.

Hailed as the "nightingale" from China, the 59-year-old soprano will launch a five-city tour in China, including Changsha (March 23), Wuhan (March 26) and Beijing (April 8).

She will give solo recitals, accompanied by Chinese pianist Zhang Jialin.

"How time flies! The last time I gave a solo recital in Beijing was 11 years ago," says the soprano, who will perform 18 songs in seven languages, including Care Selve from Atalanta by George Frideric Handel and How Fair This Spot by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

"Compared with cultural shock and homesickness while living and working abroad, the most challenging part as a soprano is to master different languages, such as Italian, French and German," says Dilber.

She also wants to show the audience that it's also beautiful to sing bel canto style in Chinese.

So she has decided to perform seven Chinese songs, such as Kashgar Girl and Pamirs, My Beautiful Homeland, in the upcoming recitals.

Speaking about her performance, Jyri Lintunen, press secretary of the embassy of Finland in Beijing, says: "Dilber has a long history with Finland. It's great to have her back in Beijing. We also look forward to her performance of a Finnish song in her recital."

Dilber will perform Diamond on the March Snow by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

In recent years, the soprano has traveled back to China both for performances and to teach.

She took the leading role in the original Chinese opera Visitors on the Snow Mountains, produced by the National Center for the Performing Arts in 2014, and has been teaching at the China Conservatory of Music, Xinjiang Arts Institute and Xinjiang University since 2006.

Starting from around 2011, she has been busy with a project commissioned by Xinjiang's government, collecting ethnic folk music and training young ethnic folk musicians there.

Speaking about his latest collaboration with Dilber, pianist Zhang, who is a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, says: "She is passionate about her career. She is also a sensitive collaborator, who cares all the details of the recital. But what makes her special is the versatility of her voice."

When Dilber learned operatic singing after being admitted to the Xinjiang Song and Dance Troupe in 1976, China had no original Western-style opera then. But her exceptional voice allows her to express joy, sadness and anger in her singing without losing technical precision and balance.

Speaking about singers today, Dilber says: "Chinese students of vocal music and opera are different from my generation. They are now open to different singing styles.

"I have trained some Chinese students and participated in vocal music competitions. I am impressed that there so many young talents in China, but they need to stick to their individual characters."

Reflecting on her upcoming shows, she says: "During my life in Europe, I rarely returned to my hometown and I often dreamed about the white poplar trees there.

"I have achieved my goals as a soprano, and the most important thing for me now is to give back to my country."

If you go

7:30pm, April 8. Forbidden City Concert Hall, inside Zhongshan Park, west of Tian'anmen Square, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6559-8285.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn