Mingjie Lei

A second-year Ryan Opera Center member, the Chinese tenor returned to the program after spending much of the summer participating in the Salzburg Festival’s prestigious Young Singers Project. Lei recently completed a professional studies certificate at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music (Nemorino/L’elisir d’amore, Don Ramiro/Cinderella, many other roles) and holds a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music (The Ghosts of Versailles, Lucia di Lammermoor, Haydn’s The Creation). He returns to Lyric’s stage this season for Celebrating Plácido (Gastone/La traviata). Among other important credits are appearances as tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah (Carnegie Hall), Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Music Academy of the West), Jupiter/Semele (Schwabacher Summer Concert during his tenure with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program), Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni (Banff Centre Opera), Aeneas/Dido and Aeneas (Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music), and the Royal Herald and Count Lerma/Don Carlo (Opera Philadelphia). Lei has received competition awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Opera Index, Inc., Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, and the Mario Lanza Institute. Mingjie Lei is sponsored by Maurice J. and Patricia Frank.

Previously at Lyric: Remendado/ Carmen (2016|17); Iopas/Les Troyens (2016|17); Benvolio/Romeo and Juliet, Marschallin’s Major Domo/Der Rosenkavalier (both 2015|16).

Last updated: February 11, 2017