THE SONGBIRD: Ying Fang was born in China and studied in Shanghai before moving to New York to get her Masters degree from The Juilliard School. She has sung lyric and lyric-coloratura roles in many of the world's top opera centers including Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Salzburg, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, Chicago, Boston, and New York including roles at The Met such as Pamina, Susanna, and Servilia. Roles elsewhere include Konstanze, Adina, Morgana, Nannetta, Cleopatra, and Zaide.
THE MUSIC: “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber premiered in Berlin in 1821. It is considered the first German Romantic opera. The opera was tremendously successful and influential. The lead soprano Agathe tends to be sung by dramatic sopranos, but her young cousin Ännchen is very much in the soubrette mold. In Act 3 she tries to distract her older cousin with the aria "Einst träumte meiner sel'gen Base," where she tells a spooky story about a creepy ghost sneaking up on her, that turns out to be just their household dog.