Yi-Kwei Sze

Yi-Kwei Sze (斯义桂 pinyin: Sī yìguì, Shanghai, 1915- San Francisco, 5 November 1994）was a Chinese operatic bass-baritone and music educator.[1][2][3][4]

A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Yi-Kwei began his career performing and teaching voice in China. In 1947 he came to the United States where he made his professional debut singing at Town Hall in New York City. He continued to study singing in New York with Alexander Kipnis. He went on to have a successful career appearing on the concert stage and in operas, appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, La Scala, the London Symphony, the New Orleans Opera, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Opera among other important ensembles and organizations. He notably performed the role of Elviro in Handel's Xerxes at Carnegie Hall for the inaugural performance of the Handel Society of New York on 20 November 1966 with Maureen Forrester in the title role, Maureen Lehane as Arsamene, Janet Baker as Amastre, Teresa Stich-Randall as Romilda, Alpha Brawner as Atalanta, and John Shirley-Quirk as Ariodate.[5]

Yi-Kwei's recordings were awarded France’s Academie Nationale du Disque Lyrique in both 1966 and 1967, and the Dutch Edison Prize in 1966.[6] From 1971 to 1980 he taught on the voice faculty of the Eastman School of Music.