Feature: China's rising star of famous Met opera Yunpeng Wang to make his British debut

A rising star in the world of opera, China's Yunpeng Wang, is to make his British debut in January with a concert in Liverpool.

He is to appear at an iconic venue where in the mid-1800s the British author Charles Dickens read his famous novels such as A Christmas Carol.

Yunpeng Wang's recital in the Concert Room at St George's Hall in Liverpool on January 24 is part of the Liverpool Opera Four Seasons concert series.

Regarded as a new opera star of his generation, baritone Yunpeng Wang began the 2014-2015 season with his debut at the world-famous Metropolitan Opera in New York. Leading opera newspapers hailed Wang as a rising star and in October he featured on the cover of 'Opera News'.

Opera goers in New York already know Wang as a member of the elite Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, with roles at the Metropolitan Opera including Fiorello in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and a role in Verdi's Don Carlo.

Yunpeng Wang received a Bachelor's Degree in Music from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from The Manhattan School of Music. He has won numerous awards including three prizes from the renowned Placido Domingo's Operalia, a global opera competition.

Earlier this year he made his role debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

Yunpeng Wang's love of opera started when he was in middle school in Shenzhen, China. Listening to the famous 'Three Tenors', Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, was enough to hook him on opera.

"I was amazed by the quality of the sound. I wanted to be one of them," he said in one interview.

Later, as the baritone was about to graduate from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, he sang at a dinner party in China attended by the dean of Manhattan School of Music, who invited him to New York to study at the school on a full scholarship. Wang called it "an absolute miracle."

While at the school, Wang won a vocal competition, singing "Ah! per sempre" with such passion he brought tears to the eyes of at least two judges.

Wang is now in his third year in the Lindemann Program at the famous Met, where this season he has also sung Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

One of Wang's passions is listening to vinyl records, spending time hunting in second-hand stores in search of discs featuring opera greats such as his favorite composer, Verdi.

Co-founder of the Liverpool Opera Four Seasons, the well-known Hungarian actor Gyula Mesterhazy said: "We are delighted to announce Yunpeng Wang in our second concert in the series.

The special guest at the concert will be the Europe-wide famous soprano Ingrid Kertesi, lead artist of Budapest Opera. The well-known Liverpool pianist, David Walters will be the accompanist for the concert." Endit