Wen Kezheng

Wen Kezheng (traditional Chinese: 溫可錚; simplified Chinese: 温可铮; Tongyong Pinyin: Wen Ke-Zheng; Wade–Giles: Wen Ke-Zheng, 1929–2007) was a famous Chinese bass singer born in Beijing. He was the former Director of the Vocal Music and Opera Department of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Graduating from Nanjing Conservatory of Music in 1950, he was the member of committee at the Fourth Music Association of China. In 1957, he won the silver medal in the sixth World Youth Festival which further encouraged his journey in music.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wen.

Biography

He was born to an intellectual family in Beijing. His father was fond of music and stimulated his music potential. At the age of ten, he won a children's music prize for singing an old Italian song. In the 1940s, he was accepted by the Nanjing National Conservatory.

From 1946-1956, he studied with Russian vocality professor Vladimir Shushlin. After graduation, he worked in the music department of Jinling Women's College where he met his wife, Qiu wang, an outstanding piano player. He was also a director of the vocality department of Shanghai Conservatory, the fourth committeeman of the music association of china and the committeeman of the political consultative conference of Shanghai. In 1951, professor Wen staged the first vocal solo concert in Beijing, Tianjing and Nanjing with piano professor Jialu Li.

In 1956, Professor Wen participated in the first national music festival week, representing Shanghai. He won the gold medal of the first national singing contest hosted by the Ministry of Culture at the same year. Subsequently, the national recording press of Soviet Russia published his vocal solo album while he won the silver medal of the international western classical singing test hosted by Moscow in 1957.

Wen sang the theme song for the 1980 film Dadu River.[1]

After that, he frequently held solo concerts and vocality lessons across the world with his wife. He was the first Chinese singer who staged a concert in US, in 1986. He was invited to give a solo vocal concert in the domestic palace of Japan by the prince of Japan, and he sang the bass solo part of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the symphony orchestra of Osaka.

He was invited by the political consultative conference of Hong Kong to perform a solo vocal concert in 1989. Subsequently, he gave a performance of a vocal serials “Life”, staged in Macao the following year.

Notes
  1. Li, Dingguo. "Wen Kezhen and Si Yigui". xinmin. Retrieved 22 March 2020.

References


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