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Famous Yu Opera Artists

The Yu Opera actors show the profund stories and unique charm of Yu Opera through their excellent acting skills and beautiful singing. Moreover, the audience can not only feel the charm of art but also savor the true meaning of life during the process of enjoying Yu Opera. The following famous Yu Opera artists not only have excellent performance skills but also have made a lot of contributions to the development of Yu Opera.

Famous Yu Opera Artists

Chen Suzhen | 陈素真 chén sù zhēn | 陳素真 Chan Sou Jan (1918 - 1994)

She was the first female actress in the history of Yu Opera. As early as the 1930s, she was praised by Henan audiences as the "Yu Opera Mei Lanfang". When she performed in Xi'an in the 1940s, she was also known as the "Yu Opera Queen". Chen Suzhen was not only excellent in singing but also unique in performance. She could sing while fighting and dance while singing, perfectly integrating performance means such as singing, acting and dancing, fully showing the charm of Yu Opera's performing arts. During the performance, she could vividly show the character's emotions and inner world to the audience through delicate body movements, rich facial expressions and precise eye-expressions. She constantly innovated in performance. She absorbed the performance essences of other operas, and integrated them into Yu Opera performance, enriching the performance forms of Yu Opera.

Chang Xiangyu | 常香玉 cháng xiāng yù | 常香玉 Cheung Heung Yuk (1922 - 2004)

Chang Xiangyu was an outstanding performer, and the founder of the "Chang School" art of Yu Opera. The characteristics of the Chang School art are manifested in vocal tunes, performance repertoires and the artistic images she created. Her singing was distinctive, novel and natural. It was both impassioned and delicate and euphemistic, with an extremely strong sense of the times and rhythm. She was also a bold reformer and a Yu Opera actress with a far-reaching impact on Yu Opera. She widely absorbed the artistic strengths of Peking Opera, Pingju Opera, etc. and at the same time integrated and innovated Yu Opera singing styles with different styles, becoming a main genre in Yu Opera and being praised as the "Yu Opera Empress".

Ma Jinfeng | 马金凤 mǎ jīn fèng | 馬金鳳 Ma Kam Fung (1922 - 2022)

Her singing was mainly characterized by clear and sweet styles. Ma Jinfeng was not restricted by the parochial views of artists in the old era. She learned from and absorbed the musical and emotional charm of the "Yudong tune", "Xiangfu tune", "Yuxi tune" and "Shahe tune" of Yu Opera. Eventually, she created the distinctive "Shuai Dan" (a role type) and the vivid and unique "Ma School" art of Yu Opera, adding a new genre and style to the development of Yu Opera. She cultivated a large number of outstanding Yu Opera actors and made many contributions to the inheritance and development of the Yu Opera cause. Ma Jinfeng led troupes to perform across the country many times, bringing Yu Opera to a broader stage and promoting the spread and exchanges of Yu Opera throughout the country and even the world.

Yan Lipin | 阎立品 yán lì pǐn | 閻立品 Yim Lap Ban (1921 - 1996)

She absorbed the strengths of the singing arts of other operas, forming the unique Yan School singing. She is good at exploring the characteristics of the roles. So she vividly presented the character's emotions and personality traits through subtle facial expressions, movements and body posture changes. Moreover, she innovated according to the needs of the characters and the plot, making the performance fit the character's personality and plot development.

Cui Lantian | 崔兰田 cuī lán tián | 崔蘭田 Chui Laan Tin (1926 - 2003)

Cui Lantian was good at interpreting female roles and created images of women who were steadfast, kind-hearted, and brave through her beautiful singing and delicate performance. In her long-term artistic practice, she formed a unique artistic style and founded the "Cui School" art of Yu Opera, adding a new genre and vitality to the development of Yu Opera and having a far-reaching impact on the inheritance and development of Yu Opera. She cultivated a large number of outstanding Yu Opera talents. These disciples, while inheriting and carrying forward the Cui School art, also made important contributions to the development of the Yu Opera cause.

By Mia Li
Web Editor

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