Biography of Soprano Lan Rao

The soprano Lan Rao learnt vocal and dance art in her home town Guangzhou. Already by the age of nineteen she went to her first concert tour with the Philharmonic Orchestra Shanghai to Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. She had considerable success in China as singer and actress prior to being discovered by the violinist Hellmut Stern who was touring in China under Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonists.
A scholarship from Dresdner Bank allowed Lan Rao to study with Prof. Arleen Augér at the college of music in Frankfurt/Main. She continued her studies with Prof. Reri Grist at the music college in Munich where she graduated with a Master’s degree.
During her studies she won several international competitions, among others the first prize in the Lieder competition in Vienna and the singer’s development prize “German Lied” in Frankfurt/Main.
As a soloist, Lan Rao has since then performed with renowned orchestras, e.g. with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein where she sang in his opus “Song Festival” in Germany as well as in London and Moscow. Furthermore, she appeared as soloist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Classical Philharmony Bonn, Südwestfunk Orchestra Baden-Baden, German Chamber Philharmony , Concerto Bamberg, Bach-Motette Choir and Orchestra Munich, Johann Strauss Orchestra Wiesbaden, Dresden Philharmony, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Symphony Orchestra Göttingen, Royal Philharmony Orchestra Vlaanderen (Belgium), Lincoln Orchestra (USA), Orchestra Sinfonica Arturo Toscanini (Italy), String Orchestra from Russia, Central Philharmony Peking, Guangzhou Philharmony Orchestra, The Macao Chamber Orchestra, The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Tokio Philharmoniy and with many others.

Lan Rao is one of the founders of the GuFeng-Ensemble (Germany) that is popular for its creative interpretation of chamber music as well as the Trio "Roter Phönix" (Red Phenix) playing an interesting blend of classical , modern and chinese music.

Lan Rao’s repertoire ranges from baroque to late romantic. For the past decade she has been very successful in singing music of the 20th century as well as traditional and modern Chinese compositions. Her technical knowledge and interpretation gave her the possibility to premiere many works, some of which were dedicated especially to her.

Her concert performances, several radio and TV records in Europe, Asia and USA cover her high artistic level as one of the most convincing song interpreters of the younger generation. Various CD records with BMG-Arte Nova , Wergo, Salto Records, Gala and Cavallie Records with songs from C. Schumann, F. Schubert, F. Hensel-Mendelssohn, J. Brahms, C. Kühnls, L.Zhou, Kommponistinnen des 19.und 20. jahrhunderts, Rote Phönix and many other composers prove her high degree of sensitivity for this kind of music. With her “intensity in interpretation” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and her “inspired art of singing” (Frankfurter Rundschau) she plays a major role in the success of musicals. The Süddeutsche Zeitung even praised her voice volume as “phenomenal in size, nuances and coloration”.