Yichen Xue Baritone

Opera singer · Baritone · Currently based in New York
Photo © Tim Trumble

Yichen Xue, at a glance.

Yichen Xue is a baritone based in New York, with recent performances at The Glimmerglass Festival, Arizona Opera, and the Aspen Music Festival, and an upcoming engagement with Virginia Opera.

Voice

Baritone

Based in New York

Opera, concert & oratorio

Read the biography →

Selected roles

Dandini · Marcello · Schaunard · Nardo

Covered · Sharpless, Amonasro, Schaunard, Ponchel

Explore roles & repertoire →

Next engagement

Turandot · Mandarin

Also covering Ping

Virginia Opera · March 2027

View engagements →

Casting, concert, and press inquiries: [email protected].

Engagements.

Upcoming performances and recent seasons, with performed roles and cover assignments identified.

Upcoming · 2026–27

Mar 2027 Turandot Mandarinalso covering Ping Virginia Opera

Production details at Virginia Opera · 2027–28 engagements to be announced.

Recent Seasons

Jul 2026Fellow TravelersSenator Potter / General Airlie / BartenderGlimmerglass Festival
Jul 2026Madama ButterflyImperial CommissionerGlimmerglass Festival
May 2026Madama ButterflyYamadori / Imperial CommissionerOpera Grand Rapids
Apr 2026La CenerentolaDandiniArizona Opera
Jan–Feb 2026Madama ButterflyYamadori / Imperial Commissioneralso covering SharplessArizona Opera
2025La BohèmeMarcelloAspen Music Festival
2025La BohèmeSchaunardArizona Opera
2025La finta giardinieraNardoArizona Opera
2025AidaAmonasro coverArizona Opera
2024La BohèmeSchaunard coverWolf Trap Opera
2024Silent NightPonchel coverWolf Trap Opera
2019Die FledermausFrankMartina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance

Concerts & Oratorio

2025Carmina BuranaBaritone soloistHunter College Choir
2023RiverRun FestivalBass soloistThe Kennedy Center
2022Angel Island OratorioBass soloistSanta Fe Opera

Roles & repertoire.

Opera roles performed on stage and roles covered, with the corresponding companies and seasons.

Performed

Roles sung in staged productions.

  • DandiniLa Cenerentola · Gioachino RossiniArizona Opera · 2026
  • MarcelloLa Bohème · Giacomo PucciniAspen Music Festival · 2025
  • SchaunardLa Bohème · Giacomo PucciniArizona Opera · 2025
  • NardoLa finta giardiniera · Wolfgang Amadeus MozartArizona Opera · 2025
  • Yamadori / Imperial CommissionerMadama Butterfly · Giacomo PucciniArizona Opera / Opera Grand Rapids · 2026
  • Senator Potter / General Airlie / BartenderFellow Travelers · Gregory SpearsThe Glimmerglass Festival · 2026
  • Imperial CommissionerMadama Butterfly · Giacomo PucciniThe Glimmerglass Festival · 2026
  • FrankDie Fledermaus · Johann Strauss IIMartina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance · 2019

Covered

Cover assignments are listed separately from performed roles.

  • SharplessMadama Butterfly · Giacomo PucciniArizona Opera · 2026
  • AmonasroAida · Giuseppe VerdiArizona Opera · 2025
  • SchaunardLa Bohème · Giacomo PucciniWolf Trap Opera · 2024
  • PonchelSilent Night · Kevin PutsWolf Trap Opera · 2024

Upcoming assignment

Mandarin in Puccini’s Turandot, with Ping as a cover assignment · Virginia Opera · March 2027.

Concert & oratorio

Orff’s Carmina Burana · Baritone soloist
RiverRun Festival · Bass soloist
Angel Island Oratorio · Bass soloist

Request current audition repertoire

Performance reel.

Recent arias with piano.

Come un'ape ne' giorni d'aprile

Dandini · La Cenerentola · Rossini

Anna Betka, piano · Glimmerglass Rehearsal Hall ·

Watch on YouTube

Ah! per sempre io ti perdei

Riccardo · I puritani · Bellini

Jayne Abe, piano · Aspen Music Festival, Harry Teague Pavilion ·

Watch on YouTube

Listen to the Mozart recording. For current audition repertoire and recording inquiries, contact Yichen by direct inquiry.

Biography.

Yichen Xue, formal portrait
Portrait · New York

Baritone Yichen Xue was a 2026 Resident Artist at The Glimmerglass Festival, where he appeared in Fellow Travelers (Senator Potter / General Airlie / Bartender) and Madama Butterfly (Imperial Commissioner).

He recently completed two seasons as a Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist at Arizona Opera, where he performed Dandini in La Cenerentola, Schaunard in La bohème, Nardo in La finta giardiniera, and covered both Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Amonasro in Aida. He has also appeared as Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly with Arizona Opera and Opera Grand Rapids. As a Renée Fleming Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, he performed Marcello in La bohème.

On the concert stage, he has appeared as Baritone Soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana with the Hunter College Choir, as Bass Soloist at The Kennedy Center in the RiverRun Festival, and at Santa Fe Opera in the Angel Island Oratorio.

A prizewinner in several of the field's most prestigious competitions, Yichen is a National Finalist and Grant Winner of the Martorella Voice Scholarship (2025 & 2026), a Grant Winner of the Gerda Lissner Competition (2024), a Grant Winner of the Career Bridges Competition (2024), an Emerging Artist Award recipient from the Opera Index Competition (2023), and received an Encouragement Award at the Met Opera Laffont Competition – New York District (2025).

Originally from Anshan, China, Yichen holds a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Music from Hunter College–CUNY and the Manhattan School of Music, respectively.

Voice
Baritone
Height
6'4"
From
Anshan, China
Education
BM Voice, Manhattan School of Music
 
MA Vocal Performance, Hunter College–CUNY
Yichen Xue with Renée Fleming and Rachelle Fleming at Aspen Music Festival
With Renée Fleming and Rachelle Fleming · Aspen, 2025

Renée Fleming Fellow.

Selected in 2025 for the Renée Fleming Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival — a residency that paired stagework on La Bohème with private mentorship, recital, and master-class study.

Collaborators.

Conductors

  • Kelly Kuo
  • Joseph Colaneri
  • Enrique Mazzola
  • Patrick Summers
  • Steven Osgood
  • Brian DeMaris

Directors

  • Kevin Newbury
  • Katherine M. Carter
  • Mo Zhou
  • Dona D. Vaughn
  • Alan Fischer

Coaches

  • Katherine Kozak
  • Christopher Devlin
  • Kirill Kuzmin
  • Grant Loehnig
  • David Mayfield
  • Thomas Muraco

Composers

  • Huang Ruo
  • Nell Shaw Cohen

Voice Teachers

  • Ron Raines (current)
  • Maitland Peters
  • Keping Li

Recordings.

Listen to Yichen Xue’s recording of Mozart’s “Deh vieni alla finestra” from Don Giovanni, with Sonia Bize. Released in 2023 on Etymology Classics, the recording has been streamed more than 700,000 times on Spotify.

01
Deh vieni alla finestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · Yichen Xue · Sonia Bize
March 28, 2023 © 2023 Etymology Classics ℗ 2023 Etymology Classics
Listen on Spotify

Honors & Training.

  1. 2027
    Virginia Opera
    Emerging Artist
  2. 2026
    Glimmerglass Festival
    Resident Artist
  3. 2025
    Aspen Music Festival
    Renée Fleming Fellow
  4. 2025
    Met Opera Laffont
    Encouragement Award
  5. 2025 · 26
    Martorella Voice Scholarship
    National Finalist
  6. 2024 · 26
    Arizona Opera
    Studio Artist
  7. 2024
    Wolf Trap Opera
    Studio Artist
  8. 2024
    Gerda Lissner Foundation
    Grant Winner
  9. 2024
    Career Bridges
    Grant Winner
  10. 2023
    Opera Index
    Emerging Artist Award
  11. 2019 — 23
    Hunter College–CUNY
    MA Vocal Performance
  12. 2014 — 18
    Manhattan School of Music
    BM Voice

Inquiry.

Bookings, casting, and press — direct. Management inquiries welcome.

Portrait photograph © Daniel Welch. Please retain the photographer credit when using the portrait.

Instagram @yichen_baritone
Recordings Spotify