The Canadian Opera Company’s 2024-25 season recently opened with Faust by Charles Gounod. The COC made a bold choice in casting a young Chinese tenor in the title role. Long Long, who is primarily based in Germany, is relatively unknown on this side of the Atlantic.
His Canadian debut also marks his debut in one of his dream roles. His Toronto performances garnered all-around acclaim.
We spoke to Long about his journey in the world of opera.
Tenor Long Long
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that singing in Long Long’s blood. He comes from a dynasty of opera singers, starting with his great-grandfather who performed in Chinese operas over 100 years ago. Long is the fourth generation opera singer in his family.
“I started performing Chinese opera arias since I was three years old. I was raised in the opera house,” says Long. He is, however, the first to venture into Western opera. At the age of 16, he decided to study classical opera after watching Luciano Pavarotti and Edita Gruberová in the film “Rigoletto” on DVD. “I immediately fell in fall in love with this kind of art.”
His formative training took place at conservatories in Shanghai and Beijing, where he completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s, respectively. In 2016, while in the third year of his Master’s, he won first prize in the Bucharest Opera Competition, a turning point that launched his professional career in Europe.
Since then, he has won more awards at various competitions including the Verdi Competition in Busetto, Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona, and Stanislaw Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw. Most recently, Long was named the 2023/24 “Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year” by The Dallas Opera. For him, his most career-defining win was the first prize at the prestigious Neue Stimmen Competition in 2019, which brought him even more engagements all across Europe.
Operatic Roles
After stints in the ensembles of the Bavarian and Hanover State Operas, Long went freelance in 2021. In a prophetic twist of fate, his first freelance role was Rigoletto — his first operatic inspiration — at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. His signature role to date is perhaps Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme, which he sang in six different productions last year alone.
Long is attracted to roles with complicated characters that not only challenge him vocally, but also in acting. To that end, he has three dream roles: Lensky (Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, his favourite composer), Gustavo (Verdi’s The Masked Ball), and Faust.
Long On Faust
Long says of the opera Faust, “The music is gorgeous, so rich and so many colours, especially for the tenor parts. It is not just a love story. It is very philosophical, with deep meaning that makes you think more about life, religion, and the desire of a human being.”
As an opera singer and actor, he is drawn to the role of Faust. “This man is a person who has a dying and old soul in a young shell of body. He desires the beauties of life but he confuses how to have them. He is driven by a greedy desire to sign the contract with the devil, but his love for Marguerite is true and unstoppable.”
The role is also vocally challenging for him because the character’s transition from an old to young man demands a big adjustment in technique. The beginning of the opera requires him to sing very low notes in the baritone range, whereas from the second act, he has to switch to a very lyric, bright and sweet colour.
It amuses him that for the rest of the opera,” I always sing with a young body, but there is an old soul living in it.”
While other roles like the titular character in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette are more vocally difficult for Long, he feels that Faust is more dramatically challenging to act, and he has been very satisfied with his performance.
Next Steps
As for the near future, Long is particularly excited about making his debut with two prestigious companies in Berlin: as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammemor at Deutsche Oper and in the title role of Romeo and Juliet at Staatsoper Berlin. In addition, he looks forward to returning to North America to sing Rodolfo in La Boheme at the Santa Fe Festival, and to the Bregenz Festival to sing Alfredo in La Traviata.
Long credits his achievements to his voice teacher, John Norris. To that end, his advice to aspiring young tenors is finding a good a teacher.
“Our voice type is really fragile and delicate. A reliable voice technique is the most important thing to starting our career.”
Still in his early thirties and only three years into his freelance career, Long has already conquered one of his dream roles with aplomb. He is certainly a tour de force with a bright future ahead, and we are eagerly awaiting his return to the Toronto stage.
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