Fang Shuang
Fang Shuang arrived in Romania in 2005, at the age of 16. As a fresh arrival from the east of China, he enrolled in preparatory courses to learn Romanian, and then he enrolled at the music university.
Roxana Vasile, 29.01.2015, 17:29
Fang Shuang: “Admittedly, Romanian is a difficult language for Asians. I didn’t know anything about it before coming here. Romanian has a difficult grammar. Pronunciation was not that difficult. Chinese is a musical language, with a lot of consonants, but it does not have the sound ‘r’. I worked quite a lot to be able to utter it. I remember that in the fist year at the Conservatory, in 2006, as almost everyone knows, when you study singing, you sing mainly in Italian, and I was not at all optimistic, because I just couldn’t make the ‘r’ sound. But, with a lot of practice, by the second year, I could pronounce it properly. I was very, very happy then.”
With lots of talent and love for music, the young Chinese expat chose to attend the Conservatory due to the fame the Romanian artists enjoy abroad.
Fang Shuang: “My parents came to Romania ahead of me, around 2003, and I heard that the Conservatory here is of excellent quality. As everyone knows, there are international level musicians and singers, like Ciprian Porumbescu, George Enescu, Angela Gheorghiu, Nicolae Herlea, or Mariana Nicolescu… that is why my parents decided to send me here to the Conservatory. In both the preparatory year, and also in the Conservatory, every class has been in Romanian. I have to admit it wasn’t easy at all at first. But I am glad that I had very good teachers, who had so much patience to explain things. At the Conservatory we had a mandatory repertoire, which I liked very much. After graduation I learned more pieces, by George Enescu, Tiberiu Bradiceanu and ‘Meeting Again’ by Aurel Eliade, with lyrics by the national poet, Mihai Eminescu.”
At the Children’s Comedy Opera of Bucharest, where he now works as a part time soloist, Fang Shuang, a baritone, has a variety of beautiful parts.
Fang Shuang: “We have premiered with Don Pasquale and Hansel and Gretel, and we are preparing Peter Pan, the musical. I can’t wait for that one; it’s going to be great. In Peter Pan I’ll play pirate Hook. Even if I have got and continue to get parts that are fundamentally different from my character, this is a great thing for me to develop my stage persona.”
His passion for pop music, but also his wish to be successful, drove Shuang towards the Romanian version of The X Factor in 2013:
Fang Shuang: “I’ve liked singing since I was a kid. I didn’t know anything about opera. I was singing pop music for fun, I love singing it even now. I had heard of X Factor a long time ago. I was less interested in getting to the semi-finals or finals, I just wanted to know how it felt to be on that stage, facing a jury made up of three very important people, Dan Bittman, Delia and Cheloo. I was a great experience.”
It so happens that Shuang’s friends are mostly Romanian. He spends most of his time with them, when he’s not traveling across the country.
Fang Shuang: “When I was a student, I used to go to the National Opera of Bucharest very often with my colleagues, to watch shows, but also to learn. As for my own shows and artistic events, I visited Brasov, Sibiu, Oradea and Baia Mare, where I worked with the Municipal Theater and had two concerts.”
Fang Shuang is in no hurry to say where he sees himself in a few years — here, in China or elsewhere. He believes he best fits the Chinese proverb “Artists live nowhere and everywhere”. But, for the time being, his place is at the Children’s Comedy Opera of Bucharest.
