Qian Yi

Qian Yi (b. 1975, Shanghai) lives and works in New York. Yi is a singer and composer. From the age of ten, she studied classical Chinese opera (Kunqu) at the Shanghai Opera School. As a member of the Shanghai Opera Company, she became known for her leading roles in The Legend of the White Snake, The Water Margin and other standards of the classical Chinese opera repertoire. As the star of the Lincoln Center Festival’s historic production of The Peony Pavilion in 1998, she has been widely acclaimed by critics and audiences in America, Europe, and Australia. Yi has sung in several theatrical pieces based on Chinese opera, including Ghost Lovers at Spoleto Festival USA, Orphan of Zhao at the Lincoln Center, and Snow in June at American Repertory Theater. In film, Qian Yi starred in Alexander Ku’s Triple 8 Palace which received Official Selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. She also appeared in Dark Matter and The Years Flow Like Water. Yi has written two plays, A Robe for the Moon which was performed at the Kennedy Center Page to Stage New Play Festival and Fox Spirit.