Upclose with Gong Dongjian
Chinese-American bass opera singer Gong Dongjian is a prominent figure in the international opera scene. Before his recital concert in Hong Kong, he talks to Penny Zhou about his early career, music education and Johannes Brahms.
HK: Growing up in the 60s and 70s in China, did you have any musical background?
GD: Absolutely none. I was sent to work in a factory during the Cultural Revolution after graduating from high school, and I hated it. Later I found out there’s a propaganda group in town that sang Mao songs. I wanted to join it so badly so I wouldn’t have to work in the factory. I tried out for dance, erhu and Chinese flute, but wasn’t good enough at any of them. Then I noticed there was no trumpeter in the group—I got myself a trumpet and practiced really hard, and finally got in. A singer couple from my province discovered my singing talent and coached me. Soon I became fairly famous in my region and performed quite a lot. One day I was approached to represent my province to perform in Beijing. It’s still a mystery why they chose me, as I was merely a young amateur singer, but I’m glad they did. I started my career in the General Military Song and Dance Troupe in Beijing. When I first got there, I was petrified and ashamed to see everybody in the orchestra was reading sheet music, while I could only sing three Revolution songs and didn’t know anything about Beethoven or Mozart. So I enrolled in Shanghai Conservatory of Music and began learning music from scratch.
HK: How did you end up in the States?
GD: I became a soloist at the National Opera House and started entering international competitions in the 80s. The great Nicola Rossi-Lemeni heard me sing once and wanted to take me abroad, but the Chinese government wouldn’t let him. But luckily, another opportunity came as a couple of visiting scholars from the States went to my concert in Beijing and convinced me, who didn’t speak a word of English at the time, to study opera at West Georgia University with a full scholarship. But a couple of days later, my voice coach there told me I should study at Juilliard or Indiana University. So I called Rossi-Lemeni, a professor at Indiana University. He didn’t believe it was me until I sent him a photo of us together! Then he immediately went to the dean and took me to Indiana.
HK: I know you still come back to China to teach master classes.
GD: I’ve been living in the States for 20 years, but I feel a responsibility to help China’s classical music education. I started formal training too late because of the times I lived in, and I never got the chance to be as great as Pavarotti. But I always hope I can find a Pavarotti in China. And there’s a lot of work to be done in music education in China. It also frustrates me when I see young talents today don’t have the ambition and strong will I had back in the day. I trained the first Chinese countertenor—he’s got a magnificent voice—and I managed to get him full scholarship to study at Yale, which has the world’s best program for Baroque music. The only request Yale had was for him to pass the TOEFL test, and he just gave up. It’s such a shame, I wanted to kill that kid. I don’t understand why anybody would give up so easily.
HK: At the upcoming concert, you’re going to sing Brahms’ “Four Serious Songs,” which is regarded as one of the most difficult bass vocal solos in music history.
GD: Yes. It’s rarely performed live because of the level of its difficulty, and as an opera singer, I hardly get opportunities to sing recital concerts like this one, so I’m excited to sing this song for a Hong Kong audience. There’s a profoundly moving story behind it: for all his life, Brahms was secretly in love with his teacher Robert Schumann’s wife, pianist Clara Schumann, who was 15 years senior. He never told her his feelings and he never loved another woman. In 1896, when he was 63, Clara was dying from cancer. Brahms picked texts from the Old Testament and composed the “Four Serious Songs” [“Vier ernste Gesänge”], dedicating it to Clara. It was his second-to-last composition, and he poured all his techniques and emotions into this piece. He completed it three days after Clara died, and he died soon after in 1897. It is one of the most emotional and powerful songs I’ve known—it’s an honor for me to perform it and introduce it to more people.
Gong Dongjian’s recital concert will take place on Dec 6.