‘China’s nightingale’ Zhou Xiaoyan dies aged 98 after glittering six-decade career
The legendary soprano won rave reviews around the world, was greeted by Jimmy Carter at the White House and helped to groom a new generation of Chinese operatic singers
Zhou Xiaoyan first rose to international acclaim as “China’s Nightingale” six decades ago after a performance in Berlin.
The voice of the classically trained coloratura soprano soared through a programme of Schubert and Chinese songs, earning rave reviews from the German media.
Zhou died in Shanghai’s Ruijin Hospital early on Friday morning after a year-long illness. She was 98.
Her legacy is not only a career of impressive performances on the stage but also the new generation of Chinese operatic singers she helped groom.
Two years later she went to study in Paris as hostilities with Japan erupted into full-scale war. But, as she would later joke, conflict caught up with her there, and she stayed in France throughout the second world war.