Si Yigui(Yi-Kwei Sze)

Si Yigui (1915.4.29-1994.5.11) was born in Sizhang Village, Yuelin Street, Fenghua District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. He was born in Shanghai. His father, Si Lisui, was an outstanding stonemason. Si Yigui dropped out of junior high school in 1930 and was admitted to the Shanghai National Music College. After graduation, he joined the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Opera House run by Su Shilin, and often performed at the Lanxin Theater located at the intersection of Pushi Road (today's Changle Road) and Mu'erming Road (today's Maoming North Road). Later, he went to Hong Kong to engage in music education and performed fund-raising performances for the Anti-Japanese War. After the fall of Hong Kong, he returned to Shanghai. In 1942, he went to Chongqing and served as professor of vocal music at the branch of the National Conservatory of Music. In addition to teaching, he often participated in charity performances such as anti-Japanese war and disaster relief. On April 14, 1944, at the special invitation of Soong Ching Ling, she performed jointly with the famous dancer Dai Ailian at the Cathay Theater in Chongqing, earning more than 400,000 yuan to support the anti-Japanese soldiers on the front line. Si Yigui was once known as the three superstars of Chinese overseas Chinese world culture together with Lin Yutang and Zhang Daqian. He is the director and tenured professor of the vocal music department of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York, and one of the top ten singers in the world. A famous musician who can sing hundreds of world-famous songs in six languages ​​including Chinese, English, German, Italian, Russian and French. He once sung his song "Teach Me How to Miss Him" ​​across four continents: Asia, Europe, the United States and Oceania. . In the 1950s, Si Yigui guest-starred in opera houses in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, San Antonio and other places, and became popular in the music circles of the Eastern and Western United States. In 1959, Si Yigui was invited to perform in Taiwan. He sang "Old Man River", "Teach Me How to Miss Him", "Man Jiang Hong" and other songs, which were very popular among Taiwanese compatriots, and Si Yigui's name became a household name. After 1970, Si Yigui successively served as a voice professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the United States, and served as director of the vocal music department and tenured professor at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. In June 1978, Si Yigui was invited by Hong Kong Governor Sir MacLehose to participate in the 4th Asian Arts Festival in Hong Kong. He collaborated with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to perform two programs as a farewell performance. In March 1979, Si Yigui returned to China for a visit. Soong Ching Ling specially invited him to attend the meeting and have dinner with him. On May 11, 1994, this world-famous vocalist completed a glorious journey of seventy-nine years.