WeiLong Tao

Tenor WeiLong was born in the city of Hefei, near Shanghai. He graduated from the Shanghai Music Conservatory and furthered his training at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Julliard Opera Center in New York. He earned a scholarship to the music festival in Aspen, Colorado, and the Academy of Music in Santa Barbara, California. He is the winner of the international singing competitions in Palm Springs and Los Angeles and the finalist of the Metropolitan National Auditions in New York.

In 1992 he became a member of the International Opera Studio in Zurich. Since then he has co-operated with many opera houses in Germany, Austria, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Finland, Greece, China, Singapore, Japan, Canada and the USA. He has created a number of important roles such as Otello, Hoffmann, Tannhäuser, Calaf, Radames, Tristan, Andrea Chénier, Maurizio (Adriana Lecouvreur), Manrico, Canio, Florestan, Cavaradossi, Turiddu, Don Carlo and Luigi (Il tabarro). Since 2008 he has co-operated with La Scala in Milan. In the same year he debuted in the Czech Republic in the Northern Bohemia Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ústí nad Labem (Les contes d’Hoffmann). For the interpretation of Hoffmann he was awarded the Czech prestigious Thalia 2008 prize. Since 2009 he has guest appeared in other Czech theatres, in J.K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, in the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice or in the Moravia-Silesia National Theatre in Ostrava.