Hai-Ting Chinn Biography

American Mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn performs in a wide range of styles and venues, from Purcell to Pierrot Lunaire, Cherubino to The King & I, J.S. Bach to P.D.Q. Bach.

 In the title role of the Wooster Group's production of Francesco Cavalli's La Didone, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival, the Scotsman newspaper called her "glorious, poised, and poignant," and during the New York City production at St. Ann's Warehouse, Timeout New York said of her: "Chinn has it all: breathtaking beauty, poise, comic timing and a voice of pure gold."

Hai-Ting is currently featured in Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's Einstein On The Beach, which will tour the world through March 2013. Other operatic roles include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Lyric Opera of San Diego, Aloès in Chabrier's L'Étoile with New York City Opera, Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with Dell'Arte Opera, Poppea in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea with OperaOmnia, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with the New York Opera Society.

 She has been heard as soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Israel Philharmonic, and St. Luke's Chamber Players; in J.S. Bach's St. John Passion with the Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola, as Dido in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Rebel Baroque Orchestra, in the Waverly Consort's Christmas Story, in P.D.Q. Bach's Liebeslieder Polkas with Peter Schickele, with the New York City Opera's educational touring company as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and in the title role of The Little Prince (Rachel Portman, 2003), and as Lady Thiang in The King & I on London's West End.  She was also heard as soloist with the New York Collegium and in Mozart's Requiem with the Colonial Symphony, and she appeared in Jonathan Miller's production of Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

She sings with new- and early-music ensembles including the Proteus Ensemble, New York Collegium, L'antica Musica New York, the Tiffany Consort, Bachworks, Sequitur, the Locrian Chamber ensemble, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and the VOX vocal ensemble. She has roles in new operas and other works including Du Yun's Zolle at the New York City Opera VOX festival and Angel Bones at the Mann Center in Philadelphia, Jonathan Dawe's Cracked Orlando, Matthew Schickele's Marymere, Conrad Cummings's The Golden Gate, Yoav Gal's Moshe, Gregory Spear's Paul's Case, and Stefan Weisman's Darkling, which was released by Albany Records in 2011.

Hai-Ting is known in New York City as an advocate of classical music in unusual and accessible settings. She starred in the Wooster Group's first opera, La Didone (music of Francesco Cavalli), an experimental retelling of the Dido and Aeneas story set in and against a Sci-Fi movie from the 1960s. She performed the roles of Medea in Cavalli's Giasone and Poppea in Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea in a nightclub (Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan's West Village, productions by OperaOmnia) and Nicklausse/The Muse in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann at an active shipping dock on the Brooklyn waterfront (a production by Vertical Players Repertory in collaboration with the Brooklyn stevedores).

 She has also performed at more than 25 New York public schools with the New York City Opera's educational outreach program, and she has given classical recitals in New York rock and cabaret venues such as Tonic and Barbès.

Ms. Chinn grew up in Northern California and holds degrees from the Eastman and Yale Schools of Music. Her web page contains more information and links to videos.

Additional links:

NY Post review of "Mosheh"
The Jewish Daily Forward review of "Mosheh"