The reporter learned from the Central Opera House that Li Guangxi, a famous tenor singer of the Central Opera House, died at the age of 93 at 17:25 on March 13, 2022 due to a sudden cerebral infarction in Chaoyang Hospital.
Born in Tianjin in 1929, Li Guangxi succeeded his father, who died prematurely, at the age of 17, and became a worker in the Tianjin Kailuan Mining Bureau, shouldering the burden of supporting his family. Although he did not study in a professional music school, with his love for music, he sang in every theater in Tianjin in a few years and became a well-known amateur singer. In 1953, the Central Opera House performed in Tianjin, and Li Guangxi was deeply shocked by his first contact with opera. Soon, Li Guangxi applied for the Central Opera House and was admitted on the spot.
In 1955, China staged the first Western opera "La Traviata", and Li Guangxi played the male protagonist Alfred, and has since become popular. A few years later, he starred in the opera "The Cargo Man and the Lady", which continued to be well known to the audience. Later, in 1964's "Dongfang Hong", Li Guangxi sang "Songhua River". In addition, Li Guangxi also left many popular works such as "The Sun Comes Out happy yangyang", "Song of Herding Horses", "Ode to Yan'an", "Red Sun Shines on the Grassland", "Premier Zhou, Where Are You", "Waves of Gulangyu Island", "Ode to Beijing", "Toast Song" and many other popular works.
In his later years, Li Guangxi was still active on the stage. The last time reporters saw Li Guangxi appear in public was at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in April 2021. At the first theme event of the series of "Party History in Literary and Art Classics" series celebrating the centenary of the founding of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Li Guangxi shared his artistic career. In Li Guangxi's view, literary and artistic works have always been closely linked to the fate of the country. Li Guangxi's childhood experienced the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japan, "When I was a child, I was a slave to the country in Tianjin for eight years. The "bitterness" of struggling under the iron hooves of the enemy is by no means "not enough to eat, not warm to wear" can be described. Li Guangxi still remembers the kind of "fear" that went deep into the bone marrow, "which family's children were pulled away by the Japanese to work as laborers and never came back; people with lung diseases lacked medical treatment and medicine, and almost never survived." The sense of distress for the country and the nation has cultivated our generation. Over the years, Songs such as "Ode to Yan'an" and "Songhua On the River" sung by Li Guangxi have been widely circulated, and these works are all rooted in the deep and thick feelings of home and country.
Speaking of "Ode to Yan'an", 92-year-old Li Guangxi got up from his seat and walked to the piano. He nodded to the pianist Zhang Jiajia, and the familiar melody poured out, and Lee Kwang-hee and the tenor singer Kim Jung-jian sang indulgently. At the end of the three-minute singing, the audience applauded thunderously.
In April 2021, Li Guangxi appeared at the National Centre for the Performing Arts to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Party and the first theme event of the series "Party History in Literary and Art Classics" to share his artistic career. Noble photography
"Ode to Yan'an", written by Moye and composed by Zheng Lucheng, Li Guangxi sang for more than sixty years. On Women's Day in 1955, he sang "Ode to Yan'an" for female revolutionaries such as Song Qingling, He Xiangning, and Deng Yingchao at the Beijing Hotel. "I put on my name and was just about to sing when everyone started clapping." Li Guangxi was wondering, and looked up with the audience, and it turned out that premier Zhou Enlai had come. The staff quickly brought a chair, so Premier Zhou sat about three meters away from Li Guangxi and listened to him sing the song "Ode to Yan'an".
"Friends, I've been on stage for 68 years, and it's an honor." Li Guangxi said that in addition to the recognition and love of the audience, Premier Zhou's 19-year-long promotion has also supported him to stick to the front line of the performance so far. Many people often ask him, at the age of ninety, how can he still maintain such a good state? Li Guangxi summed up 10 words: "Live every day well, and strive for some use." In his long singing career, Li Guangxi was led and led by music, and through it he understood the various states of life and the national society, "Literary and art workers are indispensable screws on the revolutionary gears, I received revolutionary education through singing, the song itself is just art, and after being given historical significance and revolutionary significance, it becomes different." It is my conscious responsibility to still be on the stage. (Reporter Gao Qian)
Source: Beijing Daily Client