Xiao Ya is one of the famous "Mesozoic" actors in the yue opera industry today, she has studied under the Yin School, and has starred in many old Yin Pai plays and original plays for more than 40 years, forming a singing voice and performance style with a strong atmosphere, a smooth and flowing, a sticky elegant and moist, and a mellow flavor.
Slightly different from other Yue opera "Mesozoic", Xiao Ya's singing absorbed the soft voice singing method of popular songs, and also set a precedent for opera actors to sing, becoming the earliest amphibious actors in contemporary opera.
Xiao Ya at the "2021 Chinese New Year Opera Concert"
In the recent CCTV Xiqu Channel "2021 New Year Opera Concert" and "Drama Fan Sealing Box Drama" two programs, Xiao Ya sang the theme song of Yue opera and TV series "Dream of the Red Chamber" respectively, "Frowning eyebrows", one play and one song, the sound quality is sweet and bright, the style is still the same, showing a solid artistic foundation, which has been praised by many Yue opera audiences.
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Xiao Ya was born in Shanghai in 1964. In 1980, he entered the Shanghai Opera School to study Yue opera, and in the second half of 1982, he was assigned to the Shanghai Hongkou Yue Opera Troupe as an actor and a small student.
Xiao Ya art photos
Very fortunately, soon Yin Guifang, a famous Yue opera performance artist and founder of yin Pai, took Xiao Ya as an apprentice. In front of the famous teacher, coupled with Xiao Ya's own talent and good voice, hard work, the yin pai famous drama "Desert Prince", "Pan Wife And Wife" in the Role of Prince Roland and Liang Yushu, etc., played a wonderful portrait, both god and form, and soon came to the fore. Since then, he has successively starred in more than a dozen major dramas such as "Three Female Judges", "Agarwood Fan", "Finishing Touch", "Heaven and Earth", "A Branch of Plum", "Qingyun Dream" and so on, and has been recognized and sought after by Yue opera fans.
Xiao Ya in "He Wenxiu"
In 1984, Xiao Ya first tried to be sharp, and won the third prize in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai Youth Yue Opera Television Grand Prix; Two years later, she won the second prize of this competition and became a high-profile new yue opera star. However, Xiao Ya was not satisfied with the existing achievements and continued to expand herself in many ways.
Xiao Ya at the "2021 Fan Box Sealing Concert"
The 1980s was an era of modern pop songs and music, and the young Xiao Ya's voice was wide and bright, and a chance singing made her discover the talent and interest of pop music hidden in her heart. So Xiao Ya learned the art from her teacher and created a precedent for opera actors to sing. Soon, she became popular in the pop music scene in the north and south of the river with an original song "The Moon Goes, I Also Go", which made people impressed.
Xiao Ya in the art photo
Subsequently, Wen Feng of shanghai opera house invited her to play the heroine in the opera "Please Walk with Me"; CCTV also asked her to star in the musical scenery film "Hulunbuir Love" and so on, and she has achieved corresponding success: the special prize of the national national music scenery film, the first prize of the cross-strait singing competition, the first prize of the Shanghai Popular Song Composition and Singing Competition, etc., all of which are included one by one, and also produced many Yue opera and song cassettes, becoming a well-known amphibious "star" of opera and song in Shanghai.
However, when people thought that Xiao Ya would change her career as a singing actor, Xiao Ya made it clear that she loved Yue opera, rooted in Yue opera, but also liked popular songs, and she hoped to combine the soft singing method and bel canto singing method in popular songs into the Yin Pai singing voice, so as to enrich the expressiveness of Yue opera, make it rich in the sense of the times, and narrow the distance between traditional opera and young audiences.
In 1988, a number of news media in Shanghai jointly held the "Xiao Ya Singing Art Special", in the special performance, Xiao Ya also played and sang, the dramas and songs were mixed, complementing each other and sensationalizing Shencheng. After the meeting, the experts held a "Xiao Ya Art Seminar", and Xiao Ya's various explorations and efforts were affirmed by experts and audiences.
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In 1991, just as Xiao Ya's opera and singing career was in full swing, she went to the United States with her husband to settle down. However, a stable and prosperous life did not bring her spiritual satisfaction. On the contrary, with the passage of time, her "homesickness" of missing Yue opera and missing the audience became more and more intense, so that she reached the point of twilight and lost her soul.
Finally, at the end of 1998, she resolutely left the United States and returned to Shanghai, and since then, she has been undistracted, plunging into her beloved Yue opera career, running special performances and acting big plays, and finally returning to the audience's attention.
In the second half of 2001, she was invited by the Shanghai Yue Theatre to star in the Yue opera "Early Spring and February". This is also the first time that Xiao Ya has starred in a modern Yue opera drama, without stylization such as water sleeves and high boots, she began to be unaccustomed, but Xiao Ya had extraordinary skills after all, and after careful study, she soon entered the role.
On the evening of July 17, 2001, the editor had the privilege of watching the play starring her and Fang Yafen at the Shanghai Yifu Stage. Xiao Jianqiu, the male protagonist played by Xiao Ya, is good from appearance to temperament and demeanor, has a bookish atmosphere, the appearance of quiet and inner turmoil are all acted in place, and the large section of singing is more elegant and stretched, full of aftertaste. What is particularly rare is that Xiao Ya performs on the same stage with male actors but does not make people feel too much feminine, and looks coordinated and comfortable. In particular, she and Fang Yafen played by Sister-in-law Wen complement each other perfectly, the depth of Yin Pai, the pathos of Yuan Pai, and each other, vividly and powerfully showing the characters, which can really be described as a wonderful performance and full of brilliance.
Stills from the Yue opera "Early Spring in February"
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In June 2002, Xiao Ya made a bolder move and founded Shanghai Xiao Ya Culture and Art Studio, which settled in Hongkou Cultural Celebrity Street.
Soon she launched the "Huizhong Night One-One Xiaoya Charity Concert" on the Yifu Stage. At the concert, Xiao Ya joined hands with many drama stars in Shanghai, singing and playing, which touched the audience. Xiao Ya announced on the spot that she would donate 300,000 yuan to set up a charity fund to help elderly opera workers with difficulties in life and drama school students from poor families.
Xiao Ya Art Studio
The studio founded by Xiao Ya was the first private Yue opera troupe in Shanghai to be completely self-financing economically. When it was first established, many people were not optimistic. But Xiao Ya is very confident and persistent, she said, "Either don't do it, do it and do it to be the best." ”
Xiao Ya in "The Last Son of Yuanyuan Love"
The troupe's "Cannon" play is the original Yue opera "The Love of the Yuan", she invited the top domestic screenwriters, directors and stage art directors and stage partners to polish the play together, and the script was revised more than a dozen times. In order to play the "Champion", Xiao Ya tied a sandbag to practice the stage step to enhance the leg strength, so that the stage step appeared light and dashing, and more Yin Pai Xiaosheng was flowing and elegant. She also worked the singing voice, which not only retained the characteristics of Yin Pai but also added the elements of popular songs, making the singing voice appear more novel and beautiful. Sure enough, this drama became a hit, touching many new and old audiences, and the box office and word of mouth were a win-win situation.
At the 17th "Ying Shan Hong" Folk Theatre Festival, the play won 12 awards. With this play, Xiao Ya also won the "Plum Blossom Award", the highest award of Chinese drama, in 2004.
Xiao Ya in "The End of the Yuan"
After returning to China for more than 20 years, Xiao Ya led her private theater troupe to take root in the folk, insisted on performing in various places for many years, with more than 300 performances every year, not only rehearsing the classic old plays of the Yin School, but also rehearsing new plays originally, inheriting and innovating, and the operas and songs rhymed, forming a unique performance style and artistic charm. At the same time, with the business model of "one play and one hire", she flexibly creates a small camp of Yue opera and opens up a performance market that belongs to this pattern.
Xiao Ya life photos
In recent years, the audience has often seen and heard her active figure and beautiful singing voice in concerts commemorating the centenary of Yin Guifang's birth and various large-scale TV opera evenings, as well as opera TV series such as "Empress Hanwen", "Blood Feud", "Jade Dragonfly", "Jiangnan Love" and so on.