Baritone Yichen Xue joins Virginia Opera’s 2026/27 season appearing as Mandarin in Turandot.
He recently completed two seasons as a Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist at Arizona Opera, where he performed Dandini in La Cenerentola, Schaunard in La bohème, Nardo in La finta giardiniera, and covered both Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Amonasro in Aida. He has also appeared as Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly with Arizona Opera and Opera Grand Rapids. As a Renée Fleming Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, he performed Marcello in La bohème. This summer, he joins The Glimmerglass Festival as a Resident Artist, appearing in Fellow Travelers (Senator Potter/General Airlie/Bartender) and Madama Butterfly（Imperial Commissioner).
On the concert stage, he has appeared as Baritone Soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Hunter College Choir, as Bass Soloist at The Kennedy Center in the RiverRun Festival, and at Santa Fe Opera in the Angel Island Oratorio.
A prizewinner in several of the field’s most prestigious competitions, Yichen is a National Finalist and Grant Winner of the Martorella Voice Scholarship (2025 & 2026), a Grant Winner of the Gerda Lissner Competition (2024), a Grant Winner of the Career Bridges Competition (2024), an Emerging Artist Award recipient from the Opera Index Competition (2023), and received an Encouragement Award at the Met Opera Laffont Competition – New York District (2025).
Originally from Anshan, China, Yichen holds a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Music from Hunter College–CUNY and the Manhattan School of Music, respectively.