Cai Chengyu (; born January 17, 1998) is a Chinese operatic tenor. He is known for participating in

Hunan TV Hunan Television or Hunan TV () is a provincial satellite TV station officially launched on 29 September 1970 and is currently China's second-most-watched channel, second only to CCTV-1, owned by China Central Television, although Hunan STV occasi ...

's singing variety show '' Super-Vocal'' where he first gained attention and recognition throughout China for singing 9 high-quality High Cs in his debut and finally made to the top 6 leading singers. In 2019, Cai joined

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

together with Tong Zhuo, Gao Tianhe and Ju Hongchuan as China's first male ''

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

'' quartet named Super Vocal. In the same year, Cai was recognized as the Forbes China

30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

List honoree.

Early life

Cai grew up in

Suzhou, Anhui Suzhou () formerly romanized as Suchow is a prefecture-level city in northern Anhui province. It borders the prefectural cities of Huaibei and Bengbu to the southwest and south respectively, the provinces of Jiangsu to the east, Shandong to t ...

, China and attended Sucheng No.1 High School. In his last music class in high school, he performed "''Heroes' Song"'' () at classmates' invitation. Impressed by Cai's talent, his music teacher encouraged him to pursue a career in music. A year later, he successfully made to

Shanghai Conservatory of Music The Shanghai Conservatory of Music () was founded on November 27, 1927, as the first music institution of higher education in China. Its teachers and students have won awards at home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name "the crad ...

with the fourth best grades nationwide. Cai is currently studying under the celebrated baritone Wang Kaiwei.

Singing career

In 2018, Cai participated in

singing competition '' Super-Vocal''. He made his debut by performing "Ah! mes amis." (), one of the well-known arias from the opera "

La fille du régiment ' (''The Daughter of the Regiment'') is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opé ...

" (). Cai smoothly knocked off a string of nine high Cs in this joyous aria “Ah! mes amis." and won the nickname of "Cai High C". Later in the competition, he has been continuously improving and finally made to the top 6 leading singers in ''Super-Vocal'' for the year of 2018. In February 2019, he was invited to participate in

singing competition ''

Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

'' together with other finalists from ''Super-Vocal'' (Ju Hongchuan ( 鞠红川),

Zheng Yunlong Zheng Yunlong (; born 27 June 1990) is a Chinese actor and singer. He has appeared in a few Chinese musicals. Biography Zheng was born in Qingdao, Shandong and graduated from Beijing Dance Academy. Zheng's enthusiasm with stage performance ...

( 郑云龙) and Ayanga ( 阿云嘎)). After ten rounds of challenge, on April 12, 2019, the team achieved the third place in the Grand Final. In the same year, to commemorate the spirit of

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chin ...

and to celebrate the founding of the Communist Party, he partnered with the journalist from

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

, Lu Binqi, and introduced two songs "''Journey''" () and "''Original Aspiration''"() . In June 2019, being part of the "Revival of the Classics Project" () organized by NetEase Cloud Music ( 网易云音乐), Cai released his first single by covering the song "''That's it''" () from the rock duo

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

(). In November 2019, after Cai teamed up with other three vocalists, the new ''

'' ensemble Super Vocal announced its first single: Mandarin version of the song "'' Into the Unknown"'' (未知的真相) from the Disney animation

Frozen II ''Frozen 2'' (stylized as ''Frozen II'') is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the stud ...

. In the same month, on the 25th Anniversary of

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions ...

, the well-known theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish music and dance, Cai released a Mandarin version of the show’s principle song "''Lift The Wings"'', composed by

Bill Whelan Bill Whelan (born 22 May 1950 in Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, '' Riverdance'', was a seven-minute display of tr ...

''.'' Celebrated around the world for its Grammy-Award winning score, this release is a powerful and stirring reinterpretation of

’s mesmerizing soundtrack.

Performance

Super-Vocal 声入人心

Singer 2019 歌手

Other

2018

* Hunan TV New Year's Gala ()

2019

* Hunan TV Overseas Chinese New Year's Gala () * Yangtze River & Twelve Provinces/Regions New Year's Gala () * Chinese Literary and Art Circles New Year's Gala () * CCTV 2019 Lantern Festival Gala (中央广播电视总台2019元宵晚会) * Hunan TV Space Day of China Gala () * Hunan TV 100th Anniversary of May Fourth Movement Gala () * CCTV Children's Day Gala () *CCTV Qi Xi festival/Chinese Valentine's Day Gala (央视天下有情人2019七夕晚会) *2019 FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup Opening Ceremony () *Hunan TV Mid-Autumn Festival Gala () *National Day Concert () *Chinese Folk Song National Day Gala () *"70th Anniversary - My Favorite Hunan Folk Songs" Concert (唱响70年·我喜爱的湖南金曲专场音乐会) *"Ode to the Motherland · One Song One City" Concert () *Silk Road International Film Festival () *"Memory · Nostalgia" Guangzhou Liao Changyong Concert (“记忆·乡愁”廖昌永广州音乐会)

2020

* Hunan TV New Year's Gala (湖南卫视跨年演唱会)

Filmography

Music Video

Variety Show

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cai, Chengyu 1998 births Living people Chinese operatic tenors 21st-century Chinese male opera singers People from Suzhou, Anhui Singers from Anhui Shanghai Conservatory of Music alumni