A veteran of the world’s most prominent opera stages, Hao Jiang Tian has established a particularly close relationship with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where he has appeared every season since 1991. “There are many fine singers in China, but because it is not our culture, singing western opera is probably the most difficult job we could undertake,” he says. It is a particular testament to Tian’s success that, of the nearly fifty rôles in his repertoire, he has often been the first Chinese performer ever to embody a particular character. “I have chosen the arias for this recording because they are very meaningful to me personally and professionally,” he says. “They are my life and blood.”