Yu Jiulin

Biography

Yu Jiulin was born in 1978 in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province — the birthplace of Kunqu Opera. At age sixteen, he entered the Suzhou Art School to study Kunqu Opera, spending four years in intensive theatrical training. He graduated in 1998 from the Kunqu Opera class at the Suzhou Storytelling and Ballad School. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Nanjing University. He studied under masters such as Yue Meiti and Shi Xiaomei, and in 2003 was introduced by producer Bai Xianyong to become a disciple of the renowned master Wang Shiyu. He is considered one of the key young Kunqu performers cultivated by Bai Xianyong. He starred in the world premiere of the Youth Edition of the Peony Pavilion in 2004 and the world premiere of the New Edition of the Jade Hairpin Record in 2008, both produced by Bai Xianyong. He toured internationally in Britain, the United States, and Japan, and performed in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and other Chinese cities, as well as visiting France, Germany, Canada, Austria, Greece, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. In 2016, Yu Jiulin Studio officially opened. He has won numerous prestigious awards, including the 23rd Chinese Theatre Plum Blossom Award, one of the highest theatrical honors in China.