Mingjie Lei

Source: IMG Artists

Chinese tenor Mingjie Lei, a native of Hengyang, is rapidly gaining international acclaim, and hailed by The New York Times as “a beautifully plush voice with elegant musicianship…. tasteful and deeply moving” and by the Guardian as “A future star.” A former member of the Staatstheater Stuttgart ensemble, Mr. Lei is a Prize Winner of the Prestigious Neue Stimmen International Vocal Competition and the ARD International Music Competition, as well as the Winner of the Song Prize of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

In the 2025/26 season, Mingjie Lei will make his debut at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden in London, first singing Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and then as the Innocent in Boris Godunov starring Bryn Terfel and conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Elsewhere, he will sing Tamino at Opéra de Lille with Emmanuelle Häim, and return to the Salzburg Festival for a new production, to be announced. Future engagements include a return to the Royal Ballet and Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Komische Oper Berlin and more.
In recent seasons, appearances have included Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Opernhaus Zürich (Christof Loy, Enrique Mazzola), Staatsoper Hamburg, and Staatstheater Stuttgart, Tamino with Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Iopas in Les Troyens with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Fenton with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Stuttgart and Opera Colorado, Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Wiener Konzerthaus, Bremen Musikfestspiele, Lucerne Festival, Opera Vlaanderen, and Staatsoper Stuttgart, Saêb in Barkouf with Opernhaus Zürich, a staged version of Haydn’s Messa in tempore belli with Dutch National Opera and Narciso in Il Turco in Italia with Staatsoper Hamburg and Opernhaus Zürich. Additional projects as part of the Staatstheater Stuttgart ensemble include Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Pylade in Iphigenie en Tauride, Fenton in Falstaff, a full staged version of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and First Officer in Der Prinz von Homburg, which was released on Naxos records.
In concert, Mingjie Lei has performed Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Teodor Currentzis as well as with Opera Vlaanderen, Purcell’s The Indian Queen on tour with Utopia Orchestra and Teodor Currentzis with stops in Berlin, Paris and Antwerp; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Elbphilharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, TonKünstler orchestra at St. Pölten Festspielhaus, Philharmonie de Paris, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and Mozart’s Requiem on tour with Jordi Savall at the Philharmonie de Paris, l’Auditori de Barcelona, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Auditorium National de Lyon, and the Arc-en-Senans in the Dole region of France, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Tirol Festespiel, Haydn’s The Seasons with the Salzburg Festival, and Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and with the Cecilia Chorus, also in New York. In recital with pianist Jan Philip Schulze, Mingjie Lei made appearances at Wigmore Hall in London, and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.
Mingjie Lei holds a Bachelor of Music from Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, a Master of Music in Voice from Manhattan School of Music in New York City, and an Artist Diploma in Opera from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Young Singers Project with the Salzburg Festival, He currently resides in Stuttgart.