Arabella Hong Young

Arabella Hong Young, whose illustrious career as an actor, singer, and later author, lecturer, and coach spanned several decades, died at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday, January 27, 2025. She was 97.

As a singer, Arabella was a coloratura soprano, an operatic voice known for its dramatic and artistic qualities. Arabella received critical acclaim, noted for managing challenging arias with “surprising ringing clearness”, and her “brilliance, tonal appeal, and personal charm.”

Arabella, a fourth-generation Chinese American, was born on October 20, 1927, in Stockton, California to Kim Seung Hong and Marion Evelyn Wong. Her grandfather, Hong Lai Woh, immigrated to the United States as a teenage laborer on the first transcontinental railroad. During Arabella’s adolescent years, the Hong family moved to Berkeley, where she attended Berkeley High School and later UC Berkeley, for a short time.

In 1947, 20-year-old Arabella left her native California for New York to pursue singing and acting, a career once attempted by her mother, Marion, the earliest known Asian American filmmaker–unbeknownst to Arabella at the time. She was admitted to the Juilliard School of Music, where she enrolled. Although her father did not want her to pursue secondary education, her mother Marion overrode his decision.

While at Juilliard, she met her husband Royce at one of many gatherings at the International House in Morningside Heights. Royce became a director at Columbia University’s electronic laboratories for atomic research, and later, a physics professor at Ramapo College. They married in 1949.

Arabella impressed wherever she performed, impressing German audiences even singing in their language. Her repertoire of performances included solos at Town Hall and Carnegie Hall. Beyond New York, Arabella embarked on a European tour to Milan, Vienna, and Stuttgart, and a “15,000” mile tour across America.

Arabella’s singing and acting career peaked when she became a cast member on the Broadway production “Flower Drum Song.” The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, “Flower Drum Song” was the first show to include a majority Asian American cast. Her solo piece, “Love Look Away”, was written by R&H for her, and her part was immortalized in the Museum of Broadway.

After an intense 600-show run, Arabella left Broadway to fulfill a lifelong dream of settling in the suburbs and raised two children, Lisa and Robin, with her husband Royce. They moved into a home that was built for them in Pomona, New York.

As her children grew, Arabella was also an entrepreneur and founded two companies; one called “Tour de Force” which created after-school programs for schools to present a variety of performing arts shows for children, and “Camerata di Musica” which organized and presented a variety of classic concert series locally. She resumed acting and touring in a limited fashion in the theater and independent films. She appeared in numerous television and magazine advertisements, from Coca-Cola to MetLife.

Later in her career, Arabella became a dedicated teacher; she was committed to instilling spiritual and mental fitness and confidence in her students in auditioning, performing, and beyond. In 1995, she authored “Singing Professionally”, a technical handbook that contains personable anecdotes and even a section on controlling one’s emotions during high-pressure auditions.

Later in life and in retirement, Arabella maintained high spirits; she knew she deserved the best. She indulged in her favorite, decadent foods, from lobster tail to filet mignon. Her tremendous character and charm remained, and she took aging with grace and humor. She continued to instill wisdom and resilience in her loved ones, and she remained supportive until the very end.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Kim Seung Hong and Marion Evelyn Wong, her siblings Isabelle, Annabelle, Maybelle, and Henry, and her husband Royce. She is survived by her children, Lisa and Robin, and her grandchildren, Christopher, Wyatt, and Wade.

Private services are planned in Las Vegas and a public celebration of life will be planned in Manhattan for later this year.