Xian Zhang
Xian Zhang took up the position of Music Director of La Verdi (the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi) at the start of the 2009/10 season. Prior to this, she served as the New York Philharmonic's Associate Conductor (and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair) for three years having previously been their Assistant Conductor.
In increasing demand as a guest conductor, forthcoming European engagements include debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Residentie Orkest, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Danish National Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras. She will also return to the London Symphony and Gothenburg Symphony orchestras, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, and the Wiener Symphoniker at the 2011 Bregenz Festival.
Last season Xian made her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in March 2010 (in Strauss, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Adès) in the Concertgebouw as well as appearing in a separate chamber music programme with the principal players of the orchestra in a performance of Schoenberg's arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde in the Muziekgebouw. She also made her debut in concert with the orchestra of La Fenice in Venice.
In the US this season she will make her debut with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra and will return to Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Further ahead, she returns to the New Jersey Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony orchestras. Previous North American highlights have included performances with the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Indianapolis Symphony and Minnesota orchestras, as well as appearances at the Aspen and Grant Park Festivals. She enjoys a strong relationship with the orchestra of the Juilliard School and recently presented the world premiere of a new work by Augusta Read Thomas at the Lincoln Center.
As an opera conductor, Xian Zhang made a sensational debut with La bohème for English National Opera in spring 2007, and conducted Turandot in Beijing in May 2009. Her next opera engagements will be Stravinsky's Renard and Le Rossignol for De Nederlandse Opera during the 2012/13 season and Thomas Adès' The Tempest with La Scala in the 2013/14 season (both directed by Robert Lepage).
Xian Zhang has championed Chinese composers, particularly the works of Chen Yi (including Momentum). In May 2008 she completed a major six-concert tour of China with the Orchestra of the Juilliard School on which Chen Yi's Ge Xu was performed in Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou. She also conducted Huang Ruo's Fanfare with the New York Philharmonic.
Born in Dandong, China, Xian Zhang made her professional debut conducting Le nozze di Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing's Central Conservatory, earning both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, and served one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998.
In increasing demand as a guest conductor, forthcoming European engagements include debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Residentie Orkest, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Danish National Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras. She will also return to the London Symphony and Gothenburg Symphony orchestras, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, and the Wiener Symphoniker at the 2011 Bregenz Festival.
Last season Xian made her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in March 2010 (in Strauss, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Adès) in the Concertgebouw as well as appearing in a separate chamber music programme with the principal players of the orchestra in a performance of Schoenberg's arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde in the Muziekgebouw. She also made her debut in concert with the orchestra of La Fenice in Venice.
In the US this season she will make her debut with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra and will return to Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Further ahead, she returns to the New Jersey Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony orchestras. Previous North American highlights have included performances with the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Indianapolis Symphony and Minnesota orchestras, as well as appearances at the Aspen and Grant Park Festivals. She enjoys a strong relationship with the orchestra of the Juilliard School and recently presented the world premiere of a new work by Augusta Read Thomas at the Lincoln Center.
As an opera conductor, Xian Zhang made a sensational debut with La bohème for English National Opera in spring 2007, and conducted Turandot in Beijing in May 2009. Her next opera engagements will be Stravinsky's Renard and Le Rossignol for De Nederlandse Opera during the 2012/13 season and Thomas Adès' The Tempest with La Scala in the 2013/14 season (both directed by Robert Lepage).
Xian Zhang has championed Chinese composers, particularly the works of Chen Yi (including Momentum). In May 2008 she completed a major six-concert tour of China with the Orchestra of the Juilliard School on which Chen Yi's Ge Xu was performed in Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou. She also conducted Huang Ruo's Fanfare with the New York Philharmonic.
Born in Dandong, China, Xian Zhang made her professional debut conducting Le nozze di Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing's Central Conservatory, earning both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, and served one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998.