Background
Zhang was born in 1964 into a family of traditional Chinese Opera singers. Her father was a local opera singer of Qinqiang and play writer
Zhang was born in 1964 into a family of traditional Chinese Opera singers. Her father was a local opera singer of Qinqiang and play writer
She appears regularly in European opera houses such as the Toulouse Théâtre du Capitole, Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Dublin Opera, and others in London, Amsterdam, and Madrid. Known for her performances in Wagner"s operas, in 2010, she sang Erda (one of her signature roles) in the Paris Opera"s first performance of the complete Ring Cycle in 53 years. Zhang earned her first diploma from the College of Music of Xi"an, China, in 1984, and was a soloist at the Symphony Orchestra of Xi"an until 1995.
Zhang began singing in France in 1989.
She sang Maddalena in Rigoletto at the Opéra de Rennes, Sesto in Louisiana clemenza di Tito at the Opéra Saint-Étienne, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at the Opéra Saint-Étienne, and Opéra de Marseille, Carmen at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with the Orchestre national de Lille, Ute in Die lustigen Nibelungen by Oscar Straus in Caen. She sang Roßweiße and Schwertleite in Die Walküre at the Opera in Amsterdam and at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon.
With the Orchestre de Paris, she was Erda in Siegfried at the Royal Albert Hall in London and in the Escorial in Spain. In concert, she performed Das Lied von der Erde by Mahler with the Orchestre de Paris directed by Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre national de Lille conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus.
She sang Verdi"s Requiem with the Orchestre de Besançon, Poème de l"amour et de la mer with the Orchestra Festival Marmande, Mozart"s Requiem and Mendelssohn"s Elijah with Symphony Orchestra Tours, the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi and Respighi"s Il Tramonto with the National Chamber Orchestra of Toulouse, Mahler"s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Opera Rouen, the Alto Rhapsody by Brahms with the Orchestre national de Lille, The Diary of One Who Disappeared by Janáček in Brussels.