Biography

Xian Zhang is known for The Metropolitan Opera HD Live (2006), Emerge: Part III (2021) and BBC Proms (2013). She is married to Yang Lei. They have two children.

In 2002, she joined the New York Philharmonic as an assistant conductor, eventually becoming and associate conductor and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair. She's also served as the music director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, which included a televised debut at the BBC Proms. She is a regular conductor with the London Symphony and the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.

She is a native of China. She regularly returns there to conduct the China Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony, and Guangzhou Symphony.

She began her career conducting a performance of "The Marriage of Figaro" at age 20 in her native country, China.