Following an acclaimed first season as Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, ZHANG Xian – a conductor of “dynamism, agility and precision” (The Telegraph) – continues her tenure in 2017/18 with performances of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, among others. In September 2016, she assumed the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, becoming the first female conductor to hold a titled role with a BBC orchestra; the season culminated in a televised BBC Proms performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, anticipating the start of a two-year project devoted to the composer’s complete symphonies, with other 2017/18 highlights set to include a concert tour of Wales. ZHANG is also Conductor Emeritus of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, following completion of her tenure as Music Director from 2009 until 2016.

Forthcoming guest-conductor engagements include returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orchestre National de Belgique and Orquesta Nacional de España, as well as debuts with the San Francisco Symphony and NAC Orchestra, Ottawa. A regular conductor of the London Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, in March 2017 ZHANG made her debut with The Cleveland Orchestra, stepping in for an indisposed Semyon Bychkov.

ZHANG is also in demand as an opera conductor, and in summer 2018 she makes her third appearance at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, conducting Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. A hugely successful production of Nabucco with Welsh National Opera in June 2014 subsequently transferred to Savonlinna, where she also conducted Otello in 2016; other recent engagements include a gala concert with Renée Fleming and the China NCPA Orchestra in June 2017, her debut with Den Norske Opera in January 2016 conducting La traviata, and a return to the English National Opera in October 2015 to conduct La bohème.

ZHANG frequently returns to conduct in her native China, where she is a regular conductor with the China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Symphony orchestras, among others. A champion of Chinese composers, she is a notable exponent of the music of CHEN Qigang: this season she conducts Ge Xu (Antiphony) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra; past performances include Er Huang (China NCPA Orchestra, June 2017), Iris Dévoilée (BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Proms, and China NCPA Orchestra – both in 2015), and the world premiere of Luan Tan with the Hong Kong Philharmonic in spring 2015.

Working with young talented musicians plays a major part in ZHANG’s life. She held the position of Artistic Director of the NJO, Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy from 2010 to 2015, and in summer 2015 she made her hugely successful debut with the European Union Youth Orchestra, conducting them in Grafenegg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rheingau and Bolzano. In August 2017, she conducted the Italian Youth Orchestra in a programme of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, and in August 2018 she returns to the Aspen Music Festival.

Born in Dandong, China, ZHANG Xian 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. She was appointed as the New York Philharmonic’s Assistant Conductor in 2002, subsequently becoming their Associate Conductor and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair.

China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing. Established in March 2010, the orchestra consists of highly accomplished musicians from around the world, who perform in more than a dozen opera productions presented by its home venue each year as well as in ballets and regular orchestral concerts in its own season. With a notably busy schedule, the young ensemble has fast established itself as one of the most adventurous and dynamic orchestras in the country. LÜ Jia took up the post of Chief Conductor in February 2012, succeeding CHEN Zuohuang, the current Conductor Laureate, NCPA’s then Artistic Director of Music as well as a founder of the orchestra. In January 2017, upon CHEN Zuohuang's retirement, LÜ Jia started serving as NCPA's Artistic Director of Music and the NCPA Orchestra's Music Director.

The NCPA Orchestra demonstrates an abiding commitment to the highest levels of artistic excellence and takes pride in its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our time. Artists associated with the orchestra in the past few years have included Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leif Segerstam, Gunter Herbig, Hannu Lintu, Claus Peter Flor, Shao-Chia Lü, TANG Muhai, ZHANG Xian, ZHANG Guoyong, ZHANG Yi, Rudolf Buchbinder, Stephen Kovacevich, Khatia Buniatishvili, Behzod Abduraimov, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, CHEN Sa, ZHANG Haochen, WANG Jian, Gautier Capucon, Kyung-Wha Chung, Vadim Repin, LU Siqing, NING Feng, Alison Balsom, Sabine Meyer, LI Biao, Placido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Renee Fleming, Liang Li and HE Hui among many others. Lorin Maazel worked closely with the orchestra before his passing and praised the musicians for their “amazing professionalism and great passion in music”. After working with the orchestra in a series of concerts, Christoph Eschenbach also declared it as “one of the finest orchestras in Asia”.

In the first few years since its establishment, China NCPA Orchestra has become one of the leading ensembles in the country both on stage and in the pit, gaining critical acclaim for its performances in NCPA’s many opera productions. To date, they have played for over 30 new productions, including not only classical repertoire such as Tristan and Isolde, Tosca, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Die Fledermaus, Aida, Otello, Nabucco, but also newly commissioned works including Rickshaw Boy, The Long March, FANG Zhimin, The Jinsha River, and Visitors on the Snow Mountain. In its own orchestral concert season, the orchestra has consistently presented creative and diverse programmes. Their performance of the Ring without Words with its creator, Lorin Maazel, was released on SONY Music worldwide, the only recording the great maestro ever made with a Chinese orchestra.

Another important field of work that the orchestra has explored extensively in the short period of time since its establishment is the creation and promotion of contemporary music. Having presented the Chinese premieres of major works by John Admas, Toru Takemitsu et al, it gave the world premieres of more than ten substantial new orchestral works commissioned by the NCPA, written by composers from across the globe including CHEN Qigang, ZHAO Jiping, Michael Gordon, Augusta Read Thomas, Kalevi Aho, and Joby Talbot. It has also played a major role in the NCPA's annual Young Composers Programme, providing a unique platform nurturing the next generation of Chinese composers.

The NCPA Orchestra has flexed its wings on the international stage, receiving widespread international praise for its performances at the Kissingen Summer Music Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and concerts in many cities in Germany, as well as in Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Daegu, Abu Dhabi, Taipei and Macao. The orchestra undertook its first North American tour in 2014 and the revisiting tour in 2017, where it performed at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Davies Symphony Hall and other major venues in the US and Canada, under the baton of LÜ Jia. Musical America praised its “joyful confidence and youthful strength”. Concerto Net described it as “a polished, first rate ensemble”.

With its commitment to educational and outreach activities, the orchestra has presented a series of Weekend Concerts at its home venue. With specially selected programmes and accessible ticket prices, these have become extremely popular with Beijing audience new to classical music. In addition, the orchestra frequently initiates wide-reaching educational projects in association with educational institutions across the city.

The 18/19 season has “Forever Young” as its theme, featuring concerts conducted by LÜ Jia, Rainer Honeck, CHEN Lin, ZHANG Xian, David Robertson, YUAN Ding, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Thomas Sondergard, LI Biao, Daniel Gatti, Shao-Chia Lü , with soloists LU Siqing, Li-Wei Qin, SHEN Yang, MENG Meng, Clara-Jumi Kang, Truls Mork, Hsin-Yun Huang, Orli Shaham, YUAN Fang, Laticia Moreno, Alexei Volodin, Derek Han, NING Feng, SUN Yingdi, YANG Tianwa and many others. LU Siqing and LI Biao, both as this season's Artist-in-Residence, will lead a number of concerts as well as educational projects. The orchestra will also perform in thirteen NCPA opera productions including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Romeo and Juliet, La sonnambula, Don Giovanni, and LAN Huahua.