Baritone Xiaomeng Zhang — a native of Wenzhou, China — enjoys a busy career thanks to his skillful technique and a voice described by the San Francisco Chronicle as both “sonorous” and “commanding.”
Zhang “handled his arias flawlessly,” wrote the Aspen Times of his performance as Count Almaviva in The Aspen Music Festival’s 2019 production of Le Nozze di Figaro. “His frustration-venting aria in Act 3, ‘Vedrò mentr’io sospiro,’ was a miracle of vocal focus and controlled fury.”Zhang recently completed his Artist Diploma at Juilliard under the tutelage of renowned instructor Marlena Malas. He was a participant in San Francisco’s 2018 Merola Opera Program, and was a 2018 national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a finalist in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. Zhang has won awards from Opera Index, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Giulio Gari Foundation and the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competitions, and placed second in the Chinese Arts Song International Competition. He was also the “Audience Favorite” of the Premiere Opera International Vocal competition.
Zhang received his bachelor’s degree at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and his master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. In the 2021-2022 season Zhang performs the roles of Silvio in Pagliacci, Marullo in Rigoletto, and Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde with the International Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich. In the previous season, he sang the title role in Buddha Passion with Tan Dun and the Lanzhou Symphony Orchestra; played Figaro in Opera Columbus’ new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Mary Birnbaum; and was scheduled to perform the roles of Don Giovanni at Opera Naples and Silvio in Pagliacci with the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, both postponed due to COVID-19.
At the Juilliard School, Zhang’s roles have included Don Giovanni under the baton of Joseph Colaneri, Le Feuteuil/Arbre in L’enfant et les sortileges, Kuligin in Katya Kabanova, Minskman in Flight, Giove in La Calisto and Presto in Les mamelles de Tirésias. He has performed the role of Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore at A.R.E. Opera and Tancredi in Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall.
In concert, Zhang has performed as soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Queens College Choral Society, in Yellow River Cantata with New Jersey Festival Orchestra, and in Mozart’s Requiem and Dvořák’s Te Deum with New York City Master Chorale. He also performed as Don Giovanni in the Roma at Narnia Festival; as Schaunard in La Bohème at the Chautauqua Music Festival; and as Licinio in Aureliano in Palmira and Fernando in Fidelio with the Caramoor Summer Music Festival.
