Zheng Xiaoying Zheng Xiaoying

Zheng Xiaoying is Principal Conductor of the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra and is also Artistic Director of her own Opera Centre, named after her. She has directed the Central State Opera House, and for some time she led the Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra. After graduating from the Beijing Central Conservatory, as dean of the Faculty of Conducting – a post she holds to this day – Zheng Xiaoying continued her studies at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, specialising in opera and symphony conducting where she trained under Professors Nikolai Anosov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and I. Bayn.

Zheng Xiaoying regularly tours to Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North and South America and Europe. She has conducted over two thousand concerts. Zheng Xiaoying has been the first Chinese conductor to appear at the stand of several illustrious European opera houses. Zheng Xiaoying is currently acclaimed as one of the most experienced music teachers in China. Most students who graduate from her classes appear at venues in China and across the globe. She was awarded the prize “Best Conductor in China” by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China. Zheng Xiaoying has also received the honorary Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and the Order of Friendship (Russia).

In 1988 Zheng Xiaoying was asked to organise and establish a new non-State symphony ensemble, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. Thanks to her active involvement and the support of the Xiamen City Government and many businesses, the orchestra was founded and began to develop apace. Today, the orchestra stands shoulder to shoulder with the finest State symphony orchestras of China. The people of Xiamen refer to it as “The City’s Golden Calling-Card.” Zheng Xiaoying is actively involved in educational music programmes.

For several years she has successfully promoted Chinese national symphony music together with her orchestra in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and throughout Europe. Zheng Xiaoying was invited to be the Artistic Director of the IV and VI international choral conducting competitions. On several occasions she has received awards from the province of Fujian and the Xiamen City Government, among them the title of “Honorary Builder of the Thirty-Year Construction of the Xiamen Economic Region.” Under her directorship the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra received the honorary title of an “All-China Leading Public Organisation” from the Ministry of Civil Administration of the People’s Republic of China.

In 2011 Zheng Xiaoying received an income for life for her outstanding achievements as well as the Golden Melody prize from the Chinese Musicians’ Association and the prize “For Special Merit” at the I Festival of Chinese Opera. A film about Zheng Xiaoying forms part of a series of documentaries entitled Symphony of the Century – Fifteen Outstanding Chinese Musicians and Founders of Chinese Symphony Music.