GUEST CONDUCTORS
GUOYONG ZHANG
President, Artistic Director, and Conductor of Shanghai Opera House
Zhang Guoyong began his study in conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of music under the direction of the famous conductor, Professor Huang Xiaotong.
After graduation in 1983, he remained at the conservatory as a teacher there until 1993, when he was sponsored by the Chinese government for four years of study at the Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied under the world famous conductor G. Rozhdestvensky.
Zhang Guoyong now serves as the professor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, president and artistic director of the Shanghai Opera House, and resident conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as the chief editor of Opera Magazine. In his multiple roles he has cooperated with many orchestras and well-known musicians both at home and abroad.
Apart from the symphonic repertoires, he also conducted a series of operas such as Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, La Boheme, La Traviata, and Othello; ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, and The Nutcracker; cantatas such as Requiem, Song of the Forest, Stabat Mater, Carmina Burana, and Yellow River Cantata; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; and other works.
During his study in Moscow, he on many occasions conducted the Russian State Symphony Orchestra of the Cultural Ministry, The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Varonesh Symphony Orchestra many times and also made CD recordings with all these orchestras. In 1997, he obtained his Ph.D degree, with distinction, in music. His graduation concert was highly acclaimed by both the audience and his colleagues. Maestro G. Rozhdestvensky attended the concert and excitedly stated for the critics and reporters, "I am awarding Zhang Guoyong the highest mark in the history of conducting department in the Moscow Conservatory. He can most assuredly take his place in any orchestra throughout the world!"
In recent years, Zhang Guoyong has been invited to conduct concerts in the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other countries.
