For Xian Zhang, associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic, the profusion of critical commentary about the dearth of female conductors due to sexism is much ado about nothing.
“Maybe I’ve just been lucky,” said Zhang, who debuts with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra tonight. “But I’ve never felt that being a conductor was an unnatural or unusual fit for a woman. I’ve never experienced any kind of conflict in my career because of my gender.”
In contrast, reams of articles about Marin Alsop, the CSO’s conductor laureate and one of the world’s most successful female conductors, point to a career path riddled with resistance, brick walls and glass ceilings in a male-dominated field.
The welcome divergence in perception may lie in the 17-year age difference between Alsop and Zhang, and the fact that a woman on a podium – while still rare – is no longer the uncomfortable anomaly it once was.
“I think that peers and audiences are taking it very well, seeing a woman lead an orchestra,” said Zhang, 32, who lives near New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with her engineer husband, Lei Yang. “But I probably put extra pressure on myself to work harder.
“It’s true that if a female conductor and a male conductor make the same mistake, the lady will be judged more severely.”
Such gender bias, however, seems largely lost on the Chinese-born maestro.
“In China, everyone works in every profession as part of a communist system,” she said. “But historically in the Western world, more men than women work and women stay home to take care of the family.
“It wasn’t until I entered the world of professional orchestras that I noticed how rare it can be for
western women to hold the same careers as men.”
Zhang, the only child of musically inclined parents who still live in China, was hardly more than a toddler when her musical training began.
“I started playing piano when I was 3 years old,” she said. “When I was 11, I left my hometown (Dandong, China) to go to music school in Beijing.
“I thought I would become a concert pianist. I never thought about being a conductor until my teachers encouraged me to try it because my hands are too small to be a pianist.”
At 16, Zhang – petite in stature and disarming in demeanor – committed to conducting.
“I didn’t realize it then, but I know now how fortunate I was to study with two female conducting teachers,” she said.
After graduating from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, Zhang’s put her career on a fast track she moved to the United States in 1998 to enroll in the doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati.
In 2002, she was named co-winner of the first Maazel-Vilar Conductors’ Competition; two years later, Lorin Maazel – music director of the New York Philharmonic – appointed her assistant conductor. In July 2005, Maazel named Zhang the first female associate conductor of the venerable institution.
In her current two-year term with the Phil, her responsibilities include conducting its Concerts in the Parks series, as well as youth and family concerts. She also conducts the Phil on tour, including an all-Tchaikovsky program during the orchestra’s fourth annual residency with the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival this summer.
“I’m a small person, but there are advantages to that,” said Xian, who recently signed with HarrisonParrott, a London-
based artist management firm. “You can use the full force of your body without looking ridiculous or needing to compensate for anything. Leonard Bernstein was short too.”
Indeed, the self-described foodie, who swims and reads poems in her native language to unwind, is first and foremost a plucky player in what is hopefully becoming a musical big league where gender doesn’t count.
Zhang leads the CSO and NY Philharmonic
Conductor Xian Zhang will make two appearances in Colorado. Here are the details:
COLORADO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA|Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”; Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets; 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday|$15-$65; 303-623-7876 or coloradosymphony.org
BRAVO! VAIL VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL|New York Philharmonic with violinist Jennifer Koh; all-Tchaikovsky program; Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater Vilar Pavilion, Vail; 6 p.m. July 26|$21-$82; 970-827-5700 or vailmusicfestival.org
