Xian Zhang, who has led the New Jersey Symphony as Music Director since 2016, will leave the orchestra in 2028, finishing out her current contract as she steps into that role with the Seattle Symphony.
Zhang will serve as Music Director Designate in Seattle this season and begin as Music Director at the start of the 2025-2026 season.
"My time here in New Jersey has been marked by great professional growth and has been extremely rewarding," she said in a letter sent to NJ Symphony patrons. "Our orchestra, filled with talented musicians, is a treasure and New Jersey is incredibly lucky to have a wealth of world-class talent so close to home." Zhang will have been the longest-serving music director of the Newark-based orchestra when she leaves.
The first Asian woman to lead a major U.S. orchestra and the first woman Music Director of the NJ Symphony, Zhang will now become the first woman to lead a major West Coast orchestra. Her career has flourished in the past two decades. She served as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, continuing on as Associate Conductor and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair. She appears regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angles Philharmonic, and also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, the first woman to hold a titled position with a BBC Orchestra. She celebrated her debut at the Metropolitan Opera earlier this year with a production of Madama Butterfly.
Her recording of Kevin Puts's Letters for the Future with the Philadelphia Orchestra and ensemble Time for Three won the 2023 Grammy award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, and two concert films produced by the NJ Symphony during the pandemic were awarded Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards, for which Zhang also won an individual Emmy award.
Zhang first conducted the Seattle Symphony in 2008 and has continued to conduct performances there, including as one of the first conductors to lead a concert at the symphony's Benaroya Hall during the Covid pandemic.
"Her passionate musicianship is inspiring, her technique is clear and precise and the resulting performances captivate our audiences in heart and soul," Seattle Symphony President and CEO Krishna Thiagarajan said in the Seattle Symphony's announcement. "As Seattle has grown into an important world city and gateway to the Pacific, Xian's diverse expertise across Asian, Oceanian, European and American orchestras and music schools - from Beijing to New York, Melbourne to Milan - makes her the perfect choice to lead the orchestra in this new era." According to the Seattle Symphony, concerts led by Zhang have been the highest-attended performances at the concert hall since the pandemic.
Zhang will succeed Thomas Dausgaard in Seattle, who left in early 2022 following what he described to the New York Times as a strained relationship with the symphony's managers.
The announcement comes just days after the departure of NJ Symphony President and CEO Gabriel van Aalst, who this past summer accepted the position of President & CEO of Dayton Live, a host venue and presenter for performing arts in Miami Valley, Ohio.
