Xu Zhong

Xu Zhong’s Biography

As one of the most internationally renowned Chinese pianist and conductor in the world, deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, the sixth council member of China Overseas Friendship Association, Vice Chairman of the 11th Shanghai Musicians Association, and Member of the 9th Committee of Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, XU Zhong is currently President of Shanghai Opera House, Chief Conductor of Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, Principal Director of Fondazione Arena di Verona, International Chair of Opera of Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, External Expert Observer of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, and Independent Non-Executive Director of NetEase Cloud Music.
Between 2012 and 2015, he was Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Teatro Massimo Bellini. Between 2013 and 2019, he was Music Director and Chief Conductor of Israel Haifa Symphony Orchestra.

XU Zhong received rigorous formal piano music education in the class of Dominique Merlet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with the sponsorship of Chow Ching Lie Foundation. As a conductor, he learned with Prof. Xiaotong Huang and Maestro Piero Rattalino.
XU Zhong showed his exceptional genius in piano in his early years, and was reviewed as a top artistic pianist bursting on to the world stage. He won numerous prestigious international competitions including Maria Canals, Hamamatsu, Santander Paloma O’Shea, Tokyo, and Tchaikovsky. These awards have established XU Zhong’s status as a pianist in the international music world.
As a soloist, he was frequently invited to perform in most of the prestigious music festivals in Vienna, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Nice, Naantali and Hamamatsu. In the capacity of jury, XU Zhong was regularly invited to the most renowned international piano competitions, including Busoni, Clara Haskil, AXA Dublin, Leeds, Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud, Sviatoslav Richter, Hamamatsu and Seoul.

Over the years, XU Zhong has actively worked with many prestigious orchestras, including Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Real Orquesta Sinfonica De Sevilla, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, etc.
His talent in conducting has been acknowledged in leading opera houses in Europe and worldwide — Teatro alla Scala, New York Metropolitan Opera House, Royal Opera House, Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Arena di Verona, Liceu Grand Theatre, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Leipzig, San Francisco Opera House, Sydney Opera House, Müpa Budapest, etc.
His repertoire includes La Traviata, Aida, Il Trovatore, Falstaff, Rigoletto, La Bohème, Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, La Cenerentola, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Die Walküre, Tannhäuser, Die Fledermaus, Das Land des Lächelns, Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Elektra, Carmen, Roméo et Juliette, La voix humaine, Orphée aux enfers, Aleko, etc.

XU Zhong works actively in the production and performance of classic Western operas in China and promotes collaboration and co-productions with the world’s best opera houses.
In 2018, he participated in producing Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, a co-production between the Shanghai Opera House and the Erfurt Theater, and conducted the premiere.
In the same year, the co-production of Das Land des Lächelns by the Shanghai Opera House and the Müpa Budapest was presented at the “Chinese Spring Culture Festival” in Hungary.
Over the years, XU Zhong has participated in the production and performance of Aida, Carmen, Turandot, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Pagliacci. Even during the pandemic, when international exchanges were almost impossible, he still managed to produce Don Giovanni, and carried out rehearsals and performances via online platforms.
In February 2023, XU Zhong invited renowned Italian theatre director Marco Carniti and Chinese director YANG Jingze to co-direct La Bohème, a new production of the Shanghai Opera House.
He played an important role in the co-production of Tosca between the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA), the Shanghai Opera House, and the Shaanxi Grand Theatre, which has opened a new mode of in-depth cooperation in domestic opera productions.
He also realised the first collaboration among the Shanghai Opera House, the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Bavarian State Opera, and will premiere the co-production of Wagner’s Lohengrin in September 2024.
In 2024, he facilitated and conducted Madama Butterfly, a co-production of the Shanghai Opera House, Royal Opera House and Shanghai Grand Theatre, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Giacomo Puccini, which was a huge success.
He is appointed as the Music Director of “Bayreuth in Shanghai” Opera Project 2025–2027. He also conducted the first production of the cooperation, Tristan and Isolde (a production at the Bayreuth Festival 2022), co-presented by Shanghai Opera House and Shanghai Grand Theater, and produced by Shanghai Opera House, and won unprecedented success for its Asian premiere.

XU Zhong also supports and promotes the development of Chinese original opera, and has conducted works including Shennong, Tian Han, The Li Dazhao, March of the Volunteers, The Diary of John Rabe, and Love in Songmao Ridge.
He also devotes himself to music creation. In 2021, he was invited by the Shanghai Theater Academy to compose the music for the drama Outpost.
In 2022, he wrote the song Report to You, and was invited to create the music for the dance drama White Snake.
He is also the leader and one of the composers of the original choral symphony The Land of Rejuvenation, which won the 2022–2023 Symphony of The Times – Chinese Symphonic Music Works Creation Support Program of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

On February 11, 2020, XU Zhong initiated a global music relay project, allying first-class orchestras and opera houses from all over the world to encourage Chinese people in fighting against Coronavirus by using the power of music.
On April 22, 2020, as a continuation of this project, together with Shanghai Radio, he launched a special 12-hour broadcast program named MUSIC ONE WORLD.
In April 2021, XU Zhong was the Artistic Director and Conductor of the “Music Day” of the 37th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, including a seven-hour live broadcast and opening concert.
In 2023, he conducted the original choral symphony The Land of Rejuvenation, inaugurating the 38th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
In 2024, he conducted Berlioz’s Symphonie dramatique Roméo et Juliette, opening the “Sino-French Music Exchange and Performance Season” of the 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
Invited by the NCPA to conduct Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, he marked the start of the China–France 60th Anniversary celebrations and the first major event of the China–France Year of Culture and Tourism in Beijing.
On October 8, he conducted the China Shanghai International Arts Festival Orchestra and performed the complete Beethoven symphony cycle in one day, a symphonic marathon of high-intensity, high-quality, and high-energy, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Art Space of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

In 2010, XU Zhong was awarded the “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”, and was promoted to “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” in 2018 by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication for his contributions to classical music and cultural exchange.
In 2021, he received the honorary title of International Chair in Opera from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
At the same time, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World announced XU Zhong as its External Expert Observer (originally invited as a jury member but unable to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions).
In July 2021, he was featured in Public Service Advertising on the Times Square Digital Billboard, a successful overseas promotion of the Shanghai Opera House and a demonstration of Shanghai’s cultural soft power.
On December 2, 2021, NetEase Cloud Music was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and appointed XU Zhong as the Independent Non-Executive Director of the company, making him the first musician in China to serve as an independent non-executive director of a listed company.