Rachel Jiemin Zhang

Jiemin was the first women to conduct operas in both La Fenice and San Carlo opera houses, and her Opera DVD Cavalleria Rusticana with San Carlo opera was released in 2008 and broadcast by RAI. She first studied piano and percussion at the age of seven and graduated in orchestral conducting and composition from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1995. That same year she was appointed as Resident Conductor of the Shanghai Opera House , and in 1998 worked at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence as assistant to Maestro Zubin Mehta for the production of Turandot in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Since 2002 Jiemin has worked with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and has been a regular guest conductor at the Beijing International Music Festival, Shanghai Spring Music Festival and the Macau International Festival.

Her career in Europe began in 2006 with a Gala concert at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and in the same season Jiemin conducted several concerts with la Fenice orchestra at various music festivals across Italy. The following year she made her debut in Spain with La Traviata at the Palazzo dello Sport in Madrid, and in 2008 conducted the Symphony of Rome in a series of concerts at the Salerno opera house. In the 2001-2002 she worked as assistant conductor at National Orchestra Capital du Toulouse in France.