Prof. ZHANG Liping
Associate Dean, School of Music, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

ZHANG Liping is an Associate Dean (Faculty) at the School of Music, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Voice & Opera at the Central Conservatory of Music. She is a member of the 12th,13th, and 14th CPPCC National Committee, and a member of the Chinese Musicians Association. She has been elected to the National Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Talents Project. She was selected as one of the experts eligible for special government allowances from the State Council.

She is the first Chinese soprano to play a leading role in the world's top opera house, the Royal Opera House, and the first Chinese soprano to enter the Metropolitan Opera House as a leading lady, and the box office guarantee of the Paris Opera House in France. She has starred in more than twenty operas at the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin Opera in Germany, the Royal Opera House of Parma in Italy, the Opéra National de Paris, the Opera de Barcelona, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in China.

Her unique voice skillfully communicates the intricate and evolving feelings of the characters in a gentle and nuanced manner, with rich and delicate low notes, agile high notes, and especially her control over soft passages, which extend endlessly like fine silk threads, demonstrate exceptional skill that leaves audiences in awe. Her roles have been loved by audiences all over the world, such as Giorgio San in Madama Butterfly, Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi in La Bohème, Liù in Turandot, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Micaëla in Carmen, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Leonora in Il Trovatore, amongst many others. Among them, she starred in Madama Butterfly, which was filmed into a 3D version and released worldwide. CCTV People Column program, Hong Kong Pearl TV once traveled to Europe to report on the feast of her performances in the international arena. The Sunday Times, one of the most influential newspapers in the world, reported, "The touching and radiant Qiaoqiao Sang is the most perfect Madama Butterfly to appear on the London stage in the last decade." The Los Angeles Times praised, "She is the Madama Butterfly who belongs to the world." The Washington Post praised her performance, stating, "Her rendition of Liù in Turandot was exceptional; her portrayal of the role had a profound impact, to the extent that the opera should be renamed Liù."

In 2008, the world-famous record label EMI released ZHANG Liping's first solo CD Arias worldwide, receiving a positive response on a broad scale. In 2009, during the first opera festival at the National Grand Theater, her performances in the opera Tosca, the new version of La Traviata conducted by Lorin Maazel, and Madama Butterfly in collaboration with the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy, received widespread acclaim. That same year, she starred in the inaugural original opera Xi Shi produced by the National Grand Theater.

In 2010, she was invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to star in the new musical Love Never Dies in its London premiere and record the theme song in Chinese, which was later released by Universal Music. In 2011 and 2013, she once again graced the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, starring in Madama Butterfly and La Traviata.

In 2014, she became the first Chinese classical singer to sign a contract with Universal Music, and released albums under the brand name of Decca, including one titled Night and Dreams, containing Schubert's art songs, and one named Homesickness—Chinese Art Songs. In 2017, she won the China Gold Record Award for the Best Bel Canto Singer. In 2018, she released an album of opera arias titled Verdi's Arias under the label of DG.