Resonate

American-Chinese conductor Xian Zhang received a lot of attention this week thanks to an article in The New York Times.

On Sunday, Zhang conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke in her professional premiere at Carnegie Hall.

Zhang has become well-known after being appointed associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic by its music director, Lorin Maazel, in 2004. Despite the impressive title, Zhang is not scheduled to conduct the New York Phil again until the 2009-2010 season.

That’s ok, though. She has plenty to keep her busy. Her upcoming schedule includes performances with the Frankfurt Opera in Germany, plus the Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Toronto Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Zhang told The New York Times that although she doesn’t experience overt sexism, she knows that people treat her differently as a woman conductor:

     “If a conductor messes up in a rehearsal, if he or she makes a mistake, it would be absolutely OK for a man to walk into the next rehearsal and just correct himself, and everything goes on,” she said. “If this is a woman, people would start saying it happened because she is a woman, or something like that. People tend to be harsher on women in their work.”