Zhang Liping (simplified Chinese: 张丽萍; traditional Chinese: 張麗萍) (born 1969) is a Chinese-Canadian soprano, who has sung leading roles in the opera houses of both Europe and North America. She is particularly known for her portrayal of Madama Butterfly.[1][2]
Contents |
Zhang Liping was born in Wuhan, Hubei (about 650 miles south-west of Beijing) and is the daughter of a classical musician and a dancer. She studied to be a dancer for five years, before entering the Wuhan Conservatoire to study voice. She continued her studies at the Beijing Conservatory where, as a young student, she was selected to sing with Plácido Domingo in Tian'anmen Square. She then moved to Vancouver to study with Canadian mezzo-soprano Phyllis Mailing at the Vancouver Academy of Music. She later joined Vancouver Opera's Young Artist Program and sang throughout Canada in roles such as Mimi (La bohème), Leila (Les pêcheurs de perles), Liu (Turandot), Marguerite (Faust) and Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor). In 1997, she moved to London.
Zhang has sung Lucia Ashton with the Royal Opera Covent Garden and the Deutsche Oper Berlin and also Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Den Norske Opera and the Teatro Regio di Parma.
In 2002, Zhang made a debut as Liu (Turandot) at Covent Garden. She returned to Covent Garden in September 2003 as Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), and three months later as Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2005, she sang Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème. She returned to the company in 2007 to sing Micaela in Bizet's Carmen and Cio-Cio-San.
Geoff Brown wrote in The Times that:
With Li Ping Zhang’s lovelorn Liu, though, sweet drama and music came rolled into one. Her part’s vocal perils left her unscathed; each word struck home in the heart in a way no one else’s ever did. At the curtain calls, she enjoyed all the fervent applause
Malcolm Hayes, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, remarked that: 'The biggest round of applause went to the Liu of Zhang Liping, whose sumptuous soprano had us hanging on her every note'
Writing in The Times, David Cairns remarked that:
Above all, Liping Zhang gave us a heroine of exceptional eloquence and intensity, no drooping lily but a vital, suffering, deeply touching creature whose élans and agonies raised the work momentarily to a higher plane. Her Lucia can be heard again on Wednesday (10 December) and should not be missed.
David Fingleton, writing in the British newspaper, the Sunday Express, commented:
This soprano, in her early 30s, clearly has great insight and intelligence as well as good looks, and her clearly-drawn, thoughtful performance held the audience in the palm of her hand. When she sang the great aria One Fine Day in Act Two, where the abandoned Butterfly expresses her confidence in her husband's return, you could see the tears being shed. Her performance was a tour-de-force.
The Detroit News wrote:
Like few other operas, Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" depends on the vocal and dramatic prowess of its title character. And in soprano Zhang Liping, the Michigan Opera Theatre production that opened Saturday night at the Detroit Opera House boasts a Butterfly who does more than carry the show; she represents the world standard. This is a singer, indeed a theatrical experience, not to be missed
Hugh Canning wrote in Opera Magazine that:
I was delighted to encounter her lovely, stylishly sung Mimi here: she has clearly been listening to Freni - no better model - to judge by her subtle and idiomatic use of portemento, but this was no carbon copy and she had plenty of vocal swell for 'Il Primo bacio del aprile e mio' from her Act 1 narration and emotional depth in her Act 3 farewell
Liping Zhang's debut disc was released by EMI Classics on 6 October in the UK, and on 11 November in the United States. The recording features arias by Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, and Donizetti.