Ahead of her tenure as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, set to begin in the 2025/26 season, Xian Zhang led the orchestra in three concerts on 12, 14, and 15 June 2025. The programme featured Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with violinist Hilary Hahn and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.
Melinda Bargreen from The Seattle Times wrote:
“Zhang urged the players forward with huge gestures, pointing, punching and moving the baton in huge arcs in the big moments of this exuberant, colorful score. An active, vibrant conductor, she knows how to keep the lighter passages fleet and crisp, how to balance the sections and bring out the more delicate woodwind lines…The players responded to Zhang with energy and intensity, meeting Prokofiev’s challenges of rapid-fire articulations and key changes…A confident and decisive conductor, Zhang clearly communicates her interpretation of the score, shaping the music with big gestures and small details, shading the dynamics and preserving balances among the sections. She is riveting to watch; her musical results are even more riveting to hear. Zhang’s music directorship should be a most interesting tenure.”
Read the full article here.
Photo: Benjamin Ealovega