Mengqi Zhang is passionate for contemporary works and created several parts in the past few years: in 2025, she will make her debut at Komische Oper Berlin, where she will create the title role in Penderbayne’s opera Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse; in 2022 the coloratura soprano created Ariel in Haas’ Sycorax at Bühnen Bern and Ermittlerin in Leuschner’s Einbruch mehrerer Dunkelheiten at Staatstheater Kassel. In 2020, she created Mowgli in Sollima‘s The Dschunglebook at Oper Kiel and Gourzi’s Rezitativ der Antigone op. 81, she performed again at Konzerthaus Berlin in 2022. In 2023, she returned to Staatsoper Hannover for the world premiere of Olivia Hyunsin Kim’s Turning Turandot, followed by another premiere: Betty in Wanda Walfisch, music theatre for children with works by the renaissance, in 2024, and a revival of Ben Frost’s Der Mordfall Halit Yazgat in 2025.
The 2022/23 season saw the coloratura soprano’s debut at Staatsoper Hannover in the title role in Ronchetti’s The Adventures of Pinocchio and her return to Oper Bern for La Princesse, Le Feu and Le Rossignol in a new production of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges and Brigitte in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. In 2022, the coloratura soprano made her role debut as La princesse Eudoxie in Halévy’s La Juive at Oper Kiel. In 2017, Mengqi Zhang performed Contessa di Folleville in Rossini‘s Il viaggio a Reims for the first time in a production at Universität der Künste in Berlin. She worked with directors David Bösch, Marco Dott, Frank Hilbrich, Daniel Karasek, Ingo Kerkhof, Florentine Klepper, Pier Francesco Maestrini, Dirk Schmeding.
In 2016, Mengqi Zhang took part in a birthday concert for composer Aribert Reimann and gave a solo concert in her hometown of Chuxiong. She also appeared in a production of Bruno Maderna‘s Satyricon presented by Universität der Künste in Budapest. Her repertoire as a concert soloist includes works by Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart. She was awarded for her creation of Gourzi’s Rezitativ der Antigone op. 81 in 2020. She is also a dedicated recitalist with a repertoire including works by Eva dell’Aqua, Gustav Mahler, Max Reger, Aribert Reimann, Wolfgang Rihm, Franz Schreker, Klara Schumann, Richard Strauss and Manfred Trojahn.
The coloratura soprano was accompanied by orchestras including Berliner Sinfoniker, Berner Symphonieorchester, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Staatsorchester Kassel and performed under the baton of Francesco Angelico, Nicholas Carter, Enrico Fresis, Fausto Nardi, Benjamin Reiners, and Lior Shambadal.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced. © Artistainternational, March 2025.
Curb: Night
Recording 2022
Gourzi: Rezitativ der Antigone op. 81
Recording 2023
Schubert: Liederkreis op. 39
In der Fremde…
Recording 2022
