Wen Zhang

A native of China, Wen Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Voice and the Coordinator of the Music Program at Dillard University in New Orleans, where she joined the music faculty in the fall of 2014. Dr. Zhang holds a DMA degree in voice from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, an EDM degree in music education from the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York and a MM degree in vocal performance from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Since 2012, she has been a frequent Lecturer at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Nanjing University of Fine Arts and Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in China.

As a scholar, Dr. Zhang has two scholarly books published worldwide by the Lambert Academic Publishing (2015 and 2018) and two research articles published nationwide by the Journal of Singing (2011 and 2016). Because of her outstanding research, she was invited to present at the UNCF Mellon Teaching and Learning Institute (2018), International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education world conferences in East Lansing, U.S. (2011) and International Society for Music Education world conference in Beijing, China (2010). Since 2015, Dr. Zhang has been awarded five times at the Faculty/Staff Research Symposium of Dillard University.

As a well-trained mezzo-soprano, Dr. Zhang has performed many times in Dillard University Christmas Concert and the Trinity Artist Series of New Orleans. During her singing career years in New York, she performed numbers of operatic roles with Asian and American opera companies such as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Carmen and Mercedes in Carmen, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. She made her New York City debut in 2002, singing the role of Dame Quickly in Falstaff with the New York Grand Opera. She also made her solo debut with the orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, New York in 2009, performing excerpts from Carmen. Her signature role in Musical Theater is Lady Thiang in The King & I, for which she has performed in more than 700 shows with the National & International Tour Company as well as some regional theaters, and received a Carbonell Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (2003).