Wenwei Zhang
Born in Dailan (China), he studied music at the Liaoning Opera, Theatre and Dance Centre. He then studied for two years at CNIPAL in Marseille. He won Troisième Prix du Concours Operalia/Domingo 2009.
Wenwei Zhang performed in the premier of Battistelli’s Divorzio all’italiana in Nancy. He was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike at the Festival de Montpellier as Orosmano (Bellini’s Zaïra). During the 2009/2010 season, he was a member of the Frankfurt Oper opera studio and sang roles including Le Fauteuil and l’Arbre (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges) in Nancy, Lord Rochefort (Anna Bolena) in Munich.
In the period 2011 to 2017, his roles have included Larkens (La fanciulla del West) and Der 2. Geharnischter (Die Zauberflöte) at the Opéra de Paris and Frankfurt, Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Filippo II (Don Carlo) in Dortmund, Varlaam (Boris Godunov), Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) in Dortmund and Beijing, Sarastro in Bordeaux, Oroveso (Norma) and Colline (La Bohème) in Dortmund, Ferrando (Il Trovatore) in Bordeaux, 5. Jude (Salome) in Monte-Carlo, Le Comte des Grieux (Manon), Ferrando (Il Trovatore) in Dortmund, Il Grande Inquisitore (Don Carlo) in Bordeaux…
In 2014, he joined the Opernhaus Zurich ensemble, singing Oroveso (Norma), Wurm (Luisa Miller), Raimundo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ramfis (Aida), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Varlaam (Boris Godunov), Lord Valton (I Puritani), Hermit (Der Freischütz), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Banquo (Macbeth), Klingsor (Parsifal), Nourabad (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Timur (Turandot), Raimundo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Pluton and Neptune (Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie), Il Marchese di Calatrava / Padre Guardiano (La Forza del Destino).
He sang the role of Sarastro in the Berlin Komische Oper tour at the Opéra Comique in Paris, in Seoul and in New- York (Lincoln Center).
He will sing Timur (Turandot) in Zurich in 2023.