Xian Zhang (SHE-an Zhang) was born in 1973 in Dandong in coastal northeastern China, on the North Korean border. Her father was a musician and instrument-maker who built her a piano, and she took up the instrument at age four, taught by her mother. She studied music at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, taking up conducting at age 16 and receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in the field. Much of the school's curriculum at that time followed Russian methods. At 19, Zhang made her conducting debut, leading the China National Opera Orchestra in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. After serving as conductor-in-residence of Beijing's China Opera House and conductor of the Jinfan Symphony Orchestra, Zhang moved to the U.S. in 1998. She earned a doctoral degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she was music director of the school's Concert Orchestra for four years.

In 2002, Zhang shared first prize in the inaugural Maazel-Vilar Conductor's Competition. That brought her to the attention of conductor Lorin Maazel, then music director of the New York Philharmonic. She became cover conductor there in 2002, rising to assistant conductor and finally associate conductor, splitting a Philharmonic subscription concert with Maazel in 2005. That year, she made her recording debut, serving as assistant conductor on the Philharmonic's recording The Secrets of Dvorák's Cello Concerto, and she became music director of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra in South Dakota, remaining there until 2007. Zhang also began to attract guest conducting invitations in the U.S. and Europe, and in 2008, she became the first woman to conduct the venerable Staatskapelle Dresden in its principal venue.

In 2009, Zhang became music director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (of which she remains direttore emerita); she was the first female music director of any Italian symphony orchestra. In 2011, she added the artistic leadership of the Nederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie, remaining there until 2015. The following year, Zhang became music director of the New Jersey Symphony; her contract has been extended through the 2027-2028 season. She was also named the principal guest conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which she has conducted at the BBC Proms concerts. Zhang was the first female conductor named to a titled post with any BBC orchestra. In 2015, she conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in its recording Horizon 6, a collection of contemporary pieces. In 2022, Zhang conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon recording Letters for the Future, featuring the bluegrass-classical string trio Time for Three. ~ James Manheim, Rovi