Xian Zhang makes history as Seattle Symphony music director

Pioneering conductor Xian Zhang will become the first woman and first person of color to lead the 121-year-old Seattle Symphony, starting in 2025, the orchestra said. Born in Dandong, China, Zhang moved to the US in her twenties and forged a glittering career in classical ensembles — despite feeling at times like an “endangered species” in the largely white, male-dominated world, she once told The New York Times. She will be one of only two women leading a top-tier American orchestra, the Times wrote.

The Seattle Symphony is hoping Zhang will usher in a new era after its previous musical director left abruptly in 2022. “There’s an electricity between her and the orchestra, and an electricity between her and the audience,” its president said. “You can feel it in the hall.”