Global Summer Institute of Music

Dr. Xi Zhang

Dr. Xi Zhang serves as professor of piano at Shanghai Normal University and General Secretary of the Shanghai Professional Pianists Association. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. 

Dr. Zhang made her European debut at the age of 19, giving a recital tour of seven cities in Norway. Since then, she has performed widely throughout the United States, Europe, and China and has given recitals in venues such as the Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington D.C. and the National Performing Arts Center in Beijing.  She has collaborated with Eugenia Zukerman, Bin Huang, and Hyun-Su Shin, among many others. Pianist George Sandor described her as playing “with superb sensitivity and technique”. Dr. Zhang’s solo album containing works of Haydn and Schumann was released by Shanghai Music Publishing House. 

Dr. Zhang was the chief editor of the Shanghai Piano Exam Anthology with distribution of more than 60000 copies. She has published numerous journal articles and given lectures on the subjects of music analysis and piano pedagogy. Dr. Zhang has been a visiting professor at Shanghai Conservatory and has served as faculty at the Global Summer Institute of Music at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Shanghai International Piano Institute, and the Silk Road International Piano Summer Institute. Many of Dr. Zhang’s students have won top prizes at international piano competitions, including 1st prize at both the Vienna International Piano Competition and Shanghai International Piano Competition.

A prizewinner of multiple competitions, Dr. Zhang received the top prize at the Boca Piano Competition and second prize at the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition. She is a named Liberace Scholar and Shanghai Pujiang Scholar.