Zhang Xian works with celebrated orchestras around the world and has regularly performed in China since 2008.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"I'm lucky to have had enlightening mentors," Zhang says of her female conducting teachers in China, including Zheng Xiaoying.

She took first prize at the Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition in 2002.

She became US conductor Lorin Maazel's assistant at the New York Philharmonic that year and became the philharmonic's assistant conductor in 2004.

"I learned so much from him (Lorin Maazel), such as the importance of planning rehearsals," Zhang says.

"During those five or six years in New York, I listened to a lot of music by different musicians, which was great training and broadened by vision. I met great musicians there, who gave young conductors like me lots of advice."

She served as the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra's music director from 2005 to 2007 and has been the Milan's Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra's since 2009.

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