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Zhang Haifeng Awarded International Conductor Award
Chinese conductor Zhang Haifeng recently attended the Youth Conductor Competition, held as part of the 14th World Orchestra Contest in Holland. After three elimination rounds, Zhang came first among the 80 competitors, and was awarded the Golden Baton Prize. Zhang broke through the long-standing tradition of winning conductors being from Europe, as they had been for the previous eight competitions. Except for Zhang and another conductor from Singapore, all other contestants came from European countries. This was the first time a Chinese conductor has attended this major contest, according to latest issue of Beijing Review.
The compositions selected for the competition were difficult to conduct, and most have not been performed in China. Zhang didn't receive all the compositions until three days before the start of the contest. Even after such a short preparation time, Zhang made it into the finals. The modern orchestral work, "Poem of Fire", was difficult to conduct. But his perfect conducting skills, correct understanding of the musical style and flawless cooperation with the Dutch Royal Navy Orchestra won top marks from adjudicators. As the first Chinese winner of the Golden Conductor Prize, he has gained honor for all Chinese people.
Born into a musical family in 1968, Zhang was fond of classical music and started to learn to play piano and clarinet when he was a little boy. Later he entered the People's Liberation Army��PLA�� Musical Conservatory, where he majored in clarinet. Afterwards he majored as a conductor at the Central Musical Conservatory, and was taught by famous conductor Xu Xin, former dean of the Conducting Department of the Central Musical Conservatory.
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