"Master of Verdi" (Carlo Bergonzi)

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"Exquisite tonality and perfect cantabile" (Sir Antonio Pappano)

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"Melodious voice and convincing performance"  (El Mercurio)

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Zhou Zhengzhong is a professional opera singer. He graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of professor Zhang Renqing, and teaches at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the First Prize (Opera category) and Second Prize (French art songs category) at the International Opera Singing Competition of Marmande, and the Third Prize at the International Singing Competition of Toulouse. He was also awarded the scholarship from the Centre national d’insertion professionnelle d’artistes lyriques to undergo a two-year internship at Marseilles. Thereafter, he was admitted to the Royal Opera House under the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme before he joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin as an ensemble member.

Zhou Zhengzhong is highly active on the international opera stage, having performed at many leading theatres. He has collaborated with both Chinese and foreign renowned conductors such as Donald Runnicles, Andris Nelsons, Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Oren, Tang Muhai, Lü Jia and Lan Shui, and played the leading role in operas, including Rigoletto, Roméo et Juliette, Madama Butterfly, Salome, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Faust and Le Nozze di Figaro. In addition, he has participated in the recording of Werther on Deutsche Grammophon and Le portrait de Manon by Opera Rara. He has also recorded Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole, Rigoletto, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly with Opus Arte Royal Opera House and so on.

In renowned classical music critic Hugh Canning’s commentary on Zhou’s performance in Faust, he characterised Zhou as the undisputed best interpreter of the character Valentin he has ever encountered, whether in terms of his image, voice, diction, language handling or musical performance. Other critics include Tim Smith from the British magazine, Opera, who described his interpretation of an earl to have led Le Nozze di Figaro toward a climax and enabled a tightly-knit performance. Chilean newspaper El Mercurio lauded him for his “melodious voice and convincing performance”. Famous tenor Carlo Bergonzi referred to Zhou Zhengzhong as the “Master of Verdi” after listening to his singing, while British conductor Sir Antonio Pappano characterised him as having an exquisite tonality and perfect cantabile.

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Upcoming engagements include Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Zurga (Les Pêcheurs de Perles) at the National Centre of Performing Arts, China, and Valentin (Faust) at the Chile National Opera House, and a collaboration with the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra in Madama Butterfly and Mahler's Symphony No.8 in E-flat major.