Dr. Sophie Xuefei Zhang’s academic and artistic interests are rooted in the intersection of music, education, art, and cultural exploration.
As a pianist and chamber musician, Zhang shared the stage with artists including Kim Kashkashian, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Ian Swensen, Bonnie Hampton, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Takács Quartet, Ives String Quartet, American String Quartet, Windscape, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A winner of the Felix Galimir Chamber Music Award, she attended the Chamber Music program at The Banff Centre on a full scholarship. Zhang performed at venues such as the Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Nicholas Roerich Museum, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Snape Maltings in UK, Canadian Opera Company's Richard Bradshaw Theatre, among others. She has been heard on Beijing Music Radio Station FM97.4 and CBC Radio’s Soundstreams Canada. Zhang served as artist-in-residence with her piano duo at Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec, and with Aleron Trio at San Francisco's Old First Concert Series.
As an educator, Zhang has given lecture-recitals on topics such as Schumann and Shostakovich piano trios and intersections of Van Gogh’s paintings to Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, presenting at institutions such as Duke University (Kunshan), Tsinghua University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She led chamber music masterclasses for the Alexander String Quartet at San Francisco State University and coached chamber ensembles at the Crowden School in Berkeley. She also taught applied lessons at Columbia University and was adjunct faculty at City Univerisity of New York.
Zhang was the co-founder of Lex54 Concerts. Zhang's musical compositions include art songs recorded by soprano Chelsea Hollow, produced by Aerocade Music, and performed at venues such as New York City Lyric Opera and San Francisco's Herbst Theater. Her interest in art also led her to serve as gallery lecturer at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Zhang earned a bachelor's degree in Piano Performance with a minor concentration in Fine Art History from the University of Toronto, a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, and an Artist Certificate in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds a Doctor of Education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, where her research focused on interdisciplinary and aesthetic education in the music conservatory. Zhang currently serves as Assistant Dean of Pre-College at The Tianjin Juilliard School.