Soprano gets rare teaching job in top Italian music school
Inside a baroque hall with golden leaf patterns, Zheng Nan is instructing Ciara Brandolini, a young Italian soprano, in singing the aria Quel guardo, il cavaliere by Gaetano Donizetti. As the coda approaches, Zheng holds the hands of Brandolini and joins in the singing. Their velvety voices interweave to the accompaniment of a piano, creating a scene of serenity and harmony.
Zheng was recently offered a tenure-track position by the Giacomo Puccini Conservatoire, becoming the first Chinese-born soprano to teach singing at an Italian national music academy.
Out of more than 100 applicants for the job, Zheng topped the rigorous screening process, an on-the-spot performance, an interview and a trial teaching session.
“I was very confident showing up for the interview. Indeed, I am very fortunate to be employed, but then, they are also very fortunate to have a teacher like me,” says Zheng, 39, half-jokingly.
What makes Zheng, as a Chinese, stand out among native Italian singers in the birthplace of opera?
“I believe one of the reasons is my clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of teaching methods in the East and the West,” she says in an interview on social media from Milan.
Brandolini, a student from Zheng’s foundation course, says: “Zheng follows the traditional bel canto and can explain how to use parts of my body. I am able to acquire different techniques from studying with her.”
With 11 years of study at Chinese music schools and seven years of advanced studies in Italy, Zheng has developed her own unique education philosophy — to offer students not only techniques but also the space for self-development.
Enrolling at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with the highest marks for an entrance exam there in 1999, Zheng says she learned a lot from the conservatory’s musicians.
Xu Qing, whose performance company worked with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in staging The Marriage of Figaro in 2000, recalls: “Zheng, always at the top of her class, was naturally cast as the prima donna.”
Ever since the first opera performance, Zheng has sought every opportunity to learn, perform and exchange ideas. This is also her advice for today’s music students — “patience and accumulation are the fundamental things. Be brave, to communicate and to try”.
With a scholarship, Zheng went to Italy and studied at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, obtaining a master’s degree in opera singing.
In 2006, she became the first Chinese singer to perform at the Rossini Opera Festival, an international music event that aims at reviving Rossini’s operas.
Zheng also founded the Giuseppe Verdi Cultural Association with the aim of providing opportunities to Chinese students who want to study music in Italy and perform in the West.
According to Xu, Italian conservatories have been paying attention to the Chinese market, and more music students from China are becoming interested in studying in Italy.
In 2017, the Rossini Conservatory had asked Zheng’s cultural association to recruit students for the International Singing Master Class with Jose Carreras.
“Zheng’s new teaching job means even more opportunities for the Chinese market,” says Xu. “Having gained a foothold in Italy, Zheng can help outstanding music students from China to study and perform in Italy and bring back their experiences to China.”
So far, the cultural association has cooperated with music academies in China including the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in creating opportunities for cultural exchanges between Italy and China. In December, Zheng and her husband, Mauro Bonfanti, an Italian baritone, came to the Nanjing University of the Arts for a master class.
Zheng and Bonfanti, who first met at a concert performance in the Italian city of Pesaro, have supported each other for a long time.
“I am still moved by him giving up a performance conducted by Zubin Mehta because of my pregnancy. We always think of each other, and I guess this is the key to happiness,” Zheng says.
Zheng has had nearly 10 singing teachers from China, Italy and Britain, but Bonfanti is among those who have most influenced her.
“He is a great vocal teacher who is good at singing, summarizing and listening. I have secretly learned a lot from him,” Zheng says.
They are now a happy family with a daughter and a son. In parenting, Zheng also values the space for self-development.
“We now have great facilities for music education, but my son is interested in sports. So be it.”
Patience and accumulation are the fundamental things. Be brave, to communicate and to try.”