Described by Opera Magazine as a “lambent mezzo-soprano” and possessing a “confident, fearless stage presence”, New Zealand mezzo-soprano Cecilia Yufan Zhang is in the final year of the Royal College of Music International Opera Studio, where she studies as a Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar.
In the 2025/26 season, Cecilia performs the roles of Lapák / Woodpecker in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Il Cavalier Ramiro in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera with the Royal College of Music. She will also return to New Zealand Opera as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. Other recent roles include the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (British Youth Opera), Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus (Westminster Opera) and Julia Bertram in Mansfield Park (New Zealand Opera).
Cecilia recently made her Wigmore Hall debut in a programme of French mélodie by Mel Bonis. She has also undertaken workshops and artist residencies with Glyndebourne Opera’s Contemporary Opera Lab and the Britten Pears Programme.
Cecilia holds conjoint degrees in Commerce and Music from the University of Auckland and was a former artist of the Te Pae Kōkako Opera Studio, supported by the Freemasons Foundation and Circle100.