Accomplished instrumentalist Jocelyn Zhang has performed with orchestras and festivals in Canada and around the world, becoming an international musician.
Two instruments define Jocelyn Zhang’s career: the concert flute and the piccolo. The first reflects vibrato technique and the ability to control breathing for long sections. The second can be more difficult with a high tone that extends above the sounds of the overall orchestra, leaving little room for error.
Zhang is proficient in both, often playing at festivals and in orchestras. A Canadian flautist and piccoloist, she trained in Bloomington and Cincinnati and later performed in the United States, Italy, Germany and her country of origin, Canada.
In 2024, she was selected as one of two flautists for the Brott Music Festival in Hamilton, Ontario. The summer festival has been recognized for bringing together new and emerging musicians at the professional level in the Canadian music circuit.
Later in October of the same year, she won first place in the University of Cincinnati Piccolo Concerto Competition. During the competition, she performed Vivaldi’s Piccolo Concerto in C major as a soloist with the CCM Concert Orchestra.
Reaching this level has been an intense journey for Zhang, filled with competition and the pursuit of excellence. It’s this struggle that has made her a well-traveled musician and burgeoning global artist.
Develop a global voice
A notable facet of Zhang’s playing is the consistency of sound she is able to express. She built this consistency through her studies, first at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, then at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Zhang was taught by Randolph Bowman of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Demarre McGill of the Seattle Symphony. Their names also adorn the venues she has found herself performing in ever since: a thousand-seat outdoor amphitheater in upstate New York, a historic auditorium in the Italian Dolomites, and a concert hall in Hamilton, Ontario.
In 2016, while still a student in Calgary, Zhang performed on Breakfast Television Calgary in a segment covering the Calgary Performing Arts Festival. She was also the only woodwind player selected for the Festival Stars concert at Bella Concert Hall that same year. The showcase was reserved for notable musicians from all disciplines, although woodwinds had not yet found a place on the list. Zhang, however, found his place there thanks to his talent.
A complete program and a trip around the world
Just one year after the Stars du Festival concert, she was on tour in Germany with the Calgary Youth Orchestra. Then came Indiana, Cincinnati and Italy, where she performed Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at the Auditorium Intercomunale Primiero.
The venue is nestled in the Dolomites, where the decor is as much a part of the experience as the music. Each transition required an audition, with no guarantee of success, but Zhang found it.
Adding to her repertoire, in the summer of 2023, Zhang performed at the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra in New York. At the festival, she performed Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi at the Chautauqua Amphitheater.
His repertoire over these years extends well beyond concert halls. At Indiana University, she performed Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. In Italy, Strauss. In Chautauqua, Puccini. In Canada, Rossini. Four composers, four very different orchestral texturesall requiring the same instrument to disappear into someone else’s story for a few hours at a time.
A world musician
In April 2025, Zhang performed at the Central Ohio Flute Association Showcase in Columbus and in May she performed for the Cincinnati Flute Society. She advanced to the semifinals in the second audition for flute and piccolo for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra in 2026. The competition attracts musicians with established orchestral experience, making it a process for those like Zhang seeking greatness.
Over the years, Zhang has demonstrated a voracious thirst for performance since she was a student. His drive and commitment to developing his skills have earned him repeated recognition with performances on impactful stages and with important organizations.
She became a world traveler and international musician with performances across continents, stages and instruments.
