Zheng Cao

Zheng Cao was born to parents Mao Yuan Cao and Xiao Jiao Huang in Shanghai, China. Her sister Dan Cao, four years her senior, is her only sibling. As an undergraduate, she attended Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 1988, Cao moved to the United States to attend American University in Washington, D.C. to study English and sing. She then began attending Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In July 1990, she began performing as a mezzo-soprano at the Chinese Community Church in Washington DC. In 1993, Cao earned a Master's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1994, Cao was accepted to the Merola Opera Program, a San Francisco training program at the San Francisco Opera Center for opera singers, coaches, and stage directors. There, Cao sang the role of Dorabella in the Italian-language opera buffa Cosi fan tuttle. She was subsequently chosen to be an Adler Fellow for the San Francisco Opera. While in the two-year performance-oriented residency for promising young artists,