Born in Dailan (China), he studied music at the Liaoning Opera, Theatre and Dance Centre. In 2001, he joined Professor Yan Yang’s voice class and graduated with a BA in Voice Studies.
In 2004, he won the Golden Prize in the Bel Canto category at the annual Chinese televised young singers competition.
He represented his region at the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition in Gütersloh (Germany), where he received an Honorable Mention. In the same year, he won the Silver Medal at the 5th International Singing Competition « Jin Zhong Jiang ».
He then studied for two years at CNIPAL in Marseille.
He won Troisième Prix du Concours Operalia/Domingo 2009.
Wenwei Zhang performed in the premier of Battistelli’s Divorzio all’italiana in Nancy. He was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike at the Festival de Montpellier as Orosmano (Bellini’s Zaïra). During the 2009/2010 season, he was a member of the Frankfurt Oper opera studio and sang roles including Le Fauteuil and l’Arbre (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges) in Nancy, Lord Rochefort (Anna Bolena) in Munich.
In the period 2011 to 2017, his roles have included Larkens (La fanciulla del West) and Der 2. Geharnischter (Die Zauberflöte) at the Opéra de Paris and Frankfurt, Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Filippo II (Don Carlo) in Dortmund, Varlaam (Boris Godunov), Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) in Dortmund and Beijing, Sarastro in Bordeaux, Oroveso (Norma) and Colline (La Bohème) in Dortmund, Ferrando (Il Trovatore) in Bordeaux, 5. Jude (Salome) in Monte-Carlo, Le Comte des Grieux (Manon), Ferrando (Il Trovatore) in Dortmund, Il Grande Inquisitore (Don Carlo) in Bordeaux…
As a member of the Opernhaus Zurich ensemble from 2024 to 202I, he has sung Oroveso (Norma), Wurm (Luisa Miller), Raimundo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ramfis (Aida), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Varlaam (Boris Godunov), Lord Valton (I Puritani), Hermit (Der Freischütz), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Banquo (Macbeth), Klingsor (Parsifal), Nourabad (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Timur (Turandot), Raimundo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Pluton and Neptune (Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie), Il Marchese di Calatrava / Padre Guardiano (La Forza del Destino), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte).
He has also been invited to perform the role of Sarastro in Marseille and on tour with the Komische Oper Berlin at the Opéra Comique in Paris, in Seoul and in New-York (Lincoln Center).