After completing her early musical studies in China, Qiulin Zhangmade her first study trip to France in 1989 to attend the Schola Cantorum de Paris. She settled permanently in France in 1995, winning the Grand Prize at the Concours international de Marmande—awarded by a jury of seventeen directors of French opera houses—and continued her musical training at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris under the guidance of Andréa Guiot and Jacques Doucet.

She made her French stage debut in roles such as Maddalena (Rigoletto) at the Opéra de Rennes, Sextus (La clemenza di Tito) and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) at the Opéra de Saint-Étienne—a role she later reprised at the Opéra de Marseilleand the Irish National Opera. She also appeared as Ute in Oscar Straus’s Die lustigen Nibelungen at the Théâtre de Caen, and as the Mother in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Opéra d’Avignon.
Further engagements include Carmen (Carmen) at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with the Orchestre National de Lille, Rossweisse in Die Walküre at the Dutch National Opera and Schwertleite at the São Carlos National Theatre.

She is particularly renowned for her long-standing collaboration with the Théâtre du Capitole, where she has taken part in several landmark productions, including Médée, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Œdipe, The Magic Flute, and Dialogues des Carmélites.

A true contralto, she is especially associated with the role of Erda in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, which she has performed at the Théâtre du Capitole (directed by Nicolas Joël), the Théâtre du Châtelet (directed by Bob Wilson), and the Opéra Bastille (directed by Günter Krämer).

Her rich and rare vocal colour has enabled her to sing major works for voice and orchestra, such as Das Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler with the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach, at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the Proms, at the Escorial Palace in Madrid, and again with the Orchestre National de Lille under Jean-Claude Casadesus.
She has also performed Elias (Mendelssohn), the Mozart Requiem with the Orchestra of Marseille, Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Lorraine Philharmonic, the Wesendonck Lieder with the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris, the Verdi Requiem with the Besançon Orchestra, Chausson’s Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer, Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, and Reger’s Requiem at the Festival Radio France in Montpellier under Lawrence Foster.

She performed the Mother of Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Opéra de Massy and Erda in Siegfried at the Opéra Bastille.
She maintains close artistic ties with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, where she has sung Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin under Valery Gergiev, Azucena in Il Trovatore, and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.

She made her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Siegfried (Erda). She later took on the role of La Cieca in La Giocondaat the Opéra de Marseille. She participated in the world premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Solaris at the Oper Köln, and returned to Munich to sing Erda in Siegfried and the Mother in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
She has also portrayed Suzuki with the Nederlandse Reisopera, at the Festival Avenches Opéra, the Opéra de Lausanne, and at La Monnaie / De Munt.

She created a new work by Bright Sheng, Dream of the Red Chamber, in San Francisco, later performing it at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. She returned to Lausanne for Les Contes d’Hoffmann (the Mother) and Eugene Onegin (Filipyevna), and has appeared there in numerous concerts.