Xian Zhang was hired Thursday as music director of the Seattle Symphony, becoming the first woman conductor to head a major West Coast orchestra and filling a post that had been vacant since Thomas Dausgaard quit abruptly in January 2022.

Zhang agreed to a five-year contract starting in 2025-26, the orchestra said Thursday. She becomes music director designate this season.

She first conducted the orchestra at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall in June 2008 in Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky” and has returned several times, including for performances of Orff’s “Carmina Burana” in 2023 and Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” this April.

“With each visit, I realized the depth and the understanding of the music from the musicians,” she said. “It felt in a way musically speaking that we’re really on the same page and speaking the same language.”

Zhang has been music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2016-17 and won a 2023 Grammy Award for a recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the string trio Time for Three of works by Jennifer Higdon and Kevin Puts.

Seattle Symphony President Krishna Thiagarajan said he was impressed by “the energy and the connection between her and the orchestra that also translated to the audience.”

“She brings a new perspective to anything that she conducts while being truthful to traditional interpretations of what we would call core repertoire,” he said. “She has a great sense of contemporary American composers, especially contemporary American composers that have an ethnic background, of immigrant composers. She’s been a champion for the causes of women in music over her career.”

Following lengthy music director tenures of Gerard Schwarz (1985-2011) and Ludovic Morlot (2011-19), Dausgaard was hired in October 2017 to start a four-year contract in 2019-20. After Dausgaard quit with 1 1/2 seasons remaining in his contract, he told Danish National Radio’s P2 ,“I have felt threatened and I haven’t felt safe with going to work” and told The New York Times “I felt my life is too precious to be in such tension.” Orchestra officials denied any impropriety.

Jon Rosen, the lawyer who has chaired the orchestra’s board since August 2021, said Dausgaard’s messy departure “certainly was at least a subliminal consideration” in the search for a successor.

“We all wanted to have someone who was going to be very congenial, be able to relate to the musicians,” he said. “I certainly wanted to learn from the experience with Thomas.”

Born in China, Zhang started playing piano at 3, went to Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music and was invited by a teacher to step in to conduct Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” at 19 with the China National Opera Orchestra.

She attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, won the Maazel/Vilar International Conductors’ Competition in 2002 and was hired as the New York Philharmonic’s assistant conductor and later associate. Zhang became music director of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra from 2005-07 and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi from 2009-16.

Seattle had 176 scheduled concerts and 6,583 subscribers last season when it sold 69.65% of tickets, exceeding its 58.94% in the 2018-19 season before the pandemic. Revenue last season is estimated at $31.6 million, including $11.9 million from tickets.

Zhang is committed to up to 14 weeks annually with Seattle and eight with New Jersey, where she lives. Her 2024-25 season includes performances with the Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Zhang returns to the Seattle Symphony for programs in March and June.

She was in Brazil in June to conduct the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra when Alexander Monsey, her agent at IMG Artists, called to say the Seattle Symphony had offered her the job.

“I was kind of surprised,” she said. “I was completely not prepared to hear such good news.”

Seattle Public Schools students returned to class Wednesday, including those at Garfield High School.

Students there are still reeling over the death of 17-year-old Amarr Murphy-Paine. Murphy-Paine was gunned down on campus during the lunch hour in June.

“We still are very much thinking about Amarr and the affects that’s had on the community. But, coming back into this, the mood isn’t as somber as it was at the end of school last year,” one Garfield senior said to KIRO Newsradio.

Previous coverage: Parents expected to support students returning to Garfield following deadly shooting

Meanwhile, the school shooting in Georgia that left two students and two teachers dead has reopened wounds, and some students are angry.

“This has been a trend, for what, the past two decades? Every other developed nation doesn’t have to deal with this. So, why are we still lagging behind? We’re the best country out there,” another student said.

More from Georgia: 4 dead, 9 injured and suspect arrested in high school shooting

Securing students at Garfield High School in Seattle

On the campus Wednesday, there was a highly visible security presence. There was an Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer sitting in the parking lot for most of the day. Two private security officers could be seen patrolling the campus, and members of the organization Community Passageways, some of them parents of Garfield students, on the scene at lunch time to help make sure students are safe.

“We feel like we’re part of the community so we come out to do whatever we can to provide whatever support, and to use whatever leverage we have to provide other avenues of thinking for these young folks,” Garfield parent and Community Passageways Member Ted Evans said.

Community Passageways’ mission is to create alternatives to incarceration for youth and young adults by rebuilding communities through committed relationships centered on love, compassion and consistency.

“We think it’s important to build relationships with these young folks so hopefully it carries on in their lives, so we’ll have space to be able to speak to them,” Evans said.

In the wake of the shooting of Murphy-Paine, parents and invested community organizations pledged to help keep curb violence near the school. It’s a pledge they take seriously as their presence here today demonstrates.

In the meantime, students just want to feel safe.

“Everybody is just glad to see their friends after summer and to not have had anymore losses. And we’re hoping this sticks out through the rest of the school year,” one Garfield senior said to KIRO Newsradio.

James Lynch is a reporter at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of James’ stories here. Follow James on X, or email him here.

Follow @James_KIRORadio

The Seattle Mariners came into Wednesday’s game against the Oakland Athletics on a four-game losing streak. All those games were one-run losses and three were walk-offs. Whether it was frustration over how the last four days had went or simply a motivation to right the ship, Seattle didn’t give Oakland a chance to do the same thing thrice.

The Mariners put up a season-high in runs and snapped their four-game skid with a 16-3 win against the Athletics on Wednesday. It was the most runs scored by Seattle in a single game since a comeback win against the San Diego Padres on June 6, 2016.

The Mariners gained a game on the Astros and moved to 5.5 games behind them in the American League West. They’re still 5.5 games out of the third AL Wild Card with the win. Seattle improved to 70-70 on the year.

“A lot of positives tonight. Up and down the lineup,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Wednesday. ” … Offensively, we did a ton of great stuff up and down the lineup. Huge game for (Mitch Garver) — (Luis Urias) as well. Just some great at-bats all around. Using the other field, some great two-strike at bats. We’ve been talking a lot about the effort being there all week. These guys continued to fight and today was a great way for them to be able to bust out. A lot of positives everywhere.”

The Athletics got in front first after Brent Rooker hit an RBI single in the bottom of the opening inning.

It was one of a pair of blemishes for Seattle starting pitcher George Kirby. He had his first quality start since Aug. 18 after going six innings pitched and allowing six hits and two earned runs. He struck out nine batters and didn’t let up a free base.

Garver pulled the Mariners back in front with a two-run double in the top of the second and had an RBI single one inning later to put Seattle up 3-1. Garver’s single kick started one of several multi-run innings for the Mariners. Urias had an RBI double and Dylan Moore had an RBI single to bolster Seattle’s advantage to 5-1.

JJ Bleday gave Oakland its second run with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth.

The Mariners second multi-run inning came in the top of the seventh. Urias had a solo home run, Julio Rodriguez had an RBI single, Randy Arozarena had a two-run double, Victor Robles brought in a score with a single, Urias was walked with the bases loaded and Moore brought in another score with a sacrifice fly. By the end of the inning, Seattle owned a 12-2 lead.

Zack Gelof scored the Athletics’ third and final run in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of a Max Schuemann ground out.

Then Seattle put the cherry on top of its season-high offensive showcase with four more runs in the top of the eighth.

Robles had a two-RBI double, Garver brought Justin Turner in with a ground out and Urias had an RBI double for the eventual final of 16-3.

The bottom four batters in the Mariners’ order (Robles, Garver, Urias, Moore) combined for 13 RBIs on 10 hits. Urias and Robles both went 3-for-4 and every single batter in Seattle’s lineup recorded a base hit.

As good as Wednesday was for Seattle, it doesn’t erase the previous four games on the road trip. Four one-run losses hurt, espeically this late in the season.

But with 22 games left, maybe Wednesday can be something of a blueprint for the Mariners to follow to avoid close games in the future and take advantage of their weak schedule.

Seattle will hope to come out of its last-ever series at Oakland Coliseum with a split. The Mariners will play the Athletics in a series finale at 12:37 p.m. PT on Thursday.

Bryan Woo will get the start in the series finale.

ATHLETICS WALK-OFF MARINERS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT GAME: The Seattle Mariners lost 3-2 to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday; It was Seattle’s fourth-consecutive loss — all by one run. CLICK HERE

RALEY PROVING HIS WORTH FOR SEATTLE: Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh could join Hall of Famer Gary Carter in a very exclusive category. CLICK HERE

RALEIGH SETS MARINERS HISTORY: Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh passed Dan Wilson in an impressive stat during Tuesday’s loss against the Oakland Athletics. CLICK HERE

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @wdevradiobrady