Liang Ning was born in Guangdong and entered the provincial Arts Academy in 1974, later joining the Guangzhou Philharmonic Society as a soloist. She started to study with Shen Xiang in Beijing in 1979 and went on to further study at the Central Conservatory, later earning a master’s degree at the Juilliard School. Liang Ning has performed outside China, winning the gold medal at The Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in Helsinki in 1984. She is also a winner of the Metropolitan National Council Competition, the Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, the Loren L. Zachery Competition, and the Luciano Pavarotti Competition, establishing herself in the eyes of Western critics as a singer of great ability. Liang has already been heard in many of the world's leading opera houses. She is the first Chinese singer ever to perform principal roles at such international houses as Milan’s La Scala (Idamante), the Metropolitan Opera (as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier), and Vienna State Opera (as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos). She also performed at the Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Opera, Convent Garden, Deutsche Staatsoper, Bologna's Teatro Comunale, Opéra Marseilles, Royal Opera La Monnaie in Brussels, Israeli Opera and many others. Having made her Metropolitan Opera début as Octavian, Liang returned to the Met and sang the role of the Shaman in the première of Tan Dun's opera The First Emperor. She also sang the role of Lu in three different productions of Tan Dun's opera Tea at Suntory Hall, Japan with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2002, with the Netherlands Opera in 2003, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic staged by Chiang Ching in 2007.
