Zhang Huoding(L) performs The Legend of the White Snake at Lincoln Center in New York on Wednesday. [Photo/Xinhua]

The audience at Lincoln Center got the encore they worked for.

As the curtain fell at the David H. Koch Theater in New York, some in the audience shouted the name Zhang Huoding again and again. Then the curtain rose, prompting a thunderous round of applause, and Zhang stepped out and greeted the audience in the graceful, Chinese traditional way and presented another short piece of Peking Opera.

It was the US debut for Zhang, one of the premier Peking Opera actresses in China. Her performance filled the theater and was a resounding critical and commercial success.

"Zhang Huoding is absolutely amazing, and her voice and performance were so beautiful, so passionate and so special," Marc Karimzadeh said after watching Zhang's The Legend of the White Snake on Wednesday.

"It is very new to me, and I am excited to see something from a culture that I am not that familiar with," he said. "The subtitles do work well, and I have no problem with the story."