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Biography

Sylvia Wang has performed as soloist and collaborative pianist across the U.S., Europe, Asia, Central America, Australia, Argentina and Lebanon. Venues include the Queen Elizabeth Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, the Teatro Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and at Chicago’s Symphony Center with pianist Elizabeth Buccheri and the Hubbard Street Dancers. She has also recorded music for piano trio by Copland, Schoenfield, Baker and Kirchner with Molly Fung and Bryan Dumm for the Newport Classic label and music for oboe and piano with Nancy Ambrose King for Boston Records. Other recording projects range from the piano works of Debussy to contemporary chamber music for the Northeastern label and New World Records. She has been a winner and finalist for various competitions including the Royal Overseas League Music Festival in London leading to a performance at St. James’ Palace under the baton of Sir Arthur Davison, the AVANTI award leading to a debut in London’s Purcell Room, Chamber Music Yellow Springs in Ohio and the J.S. Bach International Piano Competition in Washington, D.C.

In addition to her work at Northwestern University, she has served as adjudicator and presenter for such institutions as the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, the Centre for Young Musicians in London, the Chautauqua Institution in New York, the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Western Australia and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music; she was also on the selection jury of the William Kapell competition. She is the author of the e-book, Memorization and the Pianist, which has sold in Japan, Europe, Australia and the United States. During the pandemic, she completed work on fugaleze.com, an interactive edition of the works of J.S. Bach designed to help in the study and preparation of selected contrapuntal works.

At age 17, she left her native Penang, Malaysia to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a recipient of the prestigious Associated Board scholarship, earning the highest award in solo performance, the Recital Diploma. Thereafter, she graduated with the M.M. and D.M.A. and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Prior to the pandemic, she returned regularly to Asia to teach and perform, with engagements at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore and a six-city tour of China. In addition to her work for “regular” audiences, she is proud to have presented animal-themed concerts for children in schools, hospitals and concert halls across Southeast Asia. In recognition of “distinction in the field,” she was conferred an honorary Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music in London.