With virtuosity and “enviable idiomatic rigor” (The Wall Street Journal) at the service of “pure poetry” (Seen and Heard International), pianist Derek Wang is drawing increasing acclaim in the roles of soloist, collaborator, curator, and communicator.

A proponent of the music of Franz Liszt, Derek was awarded second prize at the 12th International Liszt Competition (Liszt Utrecht) in 2022. His final round performance with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by Christian Reif was hailed as “spectacular” by de Volkskrant. The prize, which includes three years of concert engagements, follows on the heels of first prize at the inaugural New York International Liszt Competition in 2021, for which he was awarded an all-Liszt debut recital in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Recent performances as recitalist include a five-concert tour of the Netherlands and debuts for the Fazioli Concert Hall series in Italy, the Nohant Festival Chopin in France, the American Liszt Society in New York, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, and the Florida Keys Concert Association. In 2024, Derek performed with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and conductor Xian Zhang as finalist of the Concours musical international de Montréal and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Rory Macdonald as prizewinner of the Hastings International Piano Competition.

In chamber music, Derek is a recital partner to violinist Robert McDuffie, with regular appearances at the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, in addition to a recent engagement performing Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Violin and Piano with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río in Mexico conducted by Jorge Mester. Derek is a returning guest artist in Rome, at the Moab Music Festival in Utah, and at the Vail Dance Festival in Colorado, where, most recently, he collaborated in premiere works by choreographer Lauren Lovette, with music by Caroline Shaw, and by Tiler Peck, with music by Meredith Monk, reprising the latter work to critical acclaim at the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center.

This season, he takes on a role as Creative Enterprise Fellow at Juilliard, curating a range of programs including sesquicentennial celebrations of composer Charles Ives and poet Rainer Maria Rilke, an interdisciplinary pairing of ecological texts with George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale), and an all-Philip Glass marathon concert on the composer’s 88th birthday.

Deeply experienced in contemporary music, Derek held a three-summer-long fellowship position as pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival under conductors Donald Crockett and Timothy Weiss, performing a total of over fifty works of the 20th and 21st centuries including premieres of works by the festival’s composition fellows. He has also appeared as soloist with the AXIOM Ensemble at Juilliard conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky. Derek’s repertoire includes concertante works by John Adams (Grand Pianola Music), Alban Berg (Chamber Concerto), Elliott Carter (Double Concerto for Piano and Harpsichord), and Unsuk Chin (Double Concerto for Piano and Percussion). Most recently, he joined violinist Sophia Stoyanovich on the album Rue Paradis: Chamber Works of Patrick Stoyanovich, issued on Bridge Records and hailed as “a standout release” by Fanfare.

Derek is widely praised for his ability to speak about music to audiences of all kinds, and in formats ranging from traditional pre-concert talks to podcasts and other digital media. In 2023, he served as guest host for WQXR New York’s Young Artists Showcase. Previously, Derek appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk video series for a special episode of From the Top, emceeing, interviewing, and performing with young instrumental soloists. In 2020, Derek partnered with violinist Sophia Stoyanovich to produce American Stories, a series of podcast episodes that examine and celebrate American identity through music in performance, illuminated by personal histories and reflections from guests including a nurse on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, an adventuresome family of five living in an RV, a poet and founder of a Black artists’ community center, and a long-haul truck driver.

In a multimedia collaboration between animation and music, Derek has performed the études of Chopin live as a synchronized soundtrack to the short film collection Magic Piano and The Chopin Shorts, produced by Academy Award winner Hugh Welchman. He has brought the family-friendly immersive concert experience to the Film Society of Lincoln Center for its 2012 premiere, to the Dallas Opera House, and on two tours of China that spanned nine cities. He has also performed and discussed the films’ impact on young audiences as a guest speaker at the EG conference in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and at the La Ciudad de Las Ideas conference in Puebla, Mexico.

Derek holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard, where he was the recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and the Joseph W. Polisi Prize for exemplifying the values of the artist as citizen. In 2024, he received an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music. His principal teachers have included Stephen Hough, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio, and Boris Slutsky. He continues his studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover, Germany in the studio of Arie Vardi.

For more information and the latest concert schedule, please visit www.derek-wang.com.

Updated March 2025. Please do not alter or abridge without permission.