Dr. Lucas Wong is an entrepreneurial musician and versatile administrator with a passion for driving success. He has over 20 years of proven excellence in music performance, teaching, and adjudication, with specialized focus on piano, accompaniment, and voice coaching across 4 continents and 12 countries. Praised for "his gifts for colour, nuance and tasteful dynamic contrasts" (Gramophone), his career highlights include multiple engagements at the Carnegie Hall, innovative recital programs like "Beyond 88" and the "Mostly Debussy" series, a complete performance of Des Knaben Wunderhorn at the Shanghai Conservatory, directorship of the Duparc melodies project at Songfest in LA, and collaborations with American composers such as William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, and John Musto. He has collaborated with reputable artists such as Joseph Alessi, Soovin Kim, Frank Morelli, Suzanne Mentzer, Simone Osborne, Edward Parks, David Shifrin, and Guang Yang. Also skilled in coding, web and app development, project and product management, sales, and customer service, Dr. Lucas Wong thrives on tackling intricate challenges, leading market research endeavors, and spearheading business development initiatives.
As a pianist wearing many different hats, Dr. Lucas Wong holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music, under the tutelage of Boris Berman. He also holds a Post-Graduate Associateship from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and a Teaching Fellowship at the Yale Department of Music. Past mentors include Tak Poon, Edward Parker, Robert Silverman, and Warren Jones. He has been the Assistant Conductor for the New York City Opera for two seasons, and the official accompanist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
As an educator, Dr. Lucas Wong offers innovative resources, such as the recent “The Multifunctional Pianist: The Recipe for Orchestral Color and Playing" essay on the NATS Journal of Singing. He is the author of “The Multi-Functional Pianist” — a four-chapter curriculum designed to strengthen pianists’ awareness of improvisational, fundamental, and piano reduction skills.
Dr. Lucas Wong was the Artistic Director of Liederfest of Suzhou, a specialized program that introduced singers to art songs in various languages including Chinese. He was one of the founding piano faculty members of the Soochow University School of Music, where he was also the chamber music, collaborative piano, staff pianist coordinator.
Dr. Lucas Wong has been previously invited to perform, lecture, or give masterclass at many world-renowned institutions, such as the University of Hong Kong, Peking University, Seoul National University, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and the Juilliard School. He has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Dr. Lucas Wong is both a Fazioli and Naxos recording artist.
Projects
4D Creatives Inc.
Founder
A portfolio specializes in researching and finding technological solutions, especially in the music and education domains. The team also provides planning, mentoring, consultation, performing services, and much more.
On FAZIOLI F308 with four pedals: “his gifts for colour, nuance and tasteful dynamic contrasts…sexily shaped trills…the point and precision of his détaché articulation…discreet use of agogics and his mastery of the kind of overlapping finger legato…attention to detail and clear commitment unquestionably come across, abetted by fine engineering. Recommended.” (Gramophone)
On the NATS Collab Corner: "As vocal pianists throughout our studies and careers, we all work with piano reductions encountered in choral and operatic repertoire..."
This disc explores transcriptions and works by J. S. Bach, Berlioz, Franck, Godowsky, Grainger, Hahn, Hess, Liszt, Mascagni, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Puccini, Schubert, Strauss, and Wong
"As long a teacher of collaborative pianists, I have been most concerned in this pandemic about the current lack of successful solutions for partnering singers. I have searched carefully for technology that really works and 4D Piano is the only solution I have found. Amazingly, it is the answer for our current desperation, but it is a superior solution for all times. Invented by a superb pianist, Lucas Wong, whom I have known well for some years as a versatile performer and teacher in solo, chamber, song, and operatic repertoire, 4D Piano not only meets the needs of singers, but it trains them rhythmically, in ways we often neglect, through visual sharing of the piano part. It also trains pianists who, while not actually playing the piano, are in the same collaborative relationship at any given moment by just the movement of a finger! As the operator of 4D Piano, one can partner in ritardandi, accelerandi, and fermati as well as in leadership and sensitive following of a singer just as one would do when actually playing for the singer. There is no lag time and real and detailed ensemble is possible! Thank you, Lucas!"
Margo Garrett Collaborative Performing and Recording Pianist The Juilliard School Emerita
"I have been using 4D Piano on the web for all of my vocal coachings as well as rehearsing for several recitals. Having a clear, instantaneous piano sound (no lag) has been a tremendous help in these sessions. Depending on internet speeds, we (singer and pianist) have experienced very low latency synchronicity while making music. 4D Piano is by far the easiest to use and most inexpensive low-latency platform that I have found for a singer/pianist or instrumental/pianist to use. Having access to the library of tracks and the ability to record and play 4D piano tracks (or use ANY user-created or user-owned midi) file in the 4D system is a game changer. My students are also benefiting from the 4D Piano Pocket Player in the iOS App store. I can record tracks using the 4D web browser or my own DAW and deliver them to singers for use in the iOS app, with tempo adjustments, transposition, fermata, and jump to next chord features. Even as we fully return to in-person collaboration, I expect that 4D Piano will continue to be used as an option-rich resource for collaboration when geographic distance, travel costs and time constraints remain in view, as a supplement and tool for online teaching and rehearsing."
Dr. Casey Robards
"His playing is both brilliant and sensitive, and his tone is like a pearl necklace… Wong builds up a tremendous head of steam, and he does it without ever raising his voice, so to speak. Even in the smaller works, though, he makes a big impression."
Fanfare
"In Wong’s hands, the clarity and deeply expressive moods and colors of the eight preludes come across with the greatest beauty and assurance, leading us to marvel that, apparently, no other pianists have ever recorded this work…Wong’s performances in this recital made the point come across with a greater clarity than I’d ever imagined."
