One of Canada’s most sought after collaborative pianists, acclaimed for her ‘vivacious playing’ (Daily Telegraph) and ‘sparkling clarity’ (The Strad) Lydia Wong appears regularly with the world’s pre-eminent performers. Venues across the globe from Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City to London’s Wigmore Hall have featured her expertise in partnership with such artists as Lorand Fenyves, Patrick Gallois, Michel Lethiec, Nobuko Imai, Arto Noras, Erika Raum, Shauna Rolston, and Scott St. John.
Following her successful Banff Centre collaboration with Krzystof Penderecki on the North American premiere of his Sextet, Ms. Wong has enjoyed a particular association with the composer. She was invited to perform the Sextet and other works at the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico and at the “Making Music” series in New York City by Carnegie Hall. In 2003, with violinist Erika Raum, she gave the North American premiere of Penderecki’s Violin Sonata No.2 in Toronto; she also performed at Maestro Penderecki’s 70th birthday celebration in Warsaw, Poland and served as a member of the jury for the Seventh Annual International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Krakow, Poland. Ms. Wong and Erika Raum will be recording all of Maestro Penderecki’s work for violin and piano with a grant from the Ontario Arts Council.
Active in New Music Ms. Wong performed as soloist with the Esprit Orchestra in …quasi una fantasia… by Gyorgy Kurtag. CentreDiscs has released her recording of Alexina Louie’s Piano Quintet with the Accordes String Quartet and will be following this with a disc of the music of Melissa Hui. Volume one of French music for flute and piano recorded with Patrick Gallois was issued on the Naxos label in March. She can also be heard on Marquis Classics and Phoenix Records and has performed for networks in North America, Africa and Europe besides broadcasting regularly for the CBC.
A graduate of the University of Toronto and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ms. Wong currently teaches at the University of Toronto and is a faculty member of the summer music program at the Banff Centre for the Arts.