About
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Adrian Wong is a composer who aims to create engaging and moving music full of imagery, drama, and unapologetic conviction. Adrian takes inspiration from a wide array of subjects, from the impending climate crisis to matters of identity, as well as the smaller things in life, from the lullabies his mother sang to the tastes and textures of his favorite foods.
Currently based in Philadelphia, Adrian’s music has straddled the Pacific Ocean and then some: it has seen performances from the bustling Hong Kong City Hall to France’s serene Auditorium De Flaine; from Greece’s Ancient Theatre of Pythagorion to the repurposed Carriage House at Lake George in New York. His choral works have also been featured in the World Choir Games in Auckland and Gangneung and in concerts in Taiwan and Tokyo.
Recently named as the inaugural Composer-in-Residence at the Samos Young Artists Festival, his commissioned work, little island, is a string quartet that ties together the island of Samos and Hong Kong. Adrian’s other recent and upcoming projects include Space Jump!, a work for the Curtis Symphony Orchestra about Felix Baumgartner’s death-defying leap from space; a 20-minute choral work for choral supergroup NOEMA; and a trilogy of choral pieces inspired by Chinese martial arts for the Diocesan Choral Society. Past commissions include works for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Curtis Institute of Music, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, Lati2de, Christ Church Georgetown, amongst others.
Adrian has collaborated with Cong Quartet; countertenor Sam Higgins; tenor Hongrui Ren; flutist Julin Cheung; bassoonists Asha Kline, Kahlan Yenney, Luis Márquez Teruel; and pianist Zach Hoi Leong Cheong, among others. His music has also been performed or recorded by ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, h2 saxophone quartet, Hub New Music, the Rhythm Method, NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and NOVA Ensemble; and musicians such as oboists Katherine Needleman and Philippe Tondre, bassoonist Daniel Matsukawa, and pianist Jihye Chang.
In recent years, Adrian has held fellowships from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Intimacy of Creativity at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has also received awards from the RED NOTE Composition Competition, the American Prize, the Hong Kong New Generation Composition Competition, the Brevard Music Center, BRACE New Music Choir, and Nu Quintet. A recent Curtis graduate, Adrian received the Provosts’ Award for Achievement in Career Studies, recognizing his teaching artist work at the George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science.
Adrian received an M.M. in music composition from the Curtis Institute of Music as the Milton L. Rock Composition Fellow, studying with Amy Beth Kirsten, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Nick DiBerardino, Richard Danielpour, and Steven Mackey. Adrian received a B.M. in music composition with Highest Honors at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, studying with Bright Sheng and Kristin Kuster. Other non-composition teachers include Jonathan Coopersmith, Courtney Snyder, Adrian Slywotzky, Mark Stover, Julie Skadsem, Felix Shuen (all conducting); and Keiko Sato and Matthew Bengtson (piano).
Besides his work as a composer and teaching artist, Adrian is the Coordinator for Community Performances at the Curtis Institute of Music and a teacher for Curtis’ Young Artists’ Initiative, focusing on harmony, counterpoint, solfege, and keyboard skills. He also maintains a small studio of private composition students of all ages. To inquire about lessons, click here.
Thanks to his Dad, Adrian has been playing football (soccer) since he was a toddler and is a (once) long-suffering supporter of Newcastle United. Other hobbies include surprising people with the amount of food he consumes and finding the best ramen in Philadelphia.
黃子峻是位香港土生土長的作曲家，而他的希望能夠透過充滿意象、魅力及戲劇性的音樂感動聽眾。黃氏的音樂從多處取材——除了探討有關大自然以及“香港”等較宏大的題材，他亦常對日常生活的種種經歷——如童謠、美食等——打動。黃氏現居於美國費城；他的音樂也因此橫跨了太平洋，在世界各地被演奏：香港大會堂、法國的 Auditorium De Flaine、希臘的黃氏的 Ancient Theatre of Pythagorion及紐約的 Lake George Carriage House 等也能聽到他的足跡。他的合唱作品更在台灣、日本、及紐西蘭跟韓國的世界合唱大賽中上演。
黃氏最近被邀請成為 Samos Young Artists Festival 的駐節作曲家。其委約的弦樂四重奏——little island——是一首將希臘 Samos Island 跟黃氏在香港長大的經歷聯繫的作品。另外，黃氏近期和將會實現的作品包括了為 Curtis Symphony Orchestra 創作的 Space Jump!：一首關於 Felix Baumgartner 從太空躍下的管弦樂團作品；一首 NOEMA 委約的合唱組曲；跟拔萃詠歌團委約的功夫合唱組曲。黃氏亦曾給香港管弦樂團、Curtis Institute of Music、Young New Yorkers’ Chorus、香港作曲家聯會、 Lati2de、 Christ Church Georgetown等委約。
黃子峻曾跟 Cong Quartet、Sam Higgins（假男高音、Hongrui Ren（男高音）、Julin Cheung（長笛）、Asha Kline（巴松管）、Kahlan Yenney（巴松管）、Luis Márquez Teruel（巴松管）、張海量（鋼琴）等合作。他的作品也曾被 Alarm Will Sound、h2 saxophone quartet、Hub New Music、the Rhythm Method、NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble、NOVA Ensemble 等組合以及Katherine Needleman（雙簧管）、Philippe Tondre（雙簧管）、Daniel Matsukawa（巴松管）、Jihye Chang（鋼琴）演奏或錄音。
在近年， 黃氏取得 Curtis Institute of Music 跟香港科技大學的「創意間的親暱」所頒發的獎學金。他亦於 RED NOTE Composition Competition、the American Prize、香港 New Generation 作曲比賽以及the Brevard Music Center、BRACE New Music Choir 和 Nu Quintet等團體舉辦的作曲比賽贏得冠軍。黃氏也榮獲了 Curtis Institute of Music 的 Provosts’ Award for Achievement in Career Studies——此獎狀是對他在 George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science 設計的音樂教育項目的認同。
黃氏剛於 Curtis Institute of Music 以 Milton L. Rock Composition Fellow 的身分完成修讀作曲系碩士，師隨 Amy Beth Kirsten 博士、Jonathan Bailey Holland 博士、Nick DiBerardino 老師、Richard Danielpour 博士及 Steven Mackey 博士。黃氏於 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 完成修讀作曲系學士，師隨盛宗亮博士及Kristin Kuster博士。、黃氏亦跟 Keiko Sato 老師 和 Matthew Bengtson 博士學習鋼琴及跟 Jonathan Coopersmith 老師、Courtney Snyder 博士、Adrian Slywotzky 博士、Mark Stover 博士、Julie Skadsem 博士、和孫子承先生學習指揮。
除了在費城當「teaching artist」意外，黃氏也在 Curtis Institute of Music Young Artists’ Initiative 擔任負責教導和聲、對位法、唱名、和鋼琴樂理的教師。除此以外，黃氏亦有開私人的作曲班。此作曲班不受年齡限制，如有興趣報名請按此。
因為受了爸爸的影響，黃子峻從三四歲便熱愛足球，更從兒時被迫成為一位畢生的紐卡素球迷。除了足球以外，黃氏亦熱愛展示他驚人的食量和在費城尋找最佳的拉麵。