Jenny Wong
Director of Choral Music
Education
Jenny Wong was born and raised in Hong Kong, and is fluent in both Cantonese and English. She attended high school at the Diocesan Girls’ School in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and graduated in 2005. After high school, she moved to the United States to attend University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she studied vocal performance and comparative literature and graduated with top honors. After finishing her undergraduate in 2009, she returned to Hong Kong and spent two years teaching music and conducting the choirs at her high school. Beginning in 2011, Wong began her Masters in Choral Conducting at University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. In the spring of 2012 following her first year of graduate studies, she founded Flow Women’s Voices in Hong Kong for whom she is director. Jenny Wong received her Masters of Music in 2013, and continued her studies at USC where she is a Doctoral Candidate in Choral Music – anticipated date of graduation in May, 2016.
A native of Hong Kong, Jenny Wong is one of the youngest conductors to win two consecutive World Champion titles at the World Choir Games (China, 2010) and the International Johannes Brahms Choral Competition (Germany, 2011). Since Wong's conducting career began in 2009 as conductor and music teacher at Hong Kong's Diocesan Girls' School, she has conducted and performed in Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, China and across the United States.
Wong has been a conducting fellow for the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Distinguished Concerts International New York and Hong Kong SingFest. She assisted Matthew Halls in conducting Verdi's Requiem, and has also conducted the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra. Her teachers include Helmuth Rilling, Matthew Halls, Simon Carrington, Donald Brinegar, Morten Lauridsen, Larry Livingston, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Cristian Grases, and she has conducted in masterclasses with Markand Thakar, Craig Jessop, Michael Adelson, Jonathan Griffith and Rodney Eichenberger.
Wong is currently Visiting Director of Choral Activities at University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, where she conducts the Pacific Singers, Oriana and University Choir. Prior to that, she taught choral conducting at the University of Southern California, where she is completing her D.M.A. in choral conducting and completed her M.M. Wong was assistant conductor of the Donald Brinegar Singers, conductor of the USC Apollo Men's Choir and recipient of the USC Chamber Singers Award. She has given lectures on Chinese choral music and Chinese Christian hymnody. In Hong Kong, Wong founded and directs her own female youth chorus, Flow Women's Voices.
Wong also enjoys performing as a vocal soloist, having earned her undergraduate degree in voice performance at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with highest honors, where she also sang under Chet Alwes. She also sang back-up for Elton John at the 2013 Emmy Awards and for Barry Manilow. In 2007 she gained 3rd place at the 62nd Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod vocal solo competition in Wales, and studied abroad in Vienna, Austria on scholarship in 2008.