Eric Wong will join Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music as Assistant Professor of Viola in fall 2023. Described as possessing a “tone like toasted caramel” and “amazing” (Musical Toronto), Wong has appeared on the world’s most iconic stages including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Severance Music Center, Kings Place, Koerner Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, the Banff Centre, and as a featured guest artist at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
Wong received both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying violin with Paul Kantor and viola with Kirsten Docter and Lynne Ramsey. He previously served as principal violist of CityMusic Cleveland, Assistant Concertmaster of the Akron Symphony Orchestra, and Associate Concertmaster of the Canton Symphony Orchestra.
Wong is a frequent guest clinician and lecturer in festivals and institutions of higher learning around the globe that have included Yale University, the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, American University, Montclair State University, the Royal Academy of Music of Århus, Middlesex University, Tongyeong International Music Festival, and the University of Toronto. During the summer season, he is on faculty artist rosters for Encore Chamber Music Institute’s Summer Academy, Pacific Crest Music Festival, Harpa International Music Academy, and Music at Port Milford and is a frequent guest artist at the Geneva Music Festival, Caroga Lake Music Festival, and Summer Music Vancouver. In 2017 Wong was among the first artist-clinicians and educators selected by D’Addario’s for the company’s innovative “Strings 101” program.
A lifelong quartet devotee, Wong has been a member of the Afiara and Cavani String Quartets and a founding member of the Linden String Quartet, winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Coleman-Barstow Prize at the Coleman National Chamber Ensemble Competition, ProQuartet Prize at the 9th Borciani International String Quartet Competition, and recipient of a 2011 A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Fellowship.
Photo: Grittani Creative