Mr. Samuel Wong

Brunei born violinist Samuel Wong began his musical training at the age of 5 where he studied piano with his mother. A year later, he started taking violin lessons at the age of 6 in local music schools around Brunei, but due to the lack of teachers and musical opportunities, he went to Singapore at the age of 14 to study under Dr. Choo Shiow-Ling and later moved to Rochester, NY at 17 to study under Jeremy Zhu at the Eastman community music school. Samuel received his Bachelor of Music in violin performance from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, SUNY, where he studied under Calvin Wiersma in 2014. Upon graduating, he moved to Minneapolis, MN, to pursue his master of music degree in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he studied under Mark Bjork. He has completed his Doctor in musical arts degree in violin performance at the University of Minnesota studying under Kyu Young Kim, formerly with Young Nam Kim. While at Purchase College, Samuel has performed with the Purchase Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Adelson, David Gilbert, Guillermo Figueroa, Karina Canellakis and Ransom Wilson. He currently performs in the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Minnesota under the direction of Mark Russell Smith. Samuel has performed in masterclasses for Bayla Keyes, Ben Sayevich, Nobuko Imai and the Boston Trio. He has participated in summer music festivals/camps which have included: Eastman music horizons (Rochester, NY), Euro music festival (Germany), Apple Hill chamber music workshop (Nelson, NH), Bowdoin international music festival (Brunswick, ME), Killington music festival (Killington, VT) and Manchester music festival (Manchester, VT).