See Siang Wong

Pianist See Siang Wong has pursued a wide-ranging path that encompasses performances and recordings of the central Classical-Romantic canon, contemporary compositions, and film-inspired pieces. Success on the international stage has come to him in the roles of soloist, chamber player, and accompanist alike.

Born on May 7, 1979, in Arnhem, Netherlands, to parents of Singaporean- and Malaysian-Chinese heritage, Wong received his training in both the Netherlands and Switzerland. He settled in the latter country, where he joined the faculty of the University of Zurich; through his Swiss Piano Project he has issued recordings on the MGB Grammont label while simultaneously fostering commissions for fresh repertoire. More than thirty piano pieces have been written expressly for him. At twelve he made his first appearance with the Dutch Radio Orchestra. Concerts have taken him to over thirty nations and into major venues that include Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s St. Martin in the Fields, and Bogotá’s Luis Ángel Arango hall. Decca engaged him in 2004; six albums followed, devoted to Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, and Schumann. In a blind comparison, Swiss critics preferred his account of the Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, to those of Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Dinu Lipatti, and Andreas Staier. Additional sessions have appeared on the Novalis imprint. Conductors Pierre Boulez, Ralf Weikert, and Paul Griffiths number among his collaborators, as have leading ensembles throughout Europe and farther afield.

Several Swiss recording awards have come his way, and, after he moved to Sony Classical, a Belgian critics’ circle honored his Schubert disc. Contemporary scores by Schoenberg, Ligeti, and Rihm have figured in his programs and discs, alongside his own transcriptions of film music. Sony released three such collections in 2016—Piano Movie Lounge, Vol. 1, Piano Movie Lounge, Vol. 2, and Cinema Classics: The Piano at the Movies—all strong sellers across Europe, with Cinema Classics reaching the top of the British classical chart. Wong later joined RCA Red Seal, issuing his first album for the label in 2017: chamber arrangements of concertos by Chopin and Beethoven performed with the Gémeaux Quartet. Two volumes of the Beethoven Trilogy surveying seldom-heard works appeared in 2021; he returned to the imprint in 2022 with Mozart Minore, spotlighting the composer’s two piano concertos in minor keys.