2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Rebecca Kao Wang, 47
Actuary
Tokyo, Japan
United States

Rebecca Kao Wang was born in Hong Kong and lives in Tokyo, but she grew up in the Boston area, studying music under Jade Lin in Newton, Massachusetts and Beatrice Erdely in Concord, Massachusetts. She minored in music and majored in computer science engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1990. In the ensuing 25 years, Ms. Wang has worked in the corporate world, became an actuary, and then married and became the mother of two now-teenage boys. Asia beckoned again for Ms. Wang, so the family moved in 2007 for her husband’s job. She took some time off from work to stay home with her kids  (including one who has learning difficulties), but now that they’re nearly grown, Ms. Wang has found herself with more time to devote to playing the piano. She currently studies with Kaoru Fukuda in Tokyo. Entering the Amateur Competition is a dream of hers, giving her the incentive to return her music to performance-level, she says.

Program:
LISZT, Concert Etude No. 3 in D-flat Major (“Un sospiro”)
RACHMANINOV, Prelude in E-flat Major, op. 23, no. 6