Today we’d like to introduce you to Yee-Sik Wong.
Hi Yee-Sik, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Yee-Sik Wong. I’m originally from Hong Kong. I started playing piano when I was 4, and ballet when I was 5. I took lessons as a hobby when I was little. I was in choir and the recorder band in middle and high schools. I came to the USA for my master’s degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. I received my doctoral degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa in 2011.
I began accompanying ballet classes in 2007 while at the University of Iowa. After graduating, I joined Tulsa Ballet as a Company and Center for Dance Education pianist for 5 seasons. I moved to Kansas City in 2016 and joined Kansas City Ballet as a pianist, and freelancing in the city.
In 2015, in collaborations with different colleagues, I started recording and releasing CDs for ballet classes- currently selling/streaming internationally.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. It was especially hard in the first couple of years after I moved to Kansas City. Adjusting from having a full-time job to freelancing, trying to find enough work to survive when I didn’t really know anybody in the city.
It was also hard to find a studio/music school that has enough piano students to take piano lessons, and obviously, there are many piano teachers in the city. Another obstacle is obviously the pandemic!
At the beginning of the pandemic, all the ballet classes have to stop, all of a sudden out of ballet accompanying work. Luckily, I teamed up with an awesome friend/colleague of mine, Maureen Hall, and quickly get the ballet classes on Zoom going.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a pianist with the Kansas City Ballet, and I also teach piano (and recorder) virtually.
I started back teaching private piano lessons virtually in 2018. I’m proud to say after some hard work, now I have an international studio (students are from everywhere in the world) and I’ve 15 students! I’m a teacher that believes each student develops in their own timing. I give students a little challenge but not too much to the point that makes them frustrated. I don’t teach every student the same way. I think these set me apart from others.
As a ballet pianist, I’m specialized in accompanying ballet classes and rehearsals. I’ve recorded and released a total of 12 CDs so far. I think my playing is very clear for the dancers to hear the beats and I’ve collected and arranged a wide variety of tunes, from classical to musical to pops.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think regardless of what you do in life, you do have to take some sort of risk for some things to keep things exciting. For me, moving to a new bigger city without really knowing anybody and going into being a freelancer in a new city was one of the biggest risks I’ve taken.
Also, started releasing CDs without knowing if people will actually like my music/work was one of the major risks I took as well.
Contact Info:
- Email: yeesik@yahoo.com
- Website: https://yeesikpiano.yolasite.com
- Instagram: @pianoyeesik
- Facebook: YeeSik Wong
- Youtube: Piano YSW
