Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Wang.
Hi Richard, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Germany and grew up in Brazil. I am of Asian, Russian, and Brazilian descent. I grew up as a musical child where I started learning the violin and the piano at the age of 5.
I remember when I was around 8 years old, I started improvising some ideas on the piano. At the time, I did not really know scales, so everything I improvised would be on the white keys, but that still drew the attention of my mom, who would ask, “what is it that you’re playing?” and to her surprise, I would say “These are just some ideas that come to my mind.” I realized then that I had the ability to create music and captivate people through my creation.
As a child I really enjoyed outdoor activities and dreamt of being a professional soccer player. I wanted to be able to express myself in soccer as beautifully as Pelé or Ronaldinho Gaucho. To me it did not matter much if I was winning or losing in the sports, but rather the aesthetic and beauty that could come from playing soccer with mastery.
At the age of 16, I told my mom, “I am going to be a musician”. And at the time I had no idea what that meant, or what I was supposed to do as a musician, I just knew I wanted to be that. Music had a bigger pull, attractive force in me than anything else in my life by then. Then, I started my journey to try and find my true inner musical voice. Growing up I learned the violin, the piano and in my late teens I started studying the classical guitar. So, I started studying with one of the most prestigious guitar teachers in Brazil, Nicolas de Souza Barros. Under his guidance I won two of the biggest guitar competitions in Brazil and was featured in the television broadcast Partituras/TV Brasil.
But the same voice that told me I was going to be a musician told me that classical guitar was not my real passion. So, I decided to pursue composition, and applied to a few colleges, and eventually landed on Berklee in Boston. There, I studied Film Scoring and Contemporary Writing and Production. I met some of the most wonderful people at Berklee and was able to immensely hone my skills and develop a much clearer artistic voice. I was lucky enough to have my music played by large ensembles and to conduct these ensembles myself. As a cherry on top of the cake, I had the honor and privilege to conduct an arrangement I wrote of James Newton Howard’s score in front of an audience of more than two thousand people including the award-winning composer himself.
In the past, I worked at the world-renowned music studio Bleeding Fingers, founded by the single biggest name in the music industry in the world today, Hans Zimmer. I worked in Anže’s team, who scored numerous documentaries for BBC and collaborated with Hans Zimmer himself in shows like Prehistoric Planet, Frozen Planet II, and recently Beckham. I also worked as an assistant and Junior Composer for Jacob Shea, and together, we worked on Planet Earth III and Hagen.
I am also further studying conducting with the world-renowned conductor Maxim Eshkenazy to pursue that which is my other deep passion in music.
I am really proud of my achievements, and I feel extremely happy and lucky to have been given the chance to be where I am. I am looking forward to seeing what the future brings!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The main obstacle I can describe in this long and windy road was the fact that I had to leave everything behind to pursue my dream. I left my country, I left my family, and I left my friends. I have been living outside of Brazil for about 9 years now, and it definitely takes a toll, as my feeling of homesickness and longing for my family are to this day very strong. I miss especially my grandparents, who still live in Brazil, but I also miss the warmth and beauty of my culture.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a composer and conductor.
I write music for films, games, and all kinds of media. My greatest accomplishment so far is to work for Bleeding Fingers, where I can write numerous tracks for their library called Extreme Music, which is the largest music library in the world.
I am known for my very intricate, complex, powerful, but also elegant orchestral writing. As a conductor, I consider myself very meticulous when studying scores, but also very passionate when transmitting my interpretation to the orchestra and the audience.
Nowadays, I am also diving deeper into the realm of hybrid music and expanding my knowledge and skills into a more production-heavy sound.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a very energetic kid, always trying to find out about things and to spend time with friends and family. I loved sports and loved playing with friends.
I also moved a lot growing up, having lived in Munich (Germany), Curitiba, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. Moving this much as a kid strengthened my relationship with my brothers and parents, as they were often the only (alongside music) things constant in my life.
As a teenager, I was part of multiple rock bands, including one with my brothers, called Warriors of Wisdom.
I also was part of another band called Space Junkies. With both bands, we performed in a number of locations, including Circo Voador, one of the most prestigious venues in Rio de Janeiro.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://richardwangmusic.wixsite.com/website
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardwangmusic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-wang-638565138/
- Other: https://tvbrasil.ebc.com.br/partituras/episodio/talentos-do-violao-carioca
Image Credits
Kelly Davidson
Austin Leshock
Peter Leng Xiong
Luiza Girardello
