Ivy Wong

Ivy Wong is a musician and educator, and the newest bass player of Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, Switzerland.

‘Don’t you wish you played the flute?’ is what Ivy always hears whenever she travels with her double bass. Fun fact is, the 10 year-old Ivy did sign up to take flute lessons in her hometown, Hong Kong, but was encouraged to take bass lessons instead because she was ‘tall for her age’. And? She never looked back! Ivy now enjoys an active career in New York City where she performs with the New York Philharmonic regularly, as well as the New York Classical Players, New York Festival Orchestra, etc. Ivy is also a substitute bassist of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL. In the past few summers, she has performed around the world: Verbier Festival Orchestra in the Swiss alps, YOA Orchestra of the Americas in Mexico, Chile and China, Moritzburg Festival in Germany and Lake George Music Festival in New York. Ivy has performed under the baton of Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Esa-pekka Salonen, etc. When Ivy is not rocking out with a full bass section in the orchestra, she could be found playing in new music ensembles and baroque groups. She toured in the U.S. with Juilliard415 performing Bach's St. Matthew's Passion in April 2014, and in China for Mojiao Wang's newest opera Encounter in May 2015.

As an educator, Ivy has been on faculty at The Juilliard School Pre-College division teaching ear training since 2014. She was a teaching artist at P.S. 11 in Chelsea, NYC, exploring and creating music with two lovely 2nd grade classes every week. She was also on faculty of the Music Advancement Program (MAP) at the Juilliard School, where she taught piano, chorus, and orchestra to highly talented children with backgrounds under-represented in American performing arts. During her graduate studies at the Juilliard School, Ivy was a ear training teaching fellow to two graduate level classes. Ivy was also on piano faculty of the Arete Music Academy in New Jersey. Most recently, she joined the faculty of Orquesta Filharmónica Boca del Rio in Mexico, preparing this exciting new professional orchestra in Veracruz for a busy season. 

With Orquesta Filharmónica de Boca del Rio

At Aldeas SOS (a Chilean orphanage)

 

Last day at P.S. 11

On Erhu (Chinese violin) with Honeybird

Ivy is a graduate of SUNY Purchase, where her major studies were Arts Administration (B.A.) and Music Performance (B.M.). She has a masters degree from the Juilliard School, and a performer's certificate in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music. Her main teachers include Timothy Cobb, Leigh Mesh and Orin O'Brien.

Outside of classical music, Ivy loves to perform with musicians of different genres. Out comes woman, an world/pop album she recorded with Honeybird (Monique Mizrahi) and Tim Keiper was released May 2015. (Listen here) Away from music, Ivy is a certified Mat Pilates instructor and lifeguard. She loves the mountains and good coffee.