Meet Richard Wang | Composer & Conductor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Richard Wang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Richard, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Choosing to work with music, or arts is probably one of the most important and risky decisions anyone can make. It will not be easy, it will not come without great effort and sacrifice. But for some of us, it’s a decision that not only makes sense, but it’s the only decision that makes sense. That is my case.

It comes with a risk yes, it comes with a great price, yes, but anything else would be just wrong. So, in that context, the risk of making that decision is merely the risk of living a life worth living.

I think that everything becomes clearer when you look from the lenses of your own ephemeral and mortal nature. When you think about which regrets you cannot live with, and which ones you won’t ever forgive yourself for, then, success and money, and even stability are not relevant. All that is relevant is to live a true life. I want to live a life in truth.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My journey as a musician was never easy because I always had many doubts about what I should do, or what I am really good at. But I can say that over the years, my story has become clearer and clearer as a result of my choices and sacrifices. In a way, the body of my career speaks to my identity with greater clarity than any brief moments of meditation or reflection I have experienced before.

My story is a story of search. Searching that sound, that chord, that emotion, but also searching my path. And as a result of that I have tried many things in my life. I started my adult music journey by studying classical guitar with Nicolas de Souza Barros in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and consequently winning two of the major classical guitar competitions in Rio: XIII AV Rio (2015) and Fred Schneiter (2015). As a result of the first competition I played in TV-Show called “Partituras” which was aired by national broadcasting channel TV Brasil. After these three big features, I realized that I wouldn’t be fulfilled doing it for the rest of my life.

Then my journey as a composer began. I went to Vienna, Austria and then Munich, Germany looking to learn more about the craft of composition. And as much as I have learnt in those cities, I felt like my true calling was working for Film and TV and have my music be exposed to a bigger audience. That was followed by my decision to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. I graduated with highest honors (Summa Cum Laude) in 2021, and was one of the few selected to perform at our commencement concert. I then arranged and conducted a piece from one of my long time inspirations, composer James Newton Howard in front of and audience of 2.000+ people, the composer himself, and most importantly: my family.

That was the end of one cycle for me. After that I moved to Los Angeles, still pursuing my dream of writing for Film and TV. In this journey, I had the immense honor of working with great names in the industry as an employee for Bleeding Fingers, a composer’s collective co founded by none less than the most influential composer of our times, Hans Zimmer. I started working with Anže Rozman. In that time I had played a small role in the major production Prehistoric Planet Season 2 (Apple TV+), Primeri Inspektorja Vrenka, and a single cowritten with Camila Cabello “Take Me Back Home” for the TV-Series Frozen Planet II (BBC).

Then, I was moved to legendary composer Jacob Shea’s (Planet Earth II) team, and with him I worked on the biggest production of 2023 for Bleeding Fingers: Planet Earth III (BBC). I also wrote some music for TV-Shows such as Mountain Men Season 12 (History Channel) and Welcome to Plathville Season 5 (Hulu+).

One of my last steps on this journey was to admit to myself that composing, arranging and producing are an integral part of my life, but they are not all of it. So I started studying with the world renowned conductor Maxim Eshkenazy, who is one of the greatest names in his home country of Bulgaria and in the United States, having worked with Joshua Bell, Midori and others.

I am grateful for my journey and I am excited for things to come!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Ramen Melrose is one of my favorite Ramen Places in LA. The service and the food are amazing, and they are open until late, which is something I take advantage of very often!

Dagwood’s Pizza in Santa Monica has some great pasta.

Brickyard Pub in Hollywood and Fantasia Billiards in Burbank are two of my favorite pool spots in LA.

Knight Restaurant Burbank and Panini Kabob Grill have some of the best Mediterranean food I have tried in greater LA.

The Grove is the famous mall in the middle of the city. It works as an oasis of beauty and entertainment among the chaos that can be living in LA.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Louis Slein – Composer, Guitarist, Teacher.

Louis is one of the most talented and hard working musicians in LA. He is a terrific composer, guitarist and teacher. He has had a powerful impact in my history, since we both studied at Berklee, and in 2023 we lived in the same house in LA for a few months. He gave me great support when I was working very long hours at the world renowned studio Bleeding Fingers. He gave me very insightful feedback on my music, and he was always a good and encouraging listener. Sadly after only a few months, he moved out, but we are still great friends, the house just wasn’t big enough for the both of us.

Website: https://richardwangmusic.wixsite.com/website

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardwangmusic/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-wang-638565138/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard.wang.94064

Image Credits
Conducting Black Background: Kelly Davidson Playing Piano: Peter Leng Xiong Playing Guitar: Luiza Girardello Conducting: Austin Leshock At the beach far: Amanda Fandos At the beach close profile: Amanda Fandos