ABOUT

Virginia Wan is a Canadian/Hong Kong composer of contemporary chamber, experimental and incidental music currently based in Alberta, Canada.

Receiving scholarships throughout her studies, Virginia obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Alberta and her Master of Music degree from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. While pursuing her Master of Music degree, She also obtained a Professional Certificate in Jingle Writing & Film Scoring from the Baron School of Music.

With a deep interest in music notation, Virginia joined the LMCML workshop in Montreal, Canada during the summer of 2017, with a focus on the exploration of improvisation, co-composition and notation. Further researching on notation topics, she studied under the tutelage of Hong Kong composer Dr. Tung Lai-shing and gave a public lecture demonstration at the HKAPA Academy Recital Hall on "Music Notation at the Boundaries: Representations of Complex Sounds and Guided Improvisation Reconsidered" in January 2018.

Virginia’s love for animals and deep respect for life, combining with her passion for composing music has led to the creation of her multimedia composition production What We Talk About When We Talk About It, consisting a set of 28 chamber music pieces written for a chamber ensemble that works along with three Cantonese stage plays. What set this production apart from typical stage plays is that it was also a music concert where the ensemble was performing on stage; and the score was the script that controlled the timing of everything happening on stage and off stage.

Winning the Musicus Society Call for Scores 2018 with her piece The Ravine of Forest Lawn, Virginia’s work Dwelling Woes for violin and yangqin was commissioned by Musicus Society for the Musicus Heritage Concert Series and was performed in September 2018.

In 2019, Virginia was invited by Avant Music Group Association of Hong Kong to compose an accordion solo for Irish Accordionist Dermot Dunne. The piece In the Shades I See was later performed in Hong Kong Shatin Town Hall in April 2019. Her piece written for string quartet Give Wings has won the 2nd place of the 2019 New Generation composition competition organized by the Hong Kong Composers' Guild and RTHK.

Besides composing, Virginia loves painting with watercolor, photographing, hiking, skiing, cycling, cooking and spending time with her rabbit ChuMug!