Dr. Zeru Wang
A native of Hangzhou, China, Dr. Zeru Wang holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Missouri-Columbia. His teachers include Christopher Taylor and Peter Miyamoto. Apart from appearing in the masterclasses of Frederic Chiu, Richard Goode, Sergei Babayan, Alessio Bax, Julian Martin, Marina Lomazov, Julio Elizalde, Gabriel Chodos, and Corey Hamn, he also studied with Peter Serkin, Yoon Hi Moon, Douglas Humphreys, Natalya Antonova, Bruce Brubaker and Sean Duggan at various summer festivals. Currently, he serves as the collaborative pianist and vocal coach at Gonzaga University.
Dr. Wang is a prize-winner of many international and national piano competitions including the WPTA (World Piano Teacher Association) International Piano Competition, the Joyeux International Piano Competition, the Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music, and the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Young Artist Piano Competition. In addition to the 2021 Beethoven Competition held by the University of Wisconsin, he was selected as the winner of the 2015 MU Concerto Competition and the 2015 MU Emerging Artist Competition. As equally passionate as producing solo piano music, Dr. Wang also performs extensively as a chamber musician. He enjoys collaborating with faculty and students from the University of Missouri, the Interharmoy International Music Festival, the Odyssey Summer Music Festivals, and the Bowdoin International Summer Music Festival. In 2018 he was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York with the Interharmony Chamber Music Series. In addition, he has collaborated with prominent musicians such as Saeka Matsuyama, Jonathan Weber, and Miho Zaitsu and many outstanding students from various institutions around the world. In 2021, he serves as the collaborative pianist for the University of Wisconsin Wind Ensemble and premiered the “Shell and Wing” by David Biedenbender in Wisconsin. After joining Gonzaga University in 2022, he works with the Gonzaga Concert Choirs, the Discantus Treble Choir, the Glee Club, the Chamber Singers, and the voice studios. Recently he also published his dissertation project “A New Edition of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111 (1821-1822) featuring his fingering and pedaling systems on an edited score, and original ideas for performing the sonata and beyond.
As an active teacher, Dr. Wang enjoys giving private lessons to students of all ages. His past teaching experience includes teaching young and adult beginners and focuses on committed students of intermediate to advanced levels. He has successfully helped young students to pass ABRSM exams of all levels, high school students to win state-level piano competitions, high school students to be admitted to music colleges and graduate-level students in China to be successfully passed auditions in prestigious U. S. music schools. In 2019, he conducted piano masterclasses about Chopin’s piano literature in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2021, he substituted for Professor Christopher Taylor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to teach undergraduate and graduate level Piano Literature.
