Welcome to the website of composer and writer Derrick Wang.
Welcome to the website of composer and writer Derrick Wang.
Derrick Wang is a composer, writer, and consultant providing insights on music and law.
As a composer and librettist, he is internationally recognized as the creator of Scalia/Ginsburg, the opera that began an era of increased public awareness of the U.S. Supreme Court. Performed from the United States to Australia, Scalia/Ginsburg is one of the most frequently produced new operas of the past decade. The Los Angeles Times wrote: “Could we please make it a constitutional requirement that no one can be sworn into office in the White House or Congress without having first seen Scalia/Ginsburg?” His newest work—Fearless, a musical drama inspired by trailblazing American aviator Hazel Ying Lee and the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II—receives its world premiere at Opera Delaware in May 2025.
As a writer on music and law, his work—described as “a dream come true” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), “brilliant” (DC Theatre Scene), “engaging” (Wall Street Journal), and “inspiring” (Above the Law)—has been profiled in worldwide media and published with forewords by U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
As a consultant in matters of music and law, he provides insights to lawyers, laypersons, and organizations on topics including forensic musicology, music copyright, and interdisciplinary education. He has presented his findings to leaders in law, education, and government in venues including the U.S. Copyright Office and the Supreme Court of the United States.
A graduate of Harvard and Yale and previously a practicing lawyer named to the Super Lawyers® Rising Stars list, he instructs STEM, humanities, and Peabody Conservatory students at The Johns Hopkins University, where he is the only faculty member teaching distinct courses in the fields of music and law. For more information, visit www.derrickwang.com.
[November 2024]
Derrick Wang is a composer, writer, and consultant providing insights on music and law.
His new musical drama Fearless, inspired by trailblazing American aviator Hazel Ying Lee and the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, receives its world premiere at Opera Delaware in May 2025.
As a composer and librettist, he is internationally recognized as the creator of Scalia/Ginsburg, the opera that began an era of increased public awareness of the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the most frequently produced new operas of the past decade, Scalia/Ginsburg has been performed from the United States to Australia, excerpted as its own chapter (the audio version of which Derrick Wang narrates) in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s book My Own Words, broadcast on national radio in the United States, and featured on Live with Carnegie Hall. The Los Angeles Times wrote: “Could we please make it a constitutional requirement that no one can be sworn into office in the White House or Congress without having first seen Scalia/Ginsburg?”
His music has received awards from musical organizations including ASCAP and BMI. His work, presented by artists and groups including the American Modern Ensemble, Castleton Festival, Chautauqua Opera Company, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Baltimore, Opera Carolina, Opera Delaware, Opera Grand Rapids, Opera Las Vegas, Opera Memphis, Opera Naples, Opera North, Orchestra Victoria, Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale, Princeton Festival, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, has been heard in venues from New York to Shanghai, and his orchestrations have been performed at Juilliard and Carnegie Hall.
As a librettist and lyricist for opera and theater, his words, set to his own music, have been performed at venues including the York Theatre, Ars Nova Theater, Joe’s Pub at the New York Public Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, Harvard University, and Yale University. He has also served as a Resident Composer–Librettist at American Lyric Theater.
As a writer on music and law, his work—described as “a dream come true” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), “brilliant” (DC Theatre Scene), and “engaging” (Wall Street Journal)—has been profiled in worldwide media and published with forewords by U.S. Supreme Court Justices. His scholarly research, noted for “successfully integrat[ing] huge amounts of constitutional theory [and] legal scholarship” (Above the Law), has been published in academia (e.g., the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts), profiled in legal periodicals (such as the ABA Journal and Landslide), and covered in U.S. news outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal to MSNBC, and in international media from The Economist to the Süddeutsche Zeitung and beyond.
As a consultant in matters of music and law, he provides insights to lawyers, laypersons, and organizations on topics including forensic musicology, music copyright, civil discourse, and interdisciplinary education. As a speaker, he has addressed the nation’s leaders, including scholars, judges, and lawmakers across the American political spectrum, in places ranging from the Chautauqua Institution to the Supreme Court of the United States. Select events and hosts have included TEDxBroadway, the Judicial–Congressional Dialogue at the Library of Congress, Second Circuit Judicial Conference, National Constitution Center, U.S. Copyright Office, Stanford Arts Institute & Stanford Law School, Columbia Law School, and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.
He received his A.B. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University and his M.M. in music composition on a Richardson Scholarship from the Yale School of Music. A graduate (J.D.) of the University of Maryland Carey School of Law and formerly an attorney in private practice, he was named to Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers® Maryland Rising Stars list for his work in intellectual property law. A musical dramatist and forensic musicologist, he instructs STEM, humanities, and Peabody Conservatory students at The Johns Hopkins University, where he is the only faculty member teaching distinct courses in the fields of music and law, on topics ranging from copyright law to the history and craft of American musical theater. For more information, visit www.derrickwang.com.
[November 2024]
