Ay-Laung (Ellen) Wang

Concert Organist, Conductor

Ay-Laung Wang is a performer, conductor, adjudicator, and music educator widely recognized on three continents. A graduate of Trinity Western University (TWU) in piano and conducting studies, she went on to study at one of Canada’s premier universities, the University of British Columbia, from which she graduated Master of Music with top standing in organ performance. She also holds both performer and teacher ARCT diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

In 1995, the National Music Committee in her native Taiwan named her the New Musical Star. Since then, she has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (for which she continues as Principal Organist), the Vancouver Bach Choir, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio Brass, and the Taipei National University of the Arts Orchestra. Concert tours have taken her to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Ay-Laung is well known for her extraordinary versatility. She was featured on CBC national television for the Easter Sunrise Celebration of 2004 and for the nationally televised memorial service for Sgt. “Smokey” Smith, the last surviving Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross. She has accompanied the Taipei Christian Children’s Chorus in concert at the Vatican and has performed for the renowned composer Fu Yu-Lin on national television in Taiwan. She has performed for the opening of TEDx talks in Vancouver and for several of the annual conferences of the British Columbia Music Educators’ Association. Each summer, she participates in Festival Vancouver, and she is also a member of the “Fanfares N’ Fugues” trumpets and organ trio, as well as organist for “Chor Leoni,” a premier men’s choir.

Beyond her frequent concert engagements, Ay-Laung is a highly esteemed teacher and conductor. For almost twenty years she served as a faculty member at TWU, where she also held the post of Assistant Conductor for the acclaimed TWU Chamber and Concert Choirs. Since 2004, Ay-Laung has been featured as a performer and jury member at the biennial International Kathaumixw Choral Festival in Powell River, British Columbia. The Royal Canadian College of Organists’ annual conference in 2010 featured her as Coordinator of Youth Instruction. She has served as Guest Conductor for the Vancouver Oratorio Society and is currently Conductor of the Vancouver Taiwanese Oratorio Society.

Ay-Laung also provides organ and choral workshops particularly to foster better music in church settings, drawing on her wide experience that includes accompanying the David C. Lam Hymn Society, guest conducting the Vancouver Oratorio Society, and serving as Organist at First Baptist Church in downtown Vancouver.