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Pierce Wang, 10, of Fremont

Janos Gereben on April 8, 2014
Pierce Wang
Pierce Wang

Berkeley world traveler Ed Gordon was minding his business while driving from Cleveland to Detroit and listening to WCLV, when:

... I heard an NPR program called From the Top, from Boston. I tuned in during the middle of the program and was thrust into a solo violin performance of somebody's "Fantasy on Schubert's 'Der Erlkönig'." To a non-violinist, it sounded fiendishly difficult, with double-stops from beginning to end plus an obligation to also play the vocal line.

At the end, I was astonished to learn that the soloist was a 10-year-old named 'Pierce something' from Fremont, California, who studies with a violin teacher at the S.F. Conservatory. Even more amazing was this kid's maturity in doing interviews.

I'm sure you must know about him. Any more info you can provide?

Not from the top of my head, had to look it up because among the Bay Area's many teen and pre-teen musical wonders, I missed Pierce in the past. Here is the artist himself explaining it all:

Hi. I am Pierce Wang. I am 10 years old and play the violin. The idea for this website came from a hobby I started as a kid with my dad, and that was to play at interesting places and test out the acoustics (or just to say "I was here!").

I am homeschooled by my mom on the core subjects and by my aunt on Mandarin Chinese. I am also a student in the pre-college division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. My violin teacher is Mr. Davis Law. He is a super nice guy, and he has got to have a lot of patience to teach me. Before Mr. Law, I studied with Mr. Andy Liu of Saratoga.

In addition to playing the violin, I am a foil fencer, a self-taught ninja (expert at throwing playing cards and paper shurikens), and a future cryogenicist (experimenting with freezing basically anything and everything that will fit in my mom's and dad's freezer). I am also a FIRST Lego Leaguer on my way to becoming a roboticist.

We'll check back frequently in the future to follow the path of this apparent visitor from another planet. Meanwhile, watch an astonishing hour-long recital by Pierce.