The Cape Symphony has selected Alyssa Wang as its new music director.
At age 30, she is known as a conductor, composer and violinist. Wang succeeds Jung-Ho Pak, who served as music director for 17 years.
Wang said she was drawn to Cape Symphony ever since she moved to Boston 10 years ago.
“I played with Cape Symphony as a violinist while I was a grad student at New England Conservatory. My first encounter with them was in the orchestra. Now, becoming the new music director has been mind-blowing.”
This season, she will direct three programs as she begins her leadership transition.
Wang aims to deepen the orchestra’s connection with the Cape Cod community by collaborating with institutions across the region.
“I want to create interdisciplinary experiences and design programs that resonate with different communities. Making art as a community is important, so it truly feels like this orchestra is for everyone — whether you know classical music well or are completely new to it.”
Her experience as a conductor, violinist, and composer shapes her approach to leadership.
“I am a violinist at heart. Everything that I know about conducting comes from my experience as a violinist. I conduct and compose music from the perspective of the musician. For composition, I think about what feels good on the instrument. As a conductor, I consider what in rehearsal will help the musicians the most. Whether that comes from a technical perspective that I physically give with my body or what I tell them with my words.”
Wang’s full season as music director will begin in 2026.
“Storytelling is so important for my programming choices because I want the audience to feel like they’re on a journey in the concert itself.”
She also highlights the stories embedded in the music.
“The diversity of our stories is like a limitless well that I can pull from as a music director.”
Wang incorporated storytelling in the 2023 premiere of her violin concerto, Swept Away.
“Swept Away was commissioned by The Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh. I wrote it a couple years after the death of my father, who passed away from liver cancer during the pandemic. I was looking for an emotional outlet to try to encapsulate what I was feeling through that loss. I ended up using the medium of a violin concerto to explain the story of his passing and how it affected me.”
“Swept Away is a message of hope,” she said. “I wanted it to be something that lifted people up. So, while it does have this dark beginning that depicts his death, it ends with a sense of resurrection.”
Her goal is to ensure each concert creates a meaningful connection for the audience.
“I want audiences to leave every concert feeling like they’ve had a deeply personal experience with the music we performed,” Wang said. “It’s not my job to tell you how to feel — it’s my job to give you all the tools so you can connect with it.”
A composition that changed her life?
She said, “Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.”
Wang said, “I first heard The Rite of Spring by watching the original Disney Fantasia. It’s an animated movie where they animate different stories to classical music…Watching it opened my eyes to 20th century music and everything that followed. Classical music isn’t just Mozart and Beethoven, but it continues into the 21st century and different creators are putting their own mark on it.”
To young musicians, she offered this advice:
“Music can always be a part of your life whether you pursue it professionally or not.”
