Singapore pianist Wang Congyu left school at 16, had no stable home in Paris and became a Steinway Artist

When Wang Congyu sat down in an office at a concert hall in Courbevoie, northwest of Paris, he had already flown in from the south of France, taught piano masterclasses for four or five hours and asked one of his students to present the concert taking place elsewhere in the building.Wang could have been forgiven for looking depleted when he sat down for the interview with CAN Luxury. Instead, the Singaporean concert pianist joked, gesticulated animatedly and spoke at the speed of a sprint.This is just another day in Wang’s life. The 34-year-old, who grew up in Clementi, performs internationally, directs music festivals and has recorded albums devoted to Poulenc and Debussy. Since 2022, he has been a Steinway Artist, joining the piano maker’s international roster alongside musicians such as Diana Krall, Lang Lang and Billy Joel.He had come a long way. When he dropped out of school and moved to Paris at 16 to study music, he was effectively homeless. He slept on friends’ couches and sometimes went weeks without a proper meal.

Once reluctant to practise, Wang began spending his teenage years searching out scores and recordings to find new music to play. (Photo: Wang Congyu)

“The only thing I was thinking about was the next day,” he said. “What you’re going to eat, where you’re going to sleep.”On paper, Wang’s story has the contours of a classic underdog tale: A school dropout who played piano for supper became a Steinway Artist whose work now brings together young soloists, teachers, conductors and orchestras. Wang does not see it that way. “I don’t have any success,” he said. “It’s just like survival mode.”Yet it raises the question: How did a boy who hated the piano, walked out of school and landed in Paris without a bed become a Steinway Artist performing on international stages?THE PIANO HE HATEDFor a man who has built his life around the piano, Wang’s first encounter with it was adversarial.“I hated it,” he said. “I was really bad at it.”Wang was three when his parents made him learn his first tunes. His older sister played the piano and violin, excelled at school and later became a doctor. Wang describes himself as her rebellious opposite: unexceptional at school and unwilling to practise an instrument he had never chosen.Music caught his interest at about 13, when the chapel band at Fairfield Methodist Secondary School needed a pianist. Few students could play, so Wang joined. The others encouraged him and told him he was good. “I didn’t know I had a gift,” he said.