Derrick Wang

Wang graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College, Harvard University, where he composed works including two musicals for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.^[1][2] He received a master's degree from the Yale School of Music,^[1] and a J.D. from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.

Wang came to international attention as the composer and librettist of Scalia/Ginsburg, the opera about United States Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.^[3][4][5] Both justices wrote forewords to Wang's libretto.^[6] One chapter of Ginsburg's 2016 book My Own Words consists of excerpts from the libretto,^[7][8] narrated and performed by Wang in the audiobook.^[9] In 2022, Justice Ginsburg's copy of the Scalia/Ginsburg libretto with a one-page autograph manuscript of her handwritten notes was sold at auction for over US$10,000.^[10][11]

In 2024, Opera Delaware premiered Wang's new completion of the opera Turandot, praised as "adept," "respectful," and "seamless."^[12][13][14]

Wang's musical drama Fearless, inspired by the life of Women Airforce Service Pilot Hazel Ying Lee, receives its world premiere at Opera Delaware in 2025.^[15][16][17]

Wang, a musical dramatist and forensic musicologist, teaches music and law at Johns Hopkins University.^[12][18][19]