About our Founders
Executive and Co-Artistic Director of the New York Conducting Institute, Mun-Tzung Wong truly believes in studying conducting is one of the best ways to be in touch with ourselves, to understand ourselves better, and to advance our musicianship. As the co-founder of the New York Conducting Institute, she has the vision of increasing the public awareness of the importance of the craft in conducting.
A native of Hong Kong, Mun-Tzung Wong is a pianist, opera coach, mezzo-soprano and conductor. She is currently residing in New York City with her conductor husband, David Štech, and two wonderful kitties, Cleo and Niles. She enjoys cooking in her free time. |
Co-Founder and Executive Team member Alicia Lieu began her journey as a conductor in 2013. After connecting with numerous aspiring and emerging conductors, she saw the need in New York City for high quality, affordable hands-on learning opportunities with maximum podium time, and began organizing workshops. These workshops evolved into the New York Conducting Institute. By serving conductors, the hope of the Institute is to foster and encourage musical vision and leadership, thereby enhancing the ensemble work for musicians and creating transformational experiences for audiences. Alicia looks forward to developing of a series of workshops for women conductors in an effort to help level the playing field in the world of professional conducting.
For more information including biography and compositions, see www.AliciaLieu.com. |
Artistic Director, David Štech
David Štech's career has spanned four continents where he has conducted, coached, played and prepared hundreds of performances of operas, orchestra concerts, choral concerts, and recitals. He studied the piano, organ, trombone, voice, conducting and accompanying. His philosophy of teaching is an amalgam of the techniques of his many conducting teachers, including Kurt Masur, Larry Rachleff, Gustav Meier, Christoph von Dohnányi, Otto Werner-Müller, Kirk Trevor, Jorge Mester, Robert Spano, Zdeněk Mácal, Sir Roger Norrington, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, James Paul, Michael Morgan, Don Schleicher, Ken Kiesler, JoAnn Falletta, Paul Nadler, Michael Jinbo, Victor Yampolsky, and Cliff Colnot.
An alumnus of the Pierre Monteux School, Northwestern University, Tanglewood, he has worked at Opera Theater of Lucca (Italy), Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic (Czech Republic), New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), Ash Lawn Opera (VA), Opera in Williamsburg (VA), Opera in the Ozarks (AR), Chicago Choral Artists, American Opera Group (Chicago), New York Composers' Collective, Astoria Symphony Orchestra (NYC), Orquestra Sinfónica Uncuyo (Argentina), the Acadamy of Performing Arts (Hong Kong), Amore Opera (NYC), North Shore Chamber Orchestra (Chicago), and many others.
He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Symphony Space, Orchestra Hall (Chicago), and recently at Lincoln Center, conducting Die Walküre. Professor Štech currently teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, is associate conductor at Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble (NYC), assistant conductor of St. Petersburg Opera (FL), and is Organist and Choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church (NJ).
An alumnus of the Pierre Monteux School, Northwestern University, Tanglewood, he has worked at Opera Theater of Lucca (Italy), Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic (Czech Republic), New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), Ash Lawn Opera (VA), Opera in Williamsburg (VA), Opera in the Ozarks (AR), Chicago Choral Artists, American Opera Group (Chicago), New York Composers' Collective, Astoria Symphony Orchestra (NYC), Orquestra Sinfónica Uncuyo (Argentina), the Acadamy of Performing Arts (Hong Kong), Amore Opera (NYC), North Shore Chamber Orchestra (Chicago), and many others.
He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Symphony Space, Orchestra Hall (Chicago), and recently at Lincoln Center, conducting Die Walküre. Professor Štech currently teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, is associate conductor at Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble (NYC), assistant conductor of St. Petersburg Opera (FL), and is Organist and Choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church (NJ).