Johann Wong is a rising junior at Newton South High School. He started playing piano at 9 years old and has studied piano for 7 years with Teacher Li, a famous pianist In MA and winner of many outstanding teacher awards. Johann performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and earned a Second-Place finish in the Crescendo International Music Competition in 2022. Johann performed with Immaculata Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania in 2023. He received the First Prize in the Charleston 2023 International Piano Competition. He also has participated in various competitions, including NEPTA, MMTA Bay State Contest, Steinway Society Piano Competition, and he won awards at the Musicale Piano Music Festivals.
Johann carries this piano spirit to other aspects of his daily life, such as his school, social life, and relationships.
In middle school, Johann was the Math Team captain and led the team to an undefeated season and a division win. Continuing his leadership and coaching, Johann founded a math team study group. He coaches and mentors the current team with the competition preparation since 2022, and the team continues the wins in the IMLEM competition, but the main goal is to enhance each member’s confidence and joy in learning.
Johann was selected to be the graduation speaker for his middle school. He used “Be Like Water” quote from Bruce Lee to talk about how to adjust yourself to fit to the changes caused by Covid pandemic instead of changing the situation to fit yourself. His speech impressed the 800+ students, parents and teachers on the graduation day.
In high school, Johann learns the power of words from the speech, and he becomes one of the leads of Newton South Speech team. He received awards in the Massachusetts Speech & Debate League tournaments. He won the championship of Declamation in the Revere Fall Festival tournament. He also qualified for the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) speech tournament and ranked #53 for Declamation. Additionally, he hosted the Newton South Speech & Debate tournament in 2024 with 350+students and 150+ judges from around the state.
Outside of school, Johann likes to contribute to the community. Johann enjoys working with children and wants to make a difference in their lives. He volunteered as a teaching assistant, event organizer, tutor in the summer programs to help younger kids with their academic studies, supervise activities, and have fun in the process. Johann was achieved the President’s Volunteer Service Award with these meaningful experiences.
Johann’s other hobbies are baseball, basketball and chess. Johann is a member of the Newton South Baseball team.
You can find Johann’s 2023 International Piano Competition performance here.
Watch Johann Jia Ye Wong perform Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major by Franz Liszt on the piano for the 2025 Virtuoso Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.