detailed biography.
GENE WIE appears internationally as a conductor, chamber musician,
and educator, dividing his time equally between the classroom and
concert stage. His performances on violin, viola, clarinet, and
saxophone have taken him across the United States, Canada, Europe, and
the South Pacific. He is a devoted mentor to many students in school
programs all over Orange County, California and is widely recognized for
his effective development of strong basic skills in players of all ages
and an inspirational teaching style.
During the past decade he has appeared as Principal Clarinet with the South Orange County Chamber Orchestra, Concertmaster and Principal Clarinet with the Blackbird Music Project, and as a viola substitute with the Pacific Symphony. He concertized for five years as first violinist of the Elegie Quartet and two years as clarinetist of the Polar Woodwind Quintet. In the field of modern dance, he has improvised/performed on numerous instruments for premieres by pianist/composers Alan Terricciano and Norman Beede for the American Repertory Dance Company, Saint Joseph Ballet, and with UC Irvine Dance in classes for choreographers Donald McKayle, Lisa Naugle, and Bonnie Oda Homsey. He has conducted world premieres of works by Jason Barabba (Study in Orange, String Orchestra, 2006), Jesse Green (City of Dis, Vocal/String Quartets, 2007), and A. Terricciano (Evening Prayer from Blue Motions, String Orchestra, 2009). He has conducted musical theater productions at the school and community theatre level of which his favorites include Les Miserables, The Secret Garden, My Fair Lady, and Peter Pan, and performed as orchestra leader in numerous college and community theatre productions including Victor/Victoria, Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of Penzance, and She Loves Me.
Gene is Music Director of the Community Youth Orchestra of Southern California, and Orchestra Director (grades 4-12) at St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano where he also teaches Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science. He leads an innovative course in Music Technology at the Orange County High School of the Arts where he previously taught the Senior Conservatory Concert Orchestra, Junior Conservatory String Orchestra, Chamber Music, String Masterclass, Music Appreciation, and guest conducted the Wind Ensemble. He spent a year as Assistant Director of Orchestras at University High School in Irvine, and has coached string and wind sections for numerous orchestra, wind ensemble, and marching band programs including the University of California, Irvine, Chapman University, Orange County Youth Symphony, Corona del Mar High School, Santa Margarita Catholic High School, and Rancho Buena Vista High School.During secondary school, he performed for eight seasons with the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra, participating in two international concert tours, first as Concertmaster and later as Principal Clarinet. He continued this musical journey during college, where spent seven seasons exploring a wide variety of instrumentation with the UCI Symphony Orchestra as Principal Clarinet, Principal Viola, and section violinist; the UCI Wind Ensemble as Principal Clarinet, Principal Alto Saxophone, section french horn, and graduate student conductor; the Pep Band on mellophone and alto saxophone, and various community bands and orchestras. His current project is studying trumpet, playing orchestral, band, and brass quintet literature. He has also performed at hundreds of weddings and special events throughout California.
Committed to bringing young musicians into the world of chamber music, Gene serves on the Artist Faculty of ChamberArtsFest (USA/France) where he has coached, studied, and performed major works in the repertoire with the guidance of William Fitzpatrick, Peter Marsh, Yoko Matsuda, Robert Becker, and Margaret Parkins every year since the festival's inception in 2003. He serves on the coaching staff of the Viola Workout (Colorado) and spent a decade as a conductor and staff member at Arrowbear Music Camp (California). His musical mentors include William Fitzpatrick, Haroutune Bedelian, William Kennedy, Hong Cheng, and Lori Potter (violin/viola), Amanda Walker and Dorea Tate (clarinet), Stephen Tucker (conducting), and principal members of the Czech Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras.
A software engineer turned musician, he earned B.S. Information and Computer Science and M.F.A. Music degrees from the University of California, Irvine. His dual interests in music and technology include a position as Assistant Director of MusiShare, Inc., where he is part of an industry-leading team that develops technology-driven music education solutions.