world-wide publicity and dramatically
changed life for Wang, who joined Thomas
& Libowitz in November 2016.
"It was very heartening to know that
people were interested in the idea of this
opera," Wang said. "The funny thing is that
the NPR story, including interviews with the
justices, came out about three weeks before
the bar exam. The resulting attention was
very flattering, but I didn't have all the time
in the world to respond right away."
A Maryland native, Wang's interest in
music came before his interest in the law.
He graduated from a private preparatory
high school in Baltimore while studying
piano at the Peabody Institute. He went on
to earn his bachelor's degree in music from
Harvard University and his master's degree
in music composition from the Yale School
of Music.
It was his interest in intellectual property
based on his experience as a musician
that drew him to attend law school at the
University of Maryland Carey School of Law,
where he was inspired to write the opera.
"All the words the singers are singing
to each other are rooted in something they
[the justices] said," Wang said. "The music
harks back to landmark moments in operatic
history in the same way the lyrics hark back
to constitutional law."
Wang finds the friendship between
the justices one a liberal and one a
conservative inspiring. (Justice Scalia died
in February 2016.)
everything that came after was astounding,"
said Wang, an attorney at Primerus firm
Thomas & Libowitz, P.A. in Baltimore,
Maryland. "It leapt off the page. You could
say it was operatic."
Then came the counterpoint to opinions
from Justice Antonin Scalia those of
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"There was this great synergy that
happened. The idea occurred to me that
this would be so interesting on stage,"
Wang said. "Then I learned the two of
them in real life are very good friends and
bonded over a love for opera. So I decided:
clearly, there's an opera here."
So Wang wrote a comic opera called
Scalia/Ginsburg, inspired by the opinions
of the U.S. Supreme Court justices.
In June 2013, the two justices invited
Wang and opera singers from the Peabody
Institute of Johns Hopkins University to
perform sections of Scalia/Ginsburg for
them in the East Conference Room at the
Supreme Court of the United States. Nina
Totenberg from NPR (National Public
Radio) was also there to report about the
event for "All Things Considered." The
opera then had its world premiere at the
Castleton Festival in Virginia in July 2015,
followed by a sold-out second production
in 2017 at The Glimmerglass Festival in
Cooperstown, New York.
people together over political divides," Wang
said. "We are different, and we are one."
After graduating from law school in
2013, Wang took time to pursue publicizing
the opera. He also spent time in Silicon
Valley at a startup accelerator called Y
Combinator, where he shadowed a group
of over 100 startups while researching
the creativity of tech entrepreneurship.
Now, at Thomas & Libowitz, he focuses
on intellectual property and business law,
advising creative clients in all industries as
they launch new businesses. "As a composer
of a high-profile interdisciplinary musical
work, Derrick Wang possesses a unique
understanding of the relationship between
proprietary intellectual property and the law,
and this insight is of tremendous value to
growing companies," said Steven Thomas,
co-founder and CEO of Thomas & Libowitz.
Wang also designs and teaches
interdisciplinary courses on law and music
at the Peabody Conservatory.
Wang looks for every opportunity to
break down barriers and bring people
together through law and music whether
by writing an opera based on the law,
helping lawyers appreciate opera and
helping opera fans appreciate the law, or
making the law accessible to the public by
showing how it intersects with other fields.
Wang is writing other musical and
operatic works as well. Meanwhile, you'll
find him practicing law in the offices of
Thomas & Libowitz every day.
He urges others to also embrace their
creativity and never let anyone put them in
a box saying "this is who you are and this is
what you do."
For more information about Scalia/
Ginsburg, visit derrickwang.com.
and the Law to Write Acclaimed Opera
Constitutional Law and reading a thick textbook of Supreme
Court cases, there were three "magic" words that always
caught his attention: "Scalia, J., dissenting."