Po-Wei Weng

About

An artist-scholar shaped by performance and education.

Drawing on Peking Opera, East Asian performing traditions, and arts education, I connect performance, scholarship, education, and leadership in arts education across cultural and institutional settings.

My work explores the intersections of music, theater, gesture, language, cultural identity, and technology.

Originally from Taiwan, I began professional Peking Opera training at age twelve and completed ten years of study at the National Kuo-Kuang Academy of Arts as both an actor and instrumentalist. I later studied dizi performance and music education at National Taichung University of Education, earned an M.A. in Musicology from National Taiwan University, and pursued graduate studies in Ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. At Wesleyan, I served as conductor and instructor of the Chinese Music Ensemble, creating collaborations across orchestral, choral, taiko, Korean percussion, and Javanese gamelan traditions.

My teaching career has included appointments at Wesleyan University, Mount Holyoke College, Central Connecticut State University, National Hsinchu Teachers College, and The Cambridge School of Weston. Across these settings, I have taught Mandarin, music, ethnomusicology, world language and culture, and interdisciplinary courses connecting artistic practice with cultural understanding.

Beyond the classroom, I have presented at national conferences in ethnomusicology, Asian studies, international education, and independent-school leadership, including the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Association for Asian Studies, NAIS PoCC, TABS, and NAFSA. I have also delivered invited lectures and workshops at DePauw University, Rutgers University, Boston College, Stonehill College, and Simon Fraser University. My work has addressed Peking Opera, world music, music and cultural identity, ethnographic film, multilingualism, and Chinese martial arts cinema.

As a guest lecturer for DePauw University's year-long Global Music Experience, I participated in virtual programs and two week-long campus visits, delivering more than twenty lectures, workshops, and class sessions. Topics included music and cultural identity, performance practice, music exoticism, Chinese martial arts film, and Peking Opera music and performance.

For more than a decade, my work in independent schools has spanned teaching, boarding life, department leadership, world language and culture, international education, and school administration. Today, I serve as Assistant Head of School at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, where my work extends from performance and scholarship to arts education, international partnerships, and educational leadership.