Sue-Ya Wang was born on 14 August 1965 in Taipei, where she studied piano and composition at the National Academy of the Arts. She later received a government grant to study in Paris, and in 1992, she graduated with a composition degree from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, before entering the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP), where she studied composition with Alain Bancquart, orchestration with Gérard Grisey and electro-acoustic music with Laurent Cuniot. In 1994, she undertook further study with Paul Méfano. She attended the Darmstadt Summer Courses in 1992 and 1994, Centre Acanthes in 1993, where she studied with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Gerard Grisey, and Klaus Huber, and Royaumont in 1997, where she studied with Brian Ferneyhough, Franco Donatoni, and Jean-Marc Singier.

In 1996, her work Theme and Variations for cello and piano was awarded the “Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize” at the ACL Festival in Taipei. The work was premiered at the festival and later performed in Tokyo. In 1996, her quintet Dans les bois for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano was awarded the second prize (no first prize was awarded) in the Music Taipei Composition Competition. This work was premiered at the Paris Conservatoire in 1995. The same year, her work Le poète nomade, a commission by the Taipei Ensemble, was premiered. In 1997, Profils d’outremer for twelve instruments was premiered at the Cité de la Musique (Paris) by Ensemble Alternance. This work was selected for performance at the ISCM World Music Days in Manchester in 1998. In January 1998, a concert featuring her works was presented in the National Music Hall of Taiwan in Taipei.