Founders

Wesley Wong

Wesley Wong began his music studies at the age of 13 with Mr Mervyn Solomon.

In 2006 he was selected to play in the Northern Cape Wind Ensemble and the WASBE Wind Ensemble, the latter of which was conducted by the international American conductor, Richard Miles. He progressed steadily through the ranks of the various orchestras at the Sasol National Youth Orchestra Course and was selected as the principle trumpeter of the South African National Youth Orchestra and South African National Youth Wind Ensemble in 2008 and 2011 respectively. He has also performed with the Free State Symphony Orchestra, the most notable performance featuring international American saxophonist Doug Masek, and the ARCO Orchestra in concerts featuring well known South African celebrities such as Steve Hofmeyer, Yvonne Chaka-Chaka and Loyiso Bala.

Wong studied music at the University of the Free State under Dr Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg and holds a B.Mus.Hons degree as well as an A.T.C.L Diploma in trumpet performance from the Trinity College of Music.

During his studies he co-founded and conducted, along with now wife Lisa Wong, the Free State Wind Ensemble. The FSWE performed highly successful concerts in Bloemfontein and also undertook a successful your to Kimberley in 2010. He also conducted Free State Orchestra of Chinese Music (the only orchestra in Africa performing traditional Chinese music) for two years and toured with this orchestra to Maseru, Lesotho.

In 2011, Wong took up a post as the brass instructor at the Cambridge Schools in East London. In 2013 he was appointed as a brass lecturer at Fort Hare University in East London and since 2015 has taken up the position of Head of Music at Hudson Park High School.

"I am extremely passionate about music and wind bands in particular. The wind band genre is so exciting, colourful and contemporary, it strikes all the right chords in me."

Lisa Wong

Lisa started playing the clarinet at the age of 9. She attended the South African National Youth Orchestra course from 2003 to 2013. During those years she was selected on numerous occasions as the principal E-flat clarinettist and 1st B-flat clarinettist of the SA National Youth Wind Ensemble.

After high school Lisa attended the University of the Free State where she majored in clarinet performance under Heinrich Armer. She graduated with her B.Mus degree in 2009 and also holds an A.T.C.L diploma in clarinet performance from the Trinity College of Music, London. In her 2nd year of study she was employed by the Free State Symphony Orchestra (FSSO) as 2nd clarinettist and was promoted to principal clarinettist in her 4th year. In her third year she was also awarded the prize for the best third year student majoring in an orchestral instrument. During her studies Lisa also performed with the Free State Youth Orchestra, Free State Orchestra of Chinese Music (FSOCM) and the UFS Jazz Band. She performed as a soloist with the FSOCM in 2009 and was selected to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A with the FSSO for their concerto festival in 2010. She was also co-founder and principal clarinettist of the Free State Wind Ensemble.

In 2011 Lisa moved to East London where she started her teaching career at Cambridge High School as a woodwind teacher. In 2013 she took up a position at Stirling high school and in 2016 moved to Hudson Park High School as a Clarinet and Saxophone teacher.