Terry Wey - Autobiography

Terry Wey

MY first exposure to vocal music was before my birth, when my parents, Peggy Wey-Ervin and Markus Wey, both oboists, played several performances of Bach's b-minor mass during my mother's pregnancy. One of their concerts was scheduled on my birthday, the 15th of September 1985, which two other oboists ended up playing. As my mother is American, I am a Citizen of both Switzerland and the USA. I already loved singing in my early childhood. Showing an enormous interest in Operas, I saw my first and still favourite one, "Il Trovatore" by G. Verdi, at age 4. Already then, I knew exactly that I wanted to become an opera-singer.

My parents discovered my talent and I started attending choirs at age 6. My first solistic concert with orchestra was in Suessmayr's Children's opera "Das Namensfest". The first choir I sang in was the "Berner Kinderchor". With it, I performed in "La Boheme" in the Bernese City Opera house and sang various concerts in Bern. At age 7, I wanted to be able to sing more concerts, so I changed to the "Knabenchor Roggwil" under R. Favre, with which I sang one of the three boys in Mozart's "Magic Flute" in Baden for the first time, followed by concert tours through Italy singing Bach's "St. Matthews Passion" with the Orchestre Symphonique Neuchatelois and performances at the "Goetheanum" and the "Tonhalle" in Zurich.

Terry Wey

After seeing a TV-documentary on the Vienna Choir Boys, I decided I wanted to become a member, so I auditioned and was accepted to attend the preparations-choir, for which I had to skip the third grade of elementary school. From 1995 until 1998, I was a member of the Schubert choir, which is one of the four concert choirs of the Vienna Choir Boys. In this time, I sang over 300 concerts. I soon became a soloist in my choir and I later sang solos in all four choirs. The yearly concert tours brought me to the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, England, Spain and many other countries of the world. A few of my most important performances were "The Magic flute", "La Boheme", "Carmen" and "Parsifal" in the Vienna State Opera, the boy in Mendelssohn's "Elijah", numerous masses at the Imperial Chapel in Vienna and performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Vienna Concerthouse, the Viennese "Musikverein" and the Royal Festival Hall in London under famous conductors like Ricardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Claudio Abbado. My most important recording was Mozart's "Coronation Mass" on the 500th aniversary celebration CD with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under Agnes Grossmann.

After my time with the Vienna Choir Boys, I recorded two private CDs, "Born to sing" and "O holy night".

I am now attending the "Musikgymnasium Vienna" and am studying piano, which I began playing at the age of 7, at the Viennese Conservatory.

My voice is changing now and I hope to become a tenor. My plans for the future are mostly singing, although I am also interested in composition and conducting.

T. Wey

Biography update:

For the past two years, I have been singing in the Choral Schola of the Imperial Chapel in Vienna. The group is made up of ex-Vienna Choir Boys. I have also returned to the Vienna State Opera as one of the four midshipmen in their new production of "Billy Budd", by Benjamin Britten. Besides working on developing my tenor voice, I’ve discovered that I can still sing alto and soprano, which I often do with the Capella Clementina, a small group singing Renaissance masses in the church, Maria am Gestade. In the fall of 2002, I will sing soprano in concerts and a recording of Josquin des Pres’ "Missa di Dadi" with Rene Clemencic.

I still study piano at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna and regularly give concerts accompanying my brother, Lorin, a boy soprano. Last summer we had concerts in U.S.A., Switzerland, France and Germany. In August 2002, we will be performing at music festivals in Pennsylvania. Before that, I will attend – for the third year now – the Fort Bend Boys’ Choir summer camp and accompany their rehearsals.

In February 2000, I completed composing a violin concerto. Since then, I’ve concentrated more on conducting. In March 2002, I conducted performances of Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater" for Soprano, Alto, Strings and B.C.

I have one more year of high school, and plan to study voice afterwards, first in Vienna, and then in the United States.

Terry Wey
June, 2002

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