Lorin Wey

I was born on April 3, 1990, in Berne, Switzerland, into a family of musicians: My American mother, Peggy Wey-Ervin, and my Swiss father, Markus Wey, were both oboists, and my 4-year-old brother, Terry, was already determined to become an opera singer. Four years later, he decided he wanted to join the Vienna Choir Boys, and because Vienna is about 600 miles from Berne, my mother and I went with him.

I started kindergarten at the Vienna Choir Boys, and continued there with four years of primary school. Terry’s voice trainer, Silvia Purchar, soon also started working with me. The Augarten, home of the Vienna Choir Boys, was perfect for playing soccer – my favorite hobby – and I discovered that I also enjoyed singing. As a Vienna Choir Boy, I sang in concerts in Carinthia and Slovenia, in "Carmen" in the Vienna State Opera, and in masses at the Imperial Chapel. After a tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1999, I decided to leave the Vienna Choir Boys and attend the Musikgymnasium (music high school), where I have been for three years. In the fall of 2001, the Vienna Choir Boys founded a new external choir, of which I am now a member.

Some of the highlights of my musical experiences have been:

• Aug. 1999 played the boy Mozart for a Japanese film, with the conductor, Charles Dutoit, as Father Mozart

• Dec. 1999 "Ceremony of Carols", by Benjamin Britten, in Vienna and Bratislava (soprano soloist)

• Spring 2000 "Thomas Chatterton", by Matthias Pintscher, in the Vienna Volksoper (Master Cheney)

• Jan. 2001 "Abraham", by Carl Amand Mangold: Swiss first performance (Isaac)

• Aug. 2001 Recitals in U.S.A., Switzerland, France and Germany, with my brother, Terry, as piano accompanist

• Oct. 2001 "The Little Sweep", opera by Benjamin Britten (Sam)

• Jan.-Mar. 2002 "The Turn of the Screw", by B.Britten, in the Opera Graz (Miles)

• Apr. 2002 performances with pianist, Norman Shetlar, in the Brahmssaal of the Vienna Musikverein

• May 2002 "Exsultate, jubilate", by W.A.Mozart at the Haydn Festival in Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt

In the summer of 2000, William Adams, of the Fort Bend Boys’ Choir, invited Terry and me to attend their summer camp. We had such a wonderful time that we went back again in 2001, and look forward to going again in 2002, after I return from a 5-week tour of Japan singing Kurt in "The Sound of Music". Before returning to Europe, Terry and I will give three concerts at music festivals in Pennsylvania. In November, I will sing the boy solo in Leonard Bernstein’s "Chichester Psalms" in Switzerland. Concerts and a CD recording are being planned for Dec. 2002 in Paris, as well as performances in France during the Easter holidays of 2003.

Lorin Wey
June, 2002

Return