“I was very lucky to be in a school with a brass band. I was on the cornet for six years in primary school and then from secondary school onwards, I started playing the trumpet.” For a time, Wong regarded this as a career choice, but an injury forced him to change plans. “I was in the military band for two years. I really wanted to be a professional trumpet player, but I had a nerve injury of my upper lip at the end of my first year. For me to remain in the band I had to be useful – I started composing marches, and once they were composed of course they needed someone to rehearse and conduct them. It was really just serendipity.”

Hard to believe: This is how Kahchun Wong describes his start as a conductor. Today, he is rightly regarded as a renowned interpreter of classical European works and was recently appointed Principal Conductor of the famous Hallé Orchestra. As Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, he brings the connection between Europe and his Asian homeland to our stage.
You can read about the role his home country Singapore plays for him and what connects him to the Dresden Philharmonic here: