Members' Pages - Werner Schiess
                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                         
Werner Schiess grew up in Herisau, a small town in eastern Switzerland, in the canton of Appenzell. He describes his early music training thus: "Someone taught me to read music and which valves to push at the right time on a valve trombone."

 






                                                           

 

At the age of 13, Werner played in the local "Knabenmusik" consisting of approximately 30 male members (no girls in this band at that time!), and 5 years later the Musikverein of Herisau where he played the slide trombone, euphonium and tuba. He was also part of a traditional jazz band " The Swinging Ramblers" where he played the guitar.

Spreading his wings, he moved to another town, Aarau, and joined the local Musikverein until the age of 23 when he decided to emigrate to South Africa to further his career as an engineer.

Werner is a Pr.Tech.(Eng.) Civil Engineering and made a name for himself as

one of the top designers of formwork and supportwork in the civil engineering field, working for construction companies such as "Group Five" and "Gillis-Mason" (later incorporated in Murray & Roberts).

In Johannesburg, Werner became a part time member of the Imperial Light Horse Regimental Band" as tuba player under the batton of Neville Roe. During his 6 year stay with the band he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. "The highlight", he says, "was probably the performance of the 1812 Overture, when every time the cannons went off, the shock would cause me to get lost for half a page."

Over the following 20 years Werner founded and managed the "Wind Sinfonia" (20 piece) with Ignatius Wapenaar as conductor, playing mainly light classical music such as "The Thiefing Magpie" from Rossini, "Fingals Cave", "Orpheus in the Underworld", etc. "Wind Sinfonia" was later re-grouped under the name of "Bavarian Brass Band", (15 piece) to play at various beerfests.

In 2003 Werner, by now semi retired, moved from Johannesburg to settle in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal with his wife, Lucille.

This state of affairs didn't last long, however! Werner presently holds the post of resident engineer with a well-known group of consulting engineers in Durban.

They have three married children and five grandchildren, all living abroad.

 


























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