DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

ME5 Ignatius Wang Kebin

SAF CENTRAL BAND
Ignatius Wang Kebin

ME5 Wang joined the SAF Central Band in 2011 and served as Associate Principal Euphonium. In 2012, he was awarded a full scholarship to the Royal Marines School of Music in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, where he studied with several distinguished professors including Dr. Elizabeth Le Grove, Paul Patterson and Malcolm Binney.

A recipient of the Distinguished Star, the Bandmasters' Course Conducting Prize, and the Baldwin's Award for Best Conductor, ME5 Wang emerged top of his class and went on to become the first international student to attain Director of Music qualification from Her Majesty's Royal Marines Band Service. He graduated from the University of Plymouth (Bachelor of Music, First Class Honours) and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Master of Music). ME5 Wang is also a Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music.

ME5 Wang studied with Bjørn Sagstad, Chan Tze Law, Clark Rundell, Darrell Ang, Douglas Bostock, Jason Lai, Mark Heron, Nicholas Childs, Tan Beng Wee, Timothy Reynish and Tsung Yeh; in collaboration with established groups such as the Argovia Philharmonic, Black Dyke Band, European Union Youth Wind Orchestra, Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

In July 2014, ME5 Wang was announced as the winner of the Bob Harding Bursary, and served as Young Conductor for the Havant Symphony Orchestra. He was also selected to represent Singapore at the International Conductors' Competition at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands in 2017. ME5 Wang also served as assistant to Tsung Yeh in the 2019 ballet production of Don Quixote by the Singapore Ballet.

As a guest conductor, ME5 Wang has conducted some of the most prominent groups in Singapore such as the Singapore Wind Symphony, The Philharmonic Winds, and Orchestra Collective. In Europe, he has also been invited to conduct regularly, including the Sinfonisches Verbandsblasorchester Markgräflerland and the Benefiz - Musik und Kultur für andere Orchestra in Germany, and the EVAM Estagio de Verão in Amarante, Portugal. In 2022, ME5 Wang was selected to assist Finnish maestro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and conducted the international LEAD! symphony orchestra in Helsinki, Lahti and Tampere.

In addition, ME5 Wang has also been featured regularly at the WBAS Youth Band Festival and the Asia Arts Festival as a clinician and adjudicator. He has led several conducting and music leadership workshops, including the International Brass Band Summer School, and the Music Leaders Camp and Student Conductors' Workshop for the Arts Education Branch, Ministry of Education.

ME5 Wang was commissioned as a Senior Military Expert and appointed as the Director of Music of the SAF Ceremonial Band on 1 Apr 2015 at the age of 24. In addition to his role in the SAF, ME5 Wang serves as the Music Director of the Lion City Brass Band and SEIRA, Associate Conductor of the Temasek Polytechnic Band, as well as a board member of the Wind Bands Association of Singapore.