Wilbert de Roo, born in Johannesburg South Africa and whose parents were both professional musicians, soon showed his abilities as a cellist, and at the age of nineteen became the youngest member of the S.A.B.C. National Symphony Orchestra in Johannesburg. During a tour to South Africa in 1974 the great cellist and pedagog, André Navarra, invited de Roo to study with him at the Hochschule fûr Musik in Vienna. Completing his studies in 1979, he decided to settle in France becoming a member of the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy.