David Hetherington : Director of Music, Cello
A native of St. Catharines Ontario, David Hetherington is currently the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Associate Principal Cellist. He received his musical training at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, and furthered his cello studies in New York, Italy and Germany with Claus Adam, André Navarra and Paul Tortelier.
A member of the TSO since 1970, Mr. Hetherington also teaches at the Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto. He coaches the cello sections of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
As soloist, Mr. Hetherington has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Niagara Symphony, the Symphony Orchestra of Canada, New Music Concerts and Soundstreams Canada as well as recitals at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music.
As chamber musician, he has toured Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe, appeared at the Ottawa, Elora, Sweetwater and Kincardine Music Festivals and performed with many internationally renowned artists such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Emmanuel Ax, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Measha Brueggergosman, James Ehnes, Heinz Holliger and Arnold Steinhardt.
Mr. Hetherington is a founding member of the Amici Chamber Ensemble which presents an annual series of concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. With Amici he has recorded ten discs for Summit Records, Naxos and CBC records. Their first CD won a Juno award for Chan Ka Nin’s Among Friends which was written for Amici.
He is also a founding member of the string quartet Accordes which performs regularly for New Music Concerts and other contemporary music organizations. In 2001, the Canadian Music Centre, through Centrediscs, released Accordes’ recording of Harry Somers’ String Quartets, for which it received a Juno Award nomination. Accordes has also recorded works by several other Canadian composers such as Norma Beecroft, David Eagle, Harry Freedman, Hope Lee, Alexina Louie and Jean Papineau-Couture.
Mr. Hetherington has appeared on several recordings for the CBC and for Centrediscs with whom he made the Canadian premiere recording of Talivaldis Kenins’ prize-winning cello sonata. He has been active in performing and recording much contemporary music and has recorded solo cello pieces by Alice Ho, Chan Ka Nin (CBC Records) and Elliot Carter (Naxos). In addition, he has collaborated personally with many other composers such as Brian Cherney, Henri Duttilleux, Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenman, Magnus Lindberg and Alexina Louie for performances of their works for solo cello. All of these performances were recorded for broadcast by the CBC.
Mr. Hetherington plays a cello made in 1695 by Giovanni Battista Grancino.
Alain Trudel: Symphony Orchestra Conductor
Trombonist, Conductor, Composer, Arranger, and Educator, Alain Trudel is a well-rounded, multi-faceted musician. Today, he maintains an international career in all of these activities. Yet, it was as a trombonist that his dynamic career began. His career as a soloist was launched at the age of 18 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Dutoit.
Recently Alain has been involved with orchestras such as the Toronto Symphony, Grand Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and the CBC Vancouver Winds. He has also directed the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Victoria Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, and The Tokyo Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra. Alain is a regular guest of the Windsor Symphony, The Banff Centre, Glenn Gould School of Music, and the Royal Conservatory.
Alain has received invitations to work with such prestigious musical organizations as the Boston Symphony, The New York Philharmonic, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Dr. Colleen Richardson: Symphonic Band Conductor
Within the Music Performance Studies Department at The University of Western Ontario, Colleen Richardson oversees the bands, directs the UWO Wind Ensemble, and teaches graduate courses/seminars in conducting. She also teaches Instrumental Ensemble Techniques and Instrumental Literature and Techniques within the Music Education Department.
Dr. Richardson is sought after as a clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator across Canada. Her research interests include wind literature, chamber wind repertoire, conducting pedagogy, ensemble rehearsal techniques, Messiaen’s compositional techniques, and Varèse’s connections with visual artists. She recently presented her research at conferences in Ireland, Switzerland, and Italy.
Before her Western appointment, Dr. Richardson was Assistant Professor of Music Education and the Wind Ensemble Director at Converse College in South Carolina. She taught conducting, instrumental methods, woodwind techniques, and general music methods, as well as supervised student teachers.
Dr. Richardson, a native of Winnipeg, graduated from Brandon University with a bachelor’s degree in music education and earned a Wind Conducting Diploma from the University of Calgary. While working towards her diploma, she studied with many well respected composers and conductors, including: Craig Kirchhoff, Karel Husa, Warren Benson, David Maslanka, Eugene Corporon, Mallory Thompson, Dale Lonis, Allan Bell, Robert Reynolds, Jerry Junkin and Tyrone Paterson. In 2001, she received her master’s degree in conducting with Dr. Glenn Price at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Richardson completed her DMA in Wind Conducting with Rodney Winther in 2005 at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she taught undergraduate conducting, was involved with the supervision of undergraduate music education students during their practicum, and regularly conducted works with the Wind Symphony, Symphony Band, Chamber Winds, and Chamber Players. Along with her activities at CCM, Dr. Richardson co-directed the Tri-State Chamber Players, as well as served as the Music Director and Conductor of the Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble.
Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Richardson taught general, choral, and instrumental music in the Canadian public school system for 14 years. She was an active clinician and conductor for a number of ensembles, including the University of Manitoba Tuesday Jazz Ensemble, the Manitoba Band Association Summer Band Program, the Parkland Regional Junior Honour Band, the Manitoba Provincial Honour Band and the Long & McQuade All-Star Wind Ensemble. Dr. Richardson served as the Chairperson for the Optimist International Band Festival Committee for seven years, and she was the Business Manager for the Winnipeg Wind Ensemble and performed in the ensemble for seven seasons. Dr. Richardson was selected as “Outstanding Conductor” at Musicfest Canada in 1996.
Dr. Glenn D. Price: Concert Orchestra Conductor
Dr. Glenn D. Price is recognized as one of the leading international conductors of today. He has conducted in over 20 countries on five continents, covering the gamut from professional chamber players to 450 piece string orchestra, symphony orchestras and wind ensembles to mass bands of over 1500 musicians.
He has appeared as featured conductor for many professional organizations. These include the Shizuoka Festival (Japan), the Encontro Latino Americano (Brazil), the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), the MidWest Clinic, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the American Bandmasters Association (ABA), the British Association for Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles (BASBWE) and others. Dr. Price has conducted many renowned soloists, such as Evelyn Glennie, Christian Lindberg, Ney Rosauro, Jens Lindemann, Alain Trudel, Roger Webster, Rick Todd, John Marcellus, Simone Rebello and Michael Burritt.
As a Professor of Music at the University of Calgary, he has made considerable contributions to the arts in Western Canada. He is past Music Director of the Calgary Youth Orchestra and has conducted for the Calgary Civic Symphony and Instrumental Music Society of Calgary as well as the Winnipeg Symphony’s New Music Festival and Esther Honens International Piano Competition. In addition, the nine commercial recordings he has made with the University of Calgary Wind Ensemble are broadcast regularly and recognized worldwide.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, he pursued further conducting studies at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Japan and the Tanglewood Music Centre in the U.S. as well as in Europe and Russia. A noted percussionist, he has performed with the Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet, Calgary Philharmonic and Alberta Ballet as well as numerous contemporary music ensembles. He recently recorded Ney Rosauro's Concerto for Timpani, at the invitation of the composer.
Dr. Price has devoted much of his life in service to the profession and the training of young conductors. As a renowned pedagogue he has led conducting symposia throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. His students now occupy leading positions in Canada, the U.S. and around the world. Following six years on its Executive Board, he was elected to the post of President of WASBE, dedicated to the improvement of all aspects of the profession.
Les Dobbin: Concert Band Conductor
Les Dobbin developed a keen interest and talent for conducting while he was at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, majoring in voice with Louis Quilico and studying orchestral conducting with Victor Feldbrill, Margaret Hillis and Peter McCoppin. Les began his career as a choral musician with Lloyd Bradshaw and professionally with Elmer Iseler.
Since 1982 Mr. Dobbin has taught as an Itinerant Music Teacher for the Toronto District School Board and is currently director of orchestra and bands at John G. Althouse M.S., where the school annually has excelled at the Kiwanis Music Festival, winning the Colonel Peacock Trophy in 2002, 2003 and 2006 and the Mary Francis Arrigo award as top jazz performers in 2006. Mr. Dobbin is active as a clinician for the TDSB and Ontario Music Educators Association and as an adjudicator for the Kiwanis Music Festival.
Mr. Dobbin is the musical director and conductor of the Etobicoke Youth Band, a community band of over 100 players that celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary in 2007. He was nominated for the Award of Excellence as an employee of the Etobicoke Board of Education and as a community leader for the Etobicoke Youth Band in 1986 and 1997 and won the award in 2003. Mr. Dobbin is a member of Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.
Deborah Pady: String Orchestra Conductor
Deborah Pady is currently Head of the Music Department at North Toronto Collegiate Institute where she conducts three string orchestras and the symphony orchestra. Deborah received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto and went on to complete her Post-Graduate Certificate in Education at the University of Cambridge, England. Since becoming a teacher, Deborah has been invited as a clinician to lead workshops on string repertoire and technique at both city and provincial level music educator conferences.
Mitchell Pady: Choral Conductor A Graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Mitchell Pady pursued his studies in composition and voice. Both during and after University Mitchell followed his interest in conducting and developed his skills through private study and apprenticeship. He has acted as choral adjudicator for both the Kiwanis and Music Fest Canada competitions. Over the past seven years Mitchell has worked with teachers and students as a choral clinician for a number of professional development workshops across Toronto. As a tenor he performs professionally in choral ensembles in the Toronto area including the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choir and the Bach Consort.
Etsuko Kimura: Violin
Etsuko Kimura is currently Assistant Concertmaster with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. One of the exciting performers of her generation, she catapulted to the international stage as a prizewinner of the 24th Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition. Born and raised in Japan, she studied violin performance with Tomotada Soh at the Osaka College of Music, and later with Lorand Fenyves in Canada. Etsuko has been a featured soloist with orchestras internationally, and has lead a number of premier ensembles in the past including the Kobe City Chamber Orchestra in Japan, and Sinfonia Toronto. Her performances can be heard frequently on the radio. Etsuko currently teaches at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.
Young-Dae Park: Violin
Young-Dae Park took his early violin studies in Seoul, Korea and Sa&Mac221; Paulo, Brazil. Upon emigrating to Canada in 1968, Young-Dae was a student of David Mankovitz at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has served as the Concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and the Kitchener - Waterloo Symphony Orchestra. He became a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1979. Young-Dae is a coach for the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and has been teaching at IMC since 1993.
Doug Perry: Viola
Formerly Artistic Administrator for the KW Symphony, Douglas was Artistic Director of ARRAYMUSIC as well as a founding member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra with whom he performed and recorded for over 10 years. He has been Principal Viola of the Santa Fe Opera, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and the Canadian Opera and has numerous recordings on various labels, including J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #6 with the C.B.C. Vancouver Orchestra.
Tours have taken him to Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy, Germany and the United States, and as repetiteur he regularly collaborates with mezzo-soprano Susan Platts. He has performed with numerous composers including Tan Dun, Bright Sheng and most recently, Gavin Bryars. He produced a jazz CD with Juno Award winners Dave Young, Phil Dwyer and Michel Lambert and his recording of Harry Somers’ String Quartets with Accordes String Quartet was nominated for a Juno Award. He recently performed with Robert Occhipinti on his Juno nominated Jazz CD “A Bend in the River”.
Doug has served on the Board of Directors of Harbourfront Centre and the Toronto Arts Council and is the Director of Random Project Media.
Cindy Woods: Double Bass
A Student of Oscar Zimmerman and Thomas Monohan and a graduate of Queen's University, Cindy has preformed with numerous orchestras in southern Ontario. She is currently principal double bass with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, an avid chamber musician and experienced teacher. From her base in Toronto, she is a founding member of the Niagara Musicians' Co-operative and the Niagara-on-the-Lake Sinfonia.
Sarah Jeffrey: Oboe
Sarah Jeffrey is Principal oboe of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She has previously held Principal oboe positions with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.
A native of Toronto, Ms. Jeffrey holds a bachelor degree from the University of Toronto where she studied with former Principal oboe of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Richard Dorsey. As a recipient of the Chalmers Award from the Ontario Arts Council, she continued her studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Ms. Jeffrey has performed as recitalist, chamber musician, and as soloist with numerous orchestras. In May 2008, Ms. Jeffrey performed Bach’s Concerto for oboe and violin with James Ehnes, as part of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2007-2008 season.
Ms. Jeffrey is on the faculties of the University of Toronto and the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Erin Brophey: Oboe
Erin Brophey holds the position of section oboe and English horn with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.Erin is also an active freelance musician and has performed with many Canadian orchestras including the Kitchener- Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.In the summer months, Ms. Brophey plays in several festivals including the Charlottetown Festival, the Festival of the Sound, Westben Festival and the Stratford Music Festival.
Erin received her Honours Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University where she studied with James Mason.She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University under the tutelage of Cynthia Koledo deAlmeida.
In addition to private teaching, Erin is very interested in Arts education and has designed several multidisciplinary education projects for young artists.
Anne Thompson: Flute Anne is currently Assistant Professor of Flute at the Faculty of Music of the University of Western Ontario and a well known performer in the Toronto area. Formerly a member of the Calgary Philharmonic she now plays regularly in many of the Toronto area symphony orchestras, theatre orchestras, contemporary music ensemble and chamber music groups. She received a Masters of Music in flute performance from the Yale School of Music, where she was teaching assistant for her teacher, Thomas Nyfenger, and has also studied in with Geoffrey Gilbert, William Bennett and Marcel Moyse.
Kevin O'Donnell: Flute Kevin O’Donnell is currently Instructor of Flute and Chamber Music at Wilfrid Laurier University and also maintains a busy freelance career acting as Piccolo with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and performing regularly with the National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Chamber Ensemble, and the Stratford Festival Orchestra. He has previously held positions as Principal Flute of Symphony Nova Scotia, Second Flute/Piccolo with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and is a regular member of the Elora Festival Orchestra and the Westben Festival Orchestra.
Kevin studied at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Orchestral Training Program, and the Banff Centre for the Arts as well as privately and in masterclasses with many of the world’s leading flutists including Peter Lloyd, Geoffrey Gilbert, William Bennett, Walfrid Kujala, Julius Baker, and Carol Wincenc.
Gordon Craig: Clarinet
Gordon Craig holds a Bachelor of Music Degree and a Bachelor of Education Degree from Queen's University and a Master of Science in Performance from the Crane School of Music. Gordon is currently Principal Clarinet with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra. At Queen's University, Gordon is instructor of clarinet, Chamber Music Coordinator, and Director of the Queen's University Wind Ensemble Symphonic Band. He holds the position of clarinet professor at the Crane School of Music. Gordon also is Music Director of the Quinte Symphony and the Queen's Symphony Orchestra.
Kornel Wolak: Clarinet
Highly praised on two continents for his glorious tone, precise technical control and musical imagination, Kornel Wolak is well on his way to a major career as a soloist and chamber musician in both classical and cross-over repertoire. As a member of the renowned Quartetto Gelato from 2007 to 2009, Wolak performed on its 2009 recording, Musica Latina. He also appears as soloist on a 2007 CD of Karol Kurpinski’s Clarinet Concerto, released by Channel II of Polish Radio – a CD that was nominated for Poland’s highest recording award, the ìFryderykî. Wolak is a regular fixture on the airwaves, including CBC Radio 2, Classical 96.3 FM, Public Radio International, and in the US, on National Public Radio.
Kornel Wolak’s artistry has been admired by audiences at over 90 concerts in North America alone. As a soloist, he has performed with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Sinfonietta, Poland’s Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, and Charleston (North Carolina) Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. As a chamber musician, he has appeared with the Wieniawski String Quartet, the Glenn Gould String Quartet, and the Lodos Wind Quintet. His orchestral experience includes regular freelancing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as other Ontario orchestras. Intent on increasing the clarinet repertoire, Wolak has performed the Canadian premiere of John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons Clarinet Concerto, broadcast on CBC Radio 2, and Marc Neikrug’s Through Roses at the Glenn Gould Studio.
Mr. Wolak won the Royal Conservatory’s Concerto Competition in 2006, the Glenn Gould School’s 2005 Concerto Competition and the Presser Music Award from the Presser Foundation. Earlier, as a student, he won first prize in the Poznan Clarinet Wind Instruments Competition, the Polish All-Wind Instruments Competition, and the Indiana University Clarinet Department Competition. He has honed his craft through studies with clarinet masters at summer music festivals in Prague, Paris and elsewhere. Dedicated to being a fully rounded wind player, Wolak has also studied period instrument performance.
Born in Bialystok, Poland in 1979 into a musical family (his father was a trumpeter and his mother a violist), Wolak began piano lessons at six, and took up the clarinet six years later. After early studies at the Music Academy of Poznan and subsequently, at the Musical Lyceum, in 2001, he was a scholarship student at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he earned his performance certificate and, two years later, his Master of Music degree while studying with Eli Eban. He put his doctorate on hold in order to pursue advanced orchestral studies under Joaquin Valdepenas at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto in the fall of 2005, where he earned an Artist’s Diploma.
Fraser Jackson: Bassoon
Fraser Jackson joined the Toronto Symphony as Contrabassoonist and Utility Bassoonist in 1990. In recent years he has performed and toured with the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington DC), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Before joining the TSO, he was the Second Bassoon in l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec.
As a chamber musician, he has performed with such groups as l'Ensemble Pentaedre, Soundstreams, Amici and New Music Concerts. He has performed recently at such festivals as the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Toronto's Summerworks Theatre Festival, and England's Buxton Festival. Fraser is a founding member of and chief arranger for The Caliban Quartet whose three recordings on the Musica Viva, BIS, and ATMA labels are famous among bassoonists the world over. He has also recorded two critically acclaimed CD's on the MSR Classics label as a regular member of Musica Franca, a group specializing in the French Baroque. He is also a member of the TSO Wind Trio, which performs regularly in Toronto-area schools and The ArtFarm Ensemble which specializes in taking classical music to unusual venues. Fraser also performs on period contrabassoons, having performed with Toronto's Aradia Baroque Orchestra in recent recordings for the Naxos label, and with the Montreal Baroque Band.
Fraser teaches bassoon and chamber music at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music and at the University of Toronto. In the past, he has taught at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, at le Festival de la Domaine Forget, at the Camp Musical des Laurentides, and was a coach with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. In July, 2002, he was the artist-in-residence at the 5th International Contrabassoon Festival in Park City, Utah.
A native of Ottawa, he obtained his music degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he was one of the last students to graduate from the studio of Norman Herzberg.
Rob Carli: Saxophone
Robert Carli leads a busy career as a performer, composer and producer. He performs regularly with a variety of ensembles, including Toronto Symphony, National Ballet Orchestra and New Music Concerts. He is active in the studio, playing on jingles and film scores, and has recorded with such artists as the Barenaked Ladies, soprano Mary Lou Fallis, and on two recent Toronto Symphony releases. He has also served as a music co-ordinator for such artists as Julie Andrews and Bob Newhart.
Robert is highly in demand as a film composer and arranger. He has composed music for over 25 films, movies of the week, and documentaries. His work has garnered 10 Gemini nominations, and four Gemini wins. Recently, he finished composing the second season of "The Murdoch Mysteries", the new CBC series "Wild Roses", and the comedy feature film “Breakfast With Scot”. He was the recipient of the 2007
SOCAN Award for domestic television.
Mr. Carli teaches saxophone at the University of Toronto. He is the author of several articles and a recent Scale and Technique Book for saxophone.
George Laidlaw: Saxophone
George Laidlaw M.M. (U.of M.), B.Mus. (U.W.O.), A.Mus. (Gold medal). He has taught saxophone and clarinet at U.W.O. and I.M.C. He has performed with several symphony orchestras and jazz groups and is also an adjudicator. George is director of the Prime Time Big Band, and his own jazz quartet. He is on the board of the London Kiwanis Music Festival and MusicFest London. George received the Bishop Townshend Award for Teacher Excellence on retirement as Head of Music at Oakridge S.S.
Ray Tizzard: Trumpet
Trumpeter Raymond Tizzard, is a founding member of True North Brass and for the past 30 years has been active in Canada’s classical music scene as a trumpet player and arts administrator. Ray is a member of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and the National Ballet Orchestra. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Hannaford Street Silver Band, Canada’s professional brass band and is the Assistant Orchestra Manager for the National Ballet of Canada. Ray is a graduate of UWO (BMus. & MMus.) with further studies at the Banff School of Fine Arts..
Barton Woomert: Trumpet
Since 1982 Barton Woomert has been the associate principal trumpet with the Toronto Symphony and trumpet instructor at the University of Toronto. Prior to moving to Toronto, Barton was principal trumpet with the Hamilton Philharmonic and the National Orchestra of Venezuela. He received his music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, John Hopkins University.
Ron George: French Horn
Ron George has been principal horn of Orchestra London since the fall of 1979. His main teachers have been Earl Saxton, Robert Creech, Eugene Rittich and Hermann Baumann. Ron has a bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Toronto. He was granted a Canada Council Grant to study in West Germany with Hermann Baumann.
Gabriel Radford: French Horn
Gabe was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He is currently Third Horn of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
In June, 1998, at the age of 23, Gabe successfully auditioned for Associate Principal Horn of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Following three years in that position he accepted an offer to become Acting principal Horn. While in Winnipeg, he also held the positions of Principal Horn of both Music Barock and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. Gabe is a devoted teacher. While in Winnipeg, he was Horn Instructor at the University of Manitoba, and traveled to North Dakota in the summers to instruct at the international Music Camp. Since moving to Toronto, he has given masterclasses at the University of Toronto and at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, as well as teaching a studio of private horn students. He joined both the faculty of the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music in September, 2004. This will be his fifth summer at IMC.
Megan Hodge: Trombone
Trombonist Megan Hodge performs in several of Canada's leading orchestras. This season, she frequently performed as second and Principal Trombonist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and as Principal Trombonist with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra. Other appearances this season included the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Orchestra London. Megan performed with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra for the 2008-2009 season as Principal Trombonist. She has appeared on stage with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and the Hannaford Street Silver Band. She is also the trombone instructor at the Canadian Forces School of Music at CFB Borden during the summer months. Megan earned a Performer's Certificate from the Glenn Gould School, a Master of Music from McGill University and holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Alberta.
Rachel Thomas: Trombone Born and raised in Toronto, Rachel Thomas maintains an active and versatile freelance career. Since receiving her BMus from the University of Toronto in 1988, Rachel has been a regular sub with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra playing on several tours, including the Euro Tour 2000, where she had the privilege of performing as acting principal. She also accompanied the TSO to Carnegie Hall and can be heard on several TSO recordings. In addition, Rachel has been a member of various acclaimed chamber music groups including the Great Lakes Brass Quintet and Women's Music Circle belladonna, of which she was a founding member. Over the years, Rachel has played principal trombone with many different orchestras including Orchestra London, Hamilton Philharmonic and Symphony Nova Scotia. She has performed with the Esprit Orchestra, Arraymusic and Continuum and in the summer performs at the Elora Festival and Parry Sound?s Festival of the Sound. Currently, Rachel plays second trombone in the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra; a position she has held since 1993. In 2002, she joined the part-time faculty of Wilfred Laurier University, where she teaches privately, coaches brass chamber music and directs the WLU Trombone Choir.
Sasha Johnson: Tuba
Sasha Johnson began his musical training at age 16, studying brass chamber music and tuba with Sam Pilafian at the Empire Brass Seminar of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He went on to study at the University of Toronto with both Mark Tetreault and Murray Crewe of the Toronto Symphony, with Toby Hanks at the Manhattan School of Music, and with Alain Cazes at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal. His additional private teachers have included Arnold Jacobs, Gene Pokorny, Mel Culbertson, Dennis Miller and Richard Erb.
In 1997 Sasha became the first Canadian tuba player to be accepted into the Von Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. This program trains a small number of young professionals in the sound, style, traditions and standard of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Having begun his professional career in Berlin, Sasha went on to perform with many other European orchestras including the Berlin Symphony, the Berlin State Opera, the Radio Orchestra Berlin, the Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France, The Orchestre de Paris, the Ensemble Modern and the Orchestre Nationale de Bordeaux. He has performed in such music festivals and concert venues as the Lucerne Festival, the Festivale d'Aix en Provence, the Concertgebouw, the Konzerthaus Wien, the Theatre Champs-Elysée, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms, under such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Pierre Boulez, Kent Nagano, Essa-Pekka Salonen, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur and Seiji Ozawa.
Sasha returned to Canada in 2001 and has established himself as a prominent performer and pedagogue. He currently lives in Montreal and performs there regularly with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. He is the instructor of tuba at the Glenn Gould School and an instructor of low brass and chamber music at McGill University. In January 2009, Sasha was appointed principal tuba of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, and recently finished playing the 2009/2010 season with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
John Rudolph: Percussion
John Rudolph is firmly established as one of Canada’s leading percussionists, as an orchestra principal, chamber musician, and soloist. Principal Percussion of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 1997, he was formerly principal percussionist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. John has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Okanagan (B.C.) and Peterborough. He has also been featured as soloist with the Pacific Wind Ensemble, the University of British Columbia Wind Ensemble, the University of Toronto Percussion Ensemble, the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, and the US Air Force Band in Washington, D.C.
As a chamber musician, John has performed with Canada’s premiere percussion ensemble, NEXUS; Soundstreams Canada; Amici Chamber Ensemble; Vancouver New Music and the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival. By invitation, he has performed with the percussion sections of the Royal Concertgebow Orchestra, the Kirov Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Washington, DC’s National Symphony Orchestra.
A devoted teacher, John is on the faculty of the Glenn Gould Professional School in Toronto, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Previously, John was Adjunct Professor of Percussion at the University of British Columbia. Several of his students have gone on to highly successful careers as principal percussionists, including Vern Griffiths, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; Cynthia Yeh, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Ed Choi, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Gard Garshol is percussionist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Michael Bakan is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at Florida State University.
John received his Master of Music degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is an avid runner and has completed the Boston Marathon four times, most recently in April, 2009.
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