Sunday June 20, 2010, 3:00 PM
Jane Mallett Theatre

Our season finale is in fact the grand finale of the International Women's Brass Conference first to be held in Canada. Our soloists include Bonnie Denton Euphonium, Susan Rider Cornet , Joan Watson Horn and Gail Robertson Euphonium. Works by Joan Tower, Dorothy Gates and Judith Bingham all directed by guest conductor Dr Gillian Mackay. 
 
This concert also features the premier of Elizabeth Raum's Jason and the Golden Fleece in a new version for brass band commissioned by the HSSB.
 
Registrants to the International Women's Brass Conference receive a discount when using their promo code (entered on the payment screen). 
 

NSK Canada Inc. is the Corporate Sponsor for
'Brass Belles'

Joan Watson

Joan Watson is Canada’s foremost horn soloist, principal horn, lecturer and educator. Joan is highly regarded as a consummate musician and skilled virtuoso. Her contributions across the country include presently serving as principal horn of the award-winning Canadian Opera Orchestra, founding member of the prestigious True North Brass quintet, associate principal horn of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 14 seasons (having won the job while 8 months pregnant), and principal horn of the Esprit Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and the Pacific Opera and Vancouver Opera Orchestras.

Joan is frequently heard on the CBC as a chamber musician and with New Music Concerts. She has been a featured soloist at the International Women’s Brass Conference, the International Horn Symposium in Banff, and the International Brass Quintet Symposium in Atlanta. Joan is scheduled to be a featured soloist and lecturer at the International Horn Symposium in Chicago in 2009. In June, 2010 she will host the International Women’s Brass Conference in Toronto.

As well, you will hear her on numerous commercials, television shows and movie scores. Joan’s solo CD, Songs My Mother Taught Me, is a wonderful collection of favourite soothing tunes. Joan has a 25-year-old relationship with Yamaha Canada as a Yamaha artist and clinician. In 2008, the Yamaha Corporation chose to make a poster of Joan, making her the first woman brass player in the world featured on a Yamaha poster. 

A member of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, Joan teaches horn and lectures on Performance Skills, audition preparation, practice tips, and creating a passionate and fulfilling life of music making.

http://www.joanwatson.com/

Gillian MacKay

Gillian MacKay is an Associate Professor of Music of the University of Toronto, where she conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches conducting and trumpet.  She is also Associate Dean of Graduate Education.  An award-winning teacher, Gillian has an active professional career as a trumpeter, conductor, adjudicator, and clinician.  She has conducted honour bands throughout Canada and the United States, including the National Youth Band of Canada.  Dr. MacKay has adjudicated Canadian band festivals at local, provincial, and national levels, as well as competitions in Singapore and Thailand.

Dr. MacKay has presented clinics and workshops at provincial and state conferences in Canada and the United States, and is known for her work on the relationship between conducting and mime.  Also recognized as a conducting pedagogue, Gillian leads the University of Toronto Wind Conducting Symposium each July, and has been the guest instructor at other symposia in Canada.  As a trumpeter, she has a particular interest in the French solo trumpet and cornet music of the 19th century.

Gillian holds degrees and diplomas from the University of Lethbridge, McGill University, the University of Calgary, and Northwestern University.  Previously, she served as Instructor of Brass at Medicine Hat College, and Director of the School of Music at the University of Windsor. 

http://www.music.utoronto.ca/faculty/faculty_members/faculty_a_to_m/gillian_macKay.htm

Bonnie Denton, Euphonium

Bonnie Denton joined the United States Coast Guard Band in December, 2006.  Prior to her appointment, Bonnie served in the United States Military Academy Band at West Point from 1999-2002.  Bonnie is a native of Fairfield, Illinois and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 1993, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College and began Master’s studies at the Eastman School of Music.  In 1994, Bonnie won 3rd prize in the Artist Division of the Leaonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival.  During the fall of 2008, Bonnie was honored to serve as visiting instructor of euphonium at Eastman during Mark Kellogg’s sabbatical semester.  She has appeared  with Rochester Philharmonic, Classic Brass, the Tri-County Symphonic Band and is honored to be in Toronto for her first appearance at the International Women’s Brass Conference.  Bonnie lives in Gales Ferry, CT with her husband and fellow Coast Guard Band tubist, Rich Denton and their young son, Henry.

http://www.uscg.mil/band/Bios/bdenton.asp

Gail Robertson, Euphonium Soloist

Originally from Pompano Beach, Florida, Gail Robertson began her music studies at the University of Central Florida. She was then awarded a full-scholarship as graduate assistant to Harvey G. Phillips at Indiana University and completed her Masters Degree in Euphonium performance and earned a Performer’s Certificate.  Ms. Robertson then began the DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) in euphonium performance at the University of Maryland with Dr. Brian L. Bowman. Two months later, she was relocated back to Orlando to become one of the founding members of Walt Disney World’s “Tubafours,” a professional tuba and euphonium quartet. She later became the leader and chief arranger for the group and produced a CD called “Tubas Under the Boardwalk.”

Robertson is currently Instructor of Euphonium and Tuba at the University of Central Florida and Valencia Community College.  She has taught on the faculties of The University of Florida, Bethune-Cookman College, and Seminole Community College. Much more at ...
 
http://gailrobertson.com/

Trumpeter/Cornetist Master Sergeant Susan Rider

MSgt. Rider joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in July 1997. MSgt Rider began her musical instruction at age 10. Upon graduating in 1985 from Northern University High School in Cedar Falls, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1989 from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. She continued her studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, where in 1991 she earned a master’s degree in music and in 2000 earned a doctorate of music in brass pedagogy. Her trumpet instructors were Keith Johnson and Randy Grabowski of the University of Northern Iowa, and Charles Gorham and Edmund Cord of Indiana University.
Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” MSgt Rider performed with the Midland/Odessa Symphony in Texas, the Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky, and the Evansville Philharmonic and Columbus Indiana Philharmonic in Indiana. She also played in the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in Charleston, S.C., and was a substitute with the New World Symphony in Miami. In addition to performing, she also taught studio trumpet in Odessa and at Purdue University in Indiana, and was an associate instructor at Indiana University for the brass and music education department.

In addition to her musical duties, MSgt Rider has served as a Tour Coordinator since 2003, advancing and serving as on-site manager during the band’s annual concert tour. 

http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/index.asp