Featured Artists and Clinicians

Janet Anderson, French Horn

Janet Anderson is a member of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra as well as the COC Orchestra Personnel Manager. As an active freelance horn player she has performed with the National Ballet of Canada, the Esprit Orchestra, the Hannaford Street Silver Band and the Juno Award-winning Rex Hotel Jazz Orchestra. Janet maintains a private teaching studio. She earned her Bachelor of Music at McGill University.

Karen Bulmer, Tuba and Academic Administration

Karen Bulmer is a versatile tuba player, educator, and writer. She is active as a tuba soloist and improviser and has performed her original one-woman show, Girl Meets Tuba, which chronicles her on-again off-again relationship with the tuba, in venues across Canada. Her radio piece, Joined at the Lip, which first aired on CBC’s Outfront in 2001, continues to be featured at radio festivals around the world, most recently at the Copenhagen Radio Cinema. Karen has presented at the annual inter-disciplinary ideaCity conference in Toronto and has recorded and performed with some of the finest classical, folk, and pop artists in Newfoundland.

In recent years, Karen’s research and creative interests have expanded to include the exploration of various mind-body practices and their particular relevance to musicians. Her unique Mind/Body Tools for Musicians program combines mindfulness with movement and self-regulation strategies to help musicians access a greater sense of their innate capacity for expression, presence, and resilience. Karen is also the creator and host of the Music, Mind, and Movement Podcast, a show that explores holistic approaches to music training and performance through in-depth conversations with educators, health professionals, somatic practitioners, and more. To listen to the podcast or to find out more about Karen’s work, including tips and tools to implement in your own practice, visit her website: www.musicmindandmovement.com.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the University of Western Ontario, a Professional Studies Diploma from the HARID Conservatory, and both a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University. Karen trained in meditation facilitation under the mentorship of Michael Stone and is a certified yoga instructor with additional training in biomechanics, anatomy, and movement for trauma. She is currently the Acting Dean of the School of Music at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Renata Cardoso, Trumpet

Renata Cardoso is a native of Coimbra, Portugal. She received her bachelor's degree from the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon, Portugal where she studied with David Burt and Stephen Mason. Renata has recently joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as Utility Trumpet after having completed a year of study with Barbara Butler and Charlie Geyer at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Renata has twice won positions with the prestigious European Union Youth Orchestra. In 2021, she won first prize in the undergraduate division of the World Trumpet Society’s, "Daniel Patrylak Memorial Solo Competition." Renata is a past participant of the Gulbenkian Orchestra’s Summer Fellowship program and more recently won a prestigious Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship for international study. 

Nadia Côté, French Horn

Born in Chicoutimi (Quebec), Nadia Côté first received horn lessons from the late Michel Gingras at the Conservatoire de musique du Saguenay. She pursued her studies afterwards with John Zirbel at McGill University in Montreal. She also got further intensive training in Germany with Johannes Ritkowsky and Wolfgang Wipfler.

Ms. Côté has given numerous concerts as soloist, including with I Musici de Montréal, and as chamber musician. She was Principal Horn with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in China from 2001 to 2003, as well as fourth horn with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal. After teaching French horn at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal for a few years, she now teaches at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. Nadia Côté has held the position of fourth horn with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2017.

Audrey Good, French Horn

Audrey Good is second horn with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she played with the Sarasota Orchestra and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Outside of her working hours, Audrey loves spending time with her young sons and husband.

Allene Hackelman, French Horn

Allene Hackleman has been principal horn of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 2004.  A native of Vancouver, B.C., Allene studied horn with Martin Hackleman, and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Cincinnati.  Ms Hackleman has performed concerti with the Edmonton Symphony, Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Red Deer Symphony and the Victoria Symphony, and has also played with the Montréal and National symphonies, as well as the Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony and the Colorado Music Festival. She is a member of the Canadian National Brass Project and the Summit Brass, and is on the most recent CD recordings with both groups. Allene enjoys chamber music and has been a guest artist at the Festival of the Sound, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Lanaudière Festival, the Edmonton Recital Society, and the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival. Allene has been a featured artist at the International Women's Brass conference in 2010, the Southeast Horn Workshop in 2023 as well as the International Horn Symposium in 2023. Allene has taught  at the Musikacademy in Belgrade, Serbia as well as the Domaine Forget Academy in Quebec. Allene teaches at the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute in Denver, Colorado, and at University of Alberta.

Rebecca Hennessy, Trumpet, Vocalist

Rebecca Hennessy is an award-winning trumpeter, singer, composer and bandleader. In April 2023, she released her acclaimed second vocal album, “Joy Will Find Us”, which followed her 2020 celebrated debut vocal album, “All The Little Things You Do”. Both albums feature wold-renowned guitarist Kevin Breit (Sisters Euclid/Norah Jones). In 2020, Rebecca was awarded a Toronto Arts Council grant to write new music featuring the poetry of acclaimed indigenous author, Thomas King. This grant would be a continuation of a previous working relationship with King that started 2017 when she was commissioned to write music using his poetry. The music that Rebecca wrote for King’s Poem, “Dig Up The Stories”, was featured as an instrumental big band arrangement for Christine Jensen’s Orchestra at the NAC in 2019.  Besides these recent vocal albums, Rebecca has released 9 other albums to date as co-leader or bandleader and has toured Mexico, Panama, Sri Lanka, Europe, USA and extensively in Canada. She has also performed and recorded with internationally recognized artists including Adele, Kevin Breit, Ron Sexsmith, Andy Kim, Owen Pallett, Broken Social Scene, Feist, Ab Baars and Ken Vandermark. In 2021 she joined the Yamaha Artist roster and currently plays on a YTR-8310Z. She was the bandleader and trumpeter for Massey Hall’s Women’s Blues Revue (2013-2022), won the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Jazz Artist Award in 2018 and was nominated for Montreal Jazz Festival’s Grand Prix de Jazz in 2016. 

Megan Hodge, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Conductor

Megan Hodge is an active freelancer, teacher and clinician on tenor and bass trombone, and has made Toronto her home for the past 19 years. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Megan studied at the Glenn Gould School, McGill University and the University of Alberta. She performs regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the Esprit Orchestra, The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, among others. She has held positions as Principal Trombone with the Victoria Symphony (1 year position), the Kingston Symphony, and musician with The Royal Canadian Artillery Band with the Canadian Armed Forces. As a conductor, she holds the position of Director of Music for The Regimental Band of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada leading a 35 piece military band. In chamber music, she is a founding member of both the Canadian Trombone Quartet and the Toronto Brass Quintet where she explores the art of arranging, experimenting with new music for brass and loop stations. Always interested in new initiatives, Megan is on the artistic committee of the Canadian Women’s Brass Collective which promotes new performing and educational opportunities for women in brass. She is also on faculty at the University of Toronto where she instructs trombone, chamber music and orchestral studies and teaches in the summers at the National Music Camp in Orillia, Ontario.

Amy Horvey, Trumpet

Amy Horvey is a Montreal-based creator/interpreter of new and experimental music, a performer of modern orchestral music, and a researcher of the baroque trumpet. She is currently Acting Principal Trumpet of the Canadian Opera Company.

A champion of Canadian contemporary music, she has commissioned works by Nicole Lizée, Cassandra Miller, and Keiko Devaux, among many others. She has recorded two solo albums – Interview and Catchment. Her solo projects have been featured in festivals across Canada, and in the Netherlands, Lithuania, Italy, and the US. Amy has performed with the Lucerne Festival Academy, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Arraymusic and others.

On the orchestral stage, Horvey has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the National Arts Center Orchestra, in whose trumpet sections she also regularly plays, working with some of the world’s greatest conductors including Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and Roger Norrington. Her research and experimentation with early instruments has resulted in performances with Arion Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Caprice, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, and Les Violons du Roy.

 Amy received a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship to complete her Doctorate of Music from the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. She has taught trumpet performance at numerous institutions, including McGill, Concordia, and Lakehead Universities. Her solo projects have been supported by the National Arts Centre’s Richard Li Young Artist Chair, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Merrie Klazek, Trumpet

Merrie Klazek is a versatile and respected trumpet artist in the world of performance and education. Fluent in orchestral, chamber, solo, traditional (world), and popular music, Merrie joined the full-time faculty at the University of Victoria’s School of Music in 2016. Merrie holds a BMus from her native Calgary and an MMus from Northwestern University where she studied with the late Vincent Cichowicz. Her musical travels have taken her around the globe with performance highlights including Spoleto Festival Italy, Musik Contemporaire Strasbourg France, Tokyo's Bunka Kaikan hall, Stratford Festival, Hungary's Niyrbator Festival, and many solo appearances with Canadian orchestras. Merrie’s first solo album “Songs to the Moon” has been featured on TVO Studio 2 and CBC Radio. Her second album “Dance Around the Sun” has a planned release date of December 2023. This album celebrates the trumpet in settings of world music with over 24 musicians from around the globe. Merrie has appeared as a presenter, artist and adjudicator at the International Trumpet Guild Conference (‘08,’11,’18,’21- ‘23), International Women’s Brass Conference (’10,’12,’17), Canadian Women’s Brass Collective (’20, ‘24), World Trumpet Society (‘19), and at the Trompetenmuseum in Badsackingen, Germany. Her engaging lectures and presentations cover topics including Performance Skills, Trumpet Pedagogy, Women in Brass, Trumpet and the Art Song, and Music as a Global Connector. In 2022 Merrie commissioned “Listen to Learn”, a piece for 9 trumpets based on themes of reconciliation and acknowledgement to the Indigenous people of Canada, which was premiered by her students at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Merrie is currently co-writing a series of pedagogical publications on various topics and for various levels, with UK trumpeter John Hutchinson. Prior to joining the faculty at UVic, Merrie played principal trumpet with the Thunder Bay Symphony from 1999-2018, and has held the same position with Victoria Symphony (‘05/’06) and Orchestra London Canada (’96-‘99.) Merrie is an endorsing artist for Wedge Mouthpieces, Bach Trumpets/Conn-Selmer, and Robinson’s Remedies.

Isabelle Lavoie, Bass Trombone

Isabelle Lavoie is an active bass trombonist and educator based in Toronto. She has performed with many orchestras in Canada and abroad, including the Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet of Canada, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Macao Orchestra, and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Lavoie is currently guest bass trombonist with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra for the 2023-2024 season. She was previously appointed Principal Bass Trombone with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 2018-2019, and 2022-2023. She also held the positions of Principal Trombone with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, and Trombone Instructor at Lakehead University for 2016-2017.

Isabelle was a featured artist and clinician at the 2017 International Trombone Festival. Additionally, she has been involved with Monarch Brass and the International Women’s Brass Conference since 2012, as well as the Canadian Women's Brass Collective since 2019. Ms. Lavoie is a member of the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra, and performs regularly with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra (WJO). You can hear her on the album “Voices - A Musical Heritage”with the WJO, and “Then is Now” recorded at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, with Jens Lindemann and Matt Catingub’s Jazzpops Orchestra.

Isabelle holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Montreal and an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Beth McCharles, Mental Performance Coach

Dr. Beth McCharles (she/her) is a leading Mental Performance Coach and speaker. Beth’s dynamic portfolio as an athlete, coach, researcher and MPC allowed her to develop a wide range of experience and knowledge from multiple lenses within performance. She has participated in seven world championships as an athlete, coach and MPC. With over 20 years’ experience, Beth has had the privilege to work with a variety of private clients such as: Olympians, artist, adventurist, NHL, CLL, MLS players and executives. She also works with organizations such as Hockey Canada, Curling Canada, the Canadian Sport Institute, and was the lead MPC for the U19 Men’s Basketball Canada team that won the first ever FIBA World Championship in 2017. With a dynamic and storytelling approach, Beth has delivered keynotes and workshops to organizations such as: Nike inc., Canadian Armed Forces, Toronto Blue Jays and OneXOne. She also contributes to numerous boards within her community. Beth comes from a sports background as a dual athlete in soccer and hockey. In 2019, Beth was inducted to the St. Francis Xavier Sport Hall of Fame. Beth is from Cape Breton, NS., but is now based out of Toronto, ON.

Margaret McGillivray, French Horn

Margaret McGillivray is a horn-wielding, piano-tickling musical warrior with a commitment to the highest levels of collaborative music making and learning. She is a busy soloist, orchestral musician, educator and passionate advocate for historically excluded musicians and composers based in Maryland and makes her musical home wherever the wind takes her. Born on the Canadian prairies and raised in the Toronto suburbs, Margaret has spent much of her life and career straddling cultures, provinces, countries and instruments as she moved across the world.  

Margaret is an accomplished orchestral player, performing with ensembles in Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. She is regularly engaged by orchestras including  National, Baltimore, Lancaster, Richmond, Phoenix and Tucson Symphonies. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Arizona, Master’s degree at Northwestern University and her undergraduate training at McGill University, counting Joan Watson, John Zirbel, Gail Williams and Danny Katzen amongst her teachers and mentors. She is currently on faculty at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC and maintains an active private studio. Her latest commissioning project, Lift: Solos for Horn by Black Composers, is a collection of solos and transcriptions that premiered in February of 2023.

Margaret’s musical shenanigans take up a fair amount of time and she is actively supported in the pursuit of them by her partner, three well above-average children, one hairy english setter named Lefse and a rescue cat named Teddy. She creates a little margin here and there to laugh with close friends, drink decent red wine and read québecois murder mysteries.

Christine Passmore, French Horn

Christine Passmore performs regularly with the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra and the Hannaford Street Silver Band. She was featured in the 2009 production of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake) and has played musicals, recitals, and chamber music at The Shaw ever since. Christine played horn and tenor horn in Billy Elliot at the Stratford Festival in 2019, and also enjoyed playing in the Toronto productions of Les Miserables, The Lord of the Rings, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Sound of Music. On natural horn she has performed with groups including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Opera Atelier, and the Aradia Ensemble. Christine is a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto and holds degrees from the University of Western Ontario (B.Mus.Ed. and B.Ed.,  and Indiana University (MM, DM).

Camille Renaud, Trombone

Camille is an orchestral trombone player and teacher originally from Trois-Rivières, Qc. Since 2021, she holds the principal trombone position in the Trier Philharmonic Orchestra. She holds a bachelor degree from McGill University where she studied with David Martin, and a Master’s degree from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen where she studied with Prof. Abbie Conant. During her studies she distinguished herself by being the first brass player to ever win the school’s solo competition. She was part of the academy programs of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Academy Orchestra  of Canada and the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra in Switzerland. Since graduating, she has held temporary contracts as principal trombone with the Detmold Symphony Orchestra and the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed with the NDR Radio Orchestra Hannover, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, just to name a few. She is also a permanent member of Dodécabone, a trombone ensemble based in France. As a pedagogue, Camille was the teacher for orchestral excerpts at the Musikhochschule Trossingen from 2020-2023 and was invited to teach at the University of Osnabrück for their Spring Academy 2023. 

Saltwater Brass Quintet

Saltwater Brass Quintet is an all-female ensemble based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). The group consists of Katie Sullivan and Jill Dawe (trumpet), Emily Dunsmore (French horn), Hillary Simms (trombone) and Catherine Tansley (tuba). Four of the five are current members of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and active performers and educators within the Province’s vibrant Arts community. St. John’s area native Hillary Simms, also a former Symphony member, currently resides in New York where she is a faculty member at Juilliard and a member of the world-renowned American Brass Quintet.

Formed in 2020 during the depths of the pandemic, Saltwater Brass Quintet pivoted quickly to create online performances for all those who could no longer gather in person. Looking to build on their outreach efforts as the Province gradually returned to a new normal, the ensemble seized upon every opportunity, both in-person and online, to bring their music and spirit to those who had been isolated for far too long. Most recently, for example, as part of the NSO’s outreach initiative, the quintet toured Labrador where they performed in Nain, Happy Valley- Goose Bay, and North West River. In so doing, Saltwater was honoured to premiere an original musical-historical presentation they had commissioned specifically for their Labrador tour. Harmony in Ulliasuk, written by Kyle McDavid with Deantha Edmunds, portrays the now century old story of Martha Joshua, an Inuk woman from Labrador who at the tender age of 7, survived the Spanish Flu pandemic. The much-heralded production celebrated the concept of ‘home’ and the undeniable will to survive, even against unimaginable odds. The performances, like the collaboration and partnership that enabled them, also served as a poignant reminder of the continued need for cultural understanding and reconciliation.

Going forward, NL’s own Saltwater Brass Quintet are determined to continue to play their part in bringing the culture and musical diversity of NL to audiences near and far. While embracing and lifting up one and other, Saltwater remains ever mindful of the unique power of music to not only entertain and educate, but to also help comfort and heal, all those who lend an ear.

Saltwater Brass acknowledges the support of ArtsNL, which last year invested $3.2 million to foster and promote the creation and enjoyment of the arts for the benefit of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Jen Stephen, Tuba

Jennifer Stephen has held the position of Principal Tuba with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony since 2020. She grew up in Yellowknife, NT, where she began playing the tuba in grade 11 at Sir John Franklin Territorial High School. With an immediate passion for the instrument, she pursued her studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland before attending Bowling Green State University, where she studied with renowned tubist and trailblazer Velvet Brown. Upon returning to Canada, Jennifer furthered her education at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Jennifer is an active freelance tubist in Ontario and across the country, performing with ensembles such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, National Ballet Orchestra of Canada, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Esprit Orchestra, and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. She is a member of the Hannaford Street Silver Band, the Canadian Women’s Brass Collective, and a founding member of the Toronto Brass Quintet. She is an accomplished brass arranger with many of her works performed by brass ensembles in and around the GTA. Jennifer is a highly sought after chamber and session musician in Ontario, prolific in a wide variety of styles and genres. She has recorded for film and television, and appeared on Cris Derksen’s Juno-nominated Orchestral PowWow project. She has also recorded for such artists as Danny Michel, Owen Pallet, Jeremy Dutcher and others. Jennifer is an in-demand clinician and has coached at the University of Toronto, University of Calgary and the Glenn Gould School. She has been on faculty at the National Music Camp of Canada since 2009.

Elise Taillon-Martel

Elise has held the interim position of 3rd horn with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec from 2022-2024. She also freelances in Quebec and has been heard regularly with many regional orchestras, including Drummondville, Saguenay, Longueil and Rimouski. As a soloist and chamber player she has performed Brahms and Schumann for La Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur in Montreal and for Les concerts sous le clocher in St-Georges de Beauce. She also performed for Le rendez-vous musical de Laterrière in the Saguenay area.

Elise received her Bachelor of Music from Université Laval, studying with Anne-Marie Larose and her Master’s degree at Boston University studying with Eric Ruske. She also completed a Chamber Music Diploma at Wilfrid Laurier University with Nina Brickman. Elise holds the horn teacher position at the Saguenay Conservatory and teaches students of all ages in her studio in Quebec city.