TRUE NORTH BRASS

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Karen Donnelly was unanimously appointed Principal Trumpet of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada in October 1999, following three successful seasons (1996-1999) as Acting Principal Trumpet and continues to enjoy each year with this wonderful ensemble.  

Prior to the NACO, Karen was a freelancer in Montreal, where she performed with most ensembles in the area including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.  Karen held the position of Principal Trumpet with Orchestra London (Canada) from 1994-1996. Ms. Donnelly has been guest Principal Trumpet with the Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Les Violons du Roi, Calgary Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, and currently enjoys playing Associate Principal Trumpet with the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra.   

Karen has been featured soloist with NAC Orchestra, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Kingston Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London, McGill Symphony Orchestra, Hannaford Silver Street Band, Maple Leaf Brass Band, Parkdale Orchestra, University of Regina Wind Ensemble.   

Karen has given master classes and workshops in Europe, Sweden, Mexico, China, United States, United Kingdom and Canada from coast to coast.  As well, she is a coach for Canada’s National Youth Orchestra.  Ms. Donnelly joined the teaching staff at the University of Ottawa in 2002, and since 2009, Karen has been assisting with the “Orkidstra” program, the local ‘El Systema’ inspired program.  

Most recently, Karen spearheaded an exciting new initiative called the Canadian Women’s Brass Collective.  This group of talented musicians presented concerts, master classes and lectures in Toronto during January 2019 over a five-day conference to great acclaim.  During the COVID season, CWBC curated an extensive series of online sessions to support musicians to create healthy and effective practice strategies.  

Tazmyn Eddy is the Principal Trumpet of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke (QC). He performs regularly with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Metropolitain, les Grand Ballets Canadien de Montréal, CBC Radio Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec among many others. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Orchestral Performance at the University of Victoria, BC, and his Graduate Artist’s Diploma (with distinction) from Le Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal. His principal teachers include Tom Shorthouse, Louis Ranger, Manon Lafrance, and Stéphane Beaulac. 

Julie Fauteux, born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, joined the NAC Orchestra in 1999 as Associate Principal Horn. She studied at the Montreal Conservatory with James Somerville, where she finished with a “Premier Prix”. Immediately after the end of her studies, at age 21, she was appointed Principal Horn of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in Spain, and later in the Real Filharmonica de Galicia, also as Principal Horn, where she remained until coming to Ottawa in 1999. 

Julie has played with different orchestras as soloist, including l’Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke, and the Real Filharmonica de Galicia, and won the First Prize in the brass category at the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec music competition. She was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for three years. Julie’s orchestral career also included being invited in 1998 to play some concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Mariss Jansons. 

Aside from orchestral playing, Julie also enjoys chamber music and teaching. She teaches horn at the Conservatoire de Musique de Gatineau and in Spain taught at the Academy of the “Real Filharmonica de Galicia”. She was a member of the faculty at the Banff Centre in the summer of 2006. She also takes part regularly in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. 

David Pell, one of Canada’s most versatile brass instrumentalists, has been Bass Trombonist of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra since 2006, and Principal Trombonist of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002. David serves on the faculty of the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould Professional School. He is Artistic Director of the Hannaford Street Silver Band, and has been a member of the Winnipeg Symphony, the Victoria Symphony, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Touring Orchestra. 

He has performed on trombone, bass trombone, bass trumpet and euphonium with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, with the Stockholm Chamber Brass and more. David appears as guest Bass Trombone on the recent Canadian Brass recording, Brahms on Brass, on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. He was featured as soloist in the Canadian Opera Company’s acclaimed Ring Cycle and has played on many jingles and soundtracks for film and television. 

He has shared stages and recording studios with such varied musicians as Feist, Herbie Hancock, Andre Bocceli, Supertramp’s Roger Hodgeson, Broken Social Scene, Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy), Earth Wind and Fire, Michael Bolton, Sheena Easton, David Foster, Holly Cole, Kenny G and Dudley Moore and has played and toured North America with productions of Wicked, Showboat, Ragtime, Chicago, Urinetown, Phantom of the Opera, Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady, Cats and Evita. 

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. Following his undergraduate studies in Toronto and New York, Sasha was the first Canadian tuba player to be accepted to Von Karajan Academy, the orchestra academy of the Berlin Philharmonic.  

Having begun his professional career in Berlin, Sasha went on to perform with many other European orchestras including the Berlin Symphony, Berlin State Opera, Radio Orchestra Berlin, Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble Modern, and Orchestre National Bordeaux. He has performed in such music festivals and concert venues as the Lucerne Festival, Festival d’Aix en Provence, Concertgebouw, Wiener Konzerthaus, Theatre Champs-Elysées, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Salzburg Festival, and 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 is a faculty member at the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School of Music, and instructor of tuba, low brass, and chamber music at McGill University and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In January 2009, he was appointed Principal Tuba of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, where he continues today. Sasha was Acting Principal Tuba of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for their 2009/2010, has performed regularly with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, with whom he toured to Europe, Japan, and Carnegie Hall, and recently completed the 2019/20 season as Acting Principal Tuba of the Canadian Opera Company.  

In 2015, with conductor and hornist James Sommerville, Sasha founded the Canadian National Brass Project. Their first self-titled recording was ranked among the CBC’s Top Classical Recordings of 2017, and their second recording Constellations was released in March 2020 on the Analekta label.