Jazz musician and composer Ron Westray is best known for his work as lead trombonist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis and his collaborations with Wycliffe Gordon. He launched his professional performance career in the early 1990s, recording and touring nationally with the Marcus Roberts Septet. He has appeared in concert […]
Professor Wait is a clarinetist with extensive performance credits as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. She has appeared with many leading Canadian artists and ensembles, including pianist Anton Kuerti and clarinetist James Campbell; the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Prague String Quartet and Purcell String Quartet; and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. She is also […]
Sundar Viswanathan is a jazz woodwind player, composer, vocalist and international touring artist with extensive performance and teaching experience in the US and Canada. His compositions are informed by Brazilian and Indian musical styles. His scholarly research interests include the music of tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. Professor Viswanathan leads his own quartet and performs and […]
William Thomas is the conductor of the York University Wind Symphony. A former Drum Corps International adjudicator, he has arranged music for more than 40 marching bands and drum and bugle corps in Canada and the US. He has served on the board of the Ontario Music Educators' Association and is much in demand as […]
Jay Rahn's teaching and research interests span a wide range of topics in music theory, musicology, ethnomusicology and music cognition. His publications include numerous articles and two books: A Family Heritage: The Story and Songs of LaRena Clark, co-authored with Edith Fowke (University of Calgary Press 1994) and A Theory for All Music: Problems and Solutions in […]
Canadian composer Stephanie Martin is Associate Professor in AMPD's music department. She directs the women's medieval ensemble Schola Magdalena, conductor emeritus of the large oratorio choir Pax Christi Chorale, and past director of music at the historic church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Toronto. Prof. Martin's latest major composition is 'WATER: an environmental oratorio' premiered by […]
Sherry Johnson is a step dancer, fiddler, choreographer, educator and researcher. She is interested in the interrelationships between music and dance in a wide variety of contexts, as well as gender in performance and issues of globalization and technology in relation to vernacular music and dance. She is currently working on a SSHRC-funded project that […]
Al Henderson is a jazz composer, arranger, acoustic bassist and bandleader. He is known nationally as leader of the Al Henderson Quintet and co-founder and co-leader (with York music professor, percussionist Barry Elmes) of the influential ensemble Time Warp. As a sideman, he has performed with many acclaimed jazz artists including Jane Bunnett, Arnett Cobb, Hank Crawford, […]
Karen Burke is a sought-after clinician, conductor, composer and music director in the field of African-American vocal music. As an authority on the history and performance practices of Gospel music, she has worked with major choral ensembles and organizations including the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Youth Choir, Amabile Choirs of London, Canada and Pro Novis […]
Professor Bowman pioneered popular music studies at York University. He lectures, publishes and broadcasts in many areas of popular music, from country, R & B and gospel to reggae, rap and funk. He has written liner notes for dozens of recordings and regularly authors, produces and advises on major documentary and CD reissue projects for […]