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Winds, Brass & Percussion Division
Winds, Brass & Percussion Division
Winds, Brass & Percussion Division
The Don Wright Faculty of Music offers woodwind, brass and percussion students diverse course options and performance opportunities including solo and studio recitals, weekly faculty-led masterclasses, ensembles, and competitions and awards including the Winds, Brass & Percussion Concerto Competition, Maritsa Brookes Concerto Competition, and the Young-Ja Park Chamber Music Competition.
Western Music also offers learning opportunities, residencies and masterclasses with international artists of renown.
The Music Building and Talbot College house over 100 practice rooms, studios, and large and small rehearsal spaces, plus three modern performance venues with concert pianos and state-of-the-art recording capabilities.
Western's Percussion Studio includes more than 2,400 square feet of teaching studios, rehearsal rooms, five large dedicated practice rooms and storage space.
In the Spotlight
November 2025
October 2025
July 2025
August 2024
May 2024
January 2024
Low Brass Feature
Meet a few trombone, tuba and euphonium faculty and students and learn more about the low brass area at Western's Don Wright Faculty of Music. Video recorded and edited by Scott Sutherland Music.
This video was funded by the Moscovich Fund for Innovation in Music, established with a visionary gift from Jim and Barbara Moscovich.
In Performance
All rights reserved. For educational purposes only.
Percussion Ensemble; Rich Burrows, conductor
Earth, 4th movement from TorQ's Element Suite - November 2024
Western University Wind Ensemble; Colleen Richardson, conductor
- Run to the Light (excerpt), Ivan Trevino [0:00-1:16 min] - March 27, 2026
- Symphony No. 4 (excerpts), David Maslanka [1:17-3:46 min] - March 27, 2026
- Tuttarana (excerpt), Reena Esmail [3:47-4:15 min] - February 7, 2026
- Before the Dawn (excerpt), David Biedenbender [4:16-4:49 min] - February 7, 2026
- Amen (excerpts), Carlos Simón [4:50-6:03 min] - February 7, 2026
- Redwood (excerpt), Ryan George [6:04-6:42 min] - October 25, 2025
- La Ruta (excerpt), David Pont Ripoll [6:43-7:35 min] - October 25, 2025
Alumni of Note
William Kim, BMus'24 (Honours Performance) - Appointed Principal Timpani for the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, fall 2025
Andrew Busch, BMus'22 (Honours Performance) - Appointed Principal Percussion for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, fall 2025. He was also named to CBC Music’s ’30 under 30’ list in 2024.
Jayden Beaudoin, MMus'14 - Percussionist with the Royal Canadian Artillery Band
Emily Bellman, BMus'14 (trumpet) - Member, The Stadacona Band of The Royal Canadian Navy
Brennan Connolly, BMus'08 & Dave Robilliard, BMus'04 - Founded by Brennan Connolly (who is also an instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University) and Dave Robilliard, Duo Percussion was nominated in 2014 for “Best Percussion Ensemble” by DRUM! Magazine
Sarek Gutierrez, MMus'18 - Adjunct Professor of Percussion, Our Lady of the Lake University and Texas A&M University, San Antonio
Jarrett McCourt, BMus'13 (tuba) - Named one of Canada’s “Hottest 30 Classical Musicians Under 30” by CBC Music in 2020; principal tuba, Winnipeg Symphony; New World Symphony alumni
Colin Williams, MMus,'17 (trumpet) - Member, The Royal Canadian Artillery Band
Jim Wiseman, BMus (Hons.)'13 - Percussionist with the band Lost in Japan, winner of the 2021 Corus Entertainment Radio "Summer Song Contest", Free 98.1fm "Made in London" contest, Jim Beam "Make History Talent Search", and 2020 Forest City London Music Awards’ fan favourite award
Contact
Winds, Brass & Percussion Division Coordinator
Bobbi Thompson
Assistant Professor - Saxophone
MB 561
519-661-2111 x85367
bthomp24@uwo.ca