Dan hersog | Jazz Band

Daniel Hersog is a distinguished figure in the jazz world, noted for his significant contributions as both a performer and a composer. His work received high praise in 2020, winning him the Jazz Times Magazine poll award for best composer. Hersog’s approach to jazz has been recognized by industry critics; All About Jazz described him as “a major new compositional voice in jazz” (All About Jazz), and DownBeat Magazine highlighted his “artistic individuality” (DownBeat Magazine).

Hersog’s debut album, Night Devoid of Stars, released in 2020, received considerable acclaim. Jazz Times Magazine complimented it as “a mature, superbly-crafted statement, that doesn’t sound anything like a debut” (Jazz Times Magazine). Continuing his musical journey, Hersog recently released his second album, Open Spaces (Folk Songs Reimagined), showcasing the talents of jazz luminaries such as Kurt Rosenwinkel and Scott Robinson.

In addition to his recorded music, Hersog has been a part of larger ensembles, touring across North America and performing at various notable venues such as the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Frankie’s Jazz Club, and Pat’s Pub. He has also collaborated with groups including The Vancouver Legacy Jazz Orchestra, Jaelem Bhate Jazz Orchestra, Super Trumpets, and Sonny’s Cousin as a sideman.

Hersog is not only a performer and composer, but also an educator. As a graduate of the New England Conservatory and recipient of the Gunther Schuller Medal, Hersog now holds the position of academic coordinator of the jazz studies program at Capilano University. In this role, he teaches jazz trumpet, theory, and composition, and leads the trumpet ensemble, sharing his passion and understanding of jazz with future generations of musicians

Bernie Arai | Jazz Band

Bernie Arai’s musical career as a performer, educator, composer and recording artist spans styles through jazz, improvised music, traditional Japanese, and electronic and computer music. On drum set, percussion and electronics, he works with some of Canada’s most accomplished musicians. Born, raised and based in Vancouver, Bernie has performed across the country with various ensembles, and has also toured across the United States, Japan and Europe.

A graduate of Capilano University Jazz Studies program, Bernie has amassed a great debt to the educators who helped shape his musicianship during the course of his studies , including Fred Stride (UBC); Brad Turner, Ken Moore, Dave Robbins and Dylan VanDerSchyff (Capilano); Ian Froman (NYC).

Bernie's own ensembles include his most recent quartet featuring Skye Brooks (also on drum set), Tommy Babin on bass and Chad Makela on saxophone, a reunion of an electronic/acoustic trio with Chris Gestrin and Jon Bentley (on keyboards, woodwinds and electronics) called New Diversions. Electonic and acoustic ensemble Densabi features Bernie using digital sound synthesis and feedback with Chris Gestrin and shakuhachi master Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos to create improvised ambient music. Along with saxophonist Jon Bentley Bernie co-led a hard bop sextet called Ugetsu for over 15 years.Thanks to Vancouver’s supportive scene, Bernie also works with many of the country’s finest musicians as a member of ensembles such as: the Brad Turner Trio, Bill Coon's bc double quartet, the Bill Runge quartet, the Hard Rubber Orchestra, the Jennifer Scott Trio, the Ihor Kukurudza Trio, Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra, Sharon Minemoto Quintet and Quartet, the Paul Keeling Trio and Quintet, Tommy Babin's Sendero Luminoso, Altered Laws, Mimosa, and many others. He remains in demand as an accompanist and band member for many legendary musicians from across Canada and around the world, appearing in concert at numerous music festivals worldwide, and on CBC radio jazz shows. He has had the opportunity to guest host CBC's long running radio show Hot Air on two occasions, once to spotlight the powerful musicianship of Claude Ranger, and once to explore the influence of Canadian jazz on Canadian jazz musicians.

A dedicated and experienced educator, Bernie continues to teach based in Vancouver, including work as an instructor at the Vancouver Community College School of Music. He has served as director of jazz bands at the University of British Columbia Summer Music Institute, and as instructor in the Capilano College Jazz Studies program, the Phil Dwyer Academy of Music and Culinary Arts, the Douglas College Summer Jazz Intensive, North Shore Summer Jazz Intensive and the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, and also teaches workshops and clinics in local schools for jazz bands and drum set. Bernie works with large jazz ensembles of different levels, leading workshops with community big bands and adjudicating at high school jazz festivals including Surrey Schools Jazz Festival, Kiwanis Jazz, Vancouver District Jazz Festival. He has presented on rhythm section pedagogy at the BCMEA conference, and in 2015 was the director of the BCMEA Honour Jazz Band.

See bernie's discography, his performing credits or his list of projects

Promo photo available here

Scott MacLennan | Concert Band

Dr. Scott MacLennan is an active adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor who frequently works with ensembles, schools, honour groups, and festivals across Canada. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and has been the Music Director of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Wind Ensemble and the Music Director at the Byng Arts Academy in the Performing and Visual Arts in Vancouver, B.C. For more than 30 years, he has taught bands and orchestras at all levels from elementary to post-secondary and performed extensively on bassoon. He has conducted his award-winning ensembles in various locations throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, China, the United States, and Canada. His ensembles have performed in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, New York, USA, and Santa Maria della Pieta (Vivaldi’s Church) in Venice, Italy. In March 2011, with Johan de Meji’s endorsement, Dr. MacLennan conducted the Canadian premiere of his composition At Kitty O’Shea’s.

He holds a Bachelor of Music (1988) and a Bachelor of Education (1990) from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Music (2010) in Conducting (Wind Band) from Sam Houston State University, Texas, and a Ph.D. (2015) from the University of British Columbia.

He studied conducting with Ken Hsieh, Morihiro Okabe, and Wayne Toews and participated in numerous conducting master classes given by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Anthony Maiello, Ralph Hultgren, and Robert Ponto.

As an active music educator, he has worked for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to edit and draft curriculum for their VSO Connects (Secondary) program, chaired the BC Music Educator’s Association’s Conference Pulse 2006, and currently sits as a board member of the Chamber Music in the Schools Society. He is a recipient of the BC Music Educators’ Association’s Outstanding Professional Music Educator’s Award in recognition of exemplary commitment, talent, and leadership for music education in British Columbia.

Mark Tse | Concert Band

Dr. Mark Tse is a Canadian conductor and educator, serving as Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education at the University of Saskatchewan, and a settler living on the Treaty Six Territory and the Homeland of the Métis. He conducts the University’s Symphony Orchestra and is an instructor of conducting, instrumental music teaching in secondary schools, and guitar pedagogy.

Dr. Tse values kindness, collectivism, and continuous learning. He is dedicated to co-creating opportunities for everyone to access and cultivate the joy of music, which includes musicians, conductors, composers and audiences, as well as people and genres who have historically been marginalized from orchestral music.

In the 2016 American Prize competition, he won 3rd place for Community Band Wind Ensemble Conducting and an Honourable Mention for College/University Wind Ensemble Conducting. In 2015, he won 2nd place for College/University Wind Ensemble Conducting.

Dr. Tse holds a doctorate in Wind Ensemble Conducting from the University of Washington, a Master of Music (Wind Ensemble Conducting) from the New England Conservatory, a Master of Music (Music Education) from the University of Western Ontario, as well as a Bachelor of Music (Music Education) and a Bachelor of Education (Instrumental Music) from the University of Toronto.

On Long Island, Dr. Tse has guest conducted the Atlantic Wind Symphony, served as co-chair of the Suffolk County Music Educators’ Association Division 3 East Band Festival and has presented workshops for the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education. He is published in the Canadian Music Educators Association Journal and has adjudicated band festivals and conducted band workshops in Seattle. Prior to his graduate studies, Dr. Tse taught instrumental high school music for eleven years in his home city Toronto.