Merrie Klazek

Session: Trumpet Around the Sun: An Exploration of Music as a Global Connector

Merrie Klazek is a versatile and respected trumpet artist in the world of performance and education. Fluent in orchestral, chamber, solo, traditional, 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 a MMus from Northwestern University where she studied with the late Vincent Cichowicz. Her musical travels include performance highlights at 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 solo album “Songs to the Moon” has been featured on TVO Studio 2 and CBC Radio and she recently released a new solo album called “Dance Around the Sun” which highlights the trumpet in settings of world music. Merrie has appeared as a presenter, artist and adjudicator at the International Trumpet Guild Conference (‘08,’11,’18), International Women’s Brass Conference (’10,’12,’17), Canadian Women’s Brass Collective (’19), World Trumpet Society (‘19), and in July 2019 presented a recital and masterclass at the Trompetenmuseum in Badsackingen, Germany.  Her engaging lectures and performance presentations cover topics including Performance Skills, Brass Pedagogy, Women in Brass, Trumpet and the Art Song, and Community Social Dance. Prior to joining the faculty at UVic, Merrie played Principal trumpet with the Thunder Bay Symphony for twenty-one years, and has held the same position with the Victoria Symphony and Orchestra London Canada. Merrie is an endorsing artist for Wedge Mouthpieces, and Bach Trumpets/Selmer-Conn.