Trombones
Charles Benaroya
Charles Benaroya currently holds the position of principal trombone with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Principal Trombone of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra. Previously, he has held the position of second trombone with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, and has also performed with many of the best professional ensembles in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia.
Charles received a Bachelor of Music from McGill University and also studied at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers include James Box, David Martin, and Gordon Wolfe.
Until 2012, Charles was a member of the music branch of the Canadian Forces Reserves.
Steven Dyer
Steven Dyer has enjoyed a rich and varied musical life since arriving at Winnipeg in 2001, the time at which he joined the renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as Second Trombonist; the 2011-2012 season marked his first year as WSO Principal Trombonist. Concurrently, Steven continues to serve as a Sessional Instructor with the Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba.
Previously, Steven held the positions of Principal Trombonist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Instructor of Low Brass at Lakehead University and performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. A recipient of the Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. Prize for excellence in brass playing, Steven has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, and has presented recitals, master-classes and workshops throughout Canada and the United States. He has also given performances on historical trombone, or sackbut, for Camerata Nova and Consortium Aurora Borealis.
Mr. Dyer is a dedicated and sought-after instructor whose students have shown success in both music education and performance. Many now occupy positions as music teachers throughout the Canadian province of Manitoba, while others have demonstrated their performance skills through winning major solo competitions and earning positions with performing organizations of local, national and international prestige.
A casual performer with many other ensembles, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Steven has also recorded in the studio for Winnipeg artists Dave Lawton and James Keelaghan, Band of the Ceremonial Guard (Ottawa), Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, MCO and WSO. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in music performance, respectively, from McGill (Montreal) and DePaul (Chicago) Universities.
Keith Dyrda
Born and raised in Winnipeg, MB, Keith Dyrda is a celebrated trombonist who has
performed throughout the world, on stages in North America, South America, Europe,
Asia and Australasia. He is currently Acting Principal Trombone of the Winnipeg
Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of the Winnipeg Youth Concert Orchestra. Keith is
an avid brass clinician and music instructor all across Manitoba.
Keith’s performance career began at age 21 when he replaced founding member Gene
Watts as the trombonist of Canadian Brass. He has performed with Chicago’s Lyric
Opera, Music of the Baroque, Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra. With the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Keith has appeared both in the
low brass section and as a soloist, having been named grand prizewinner of the OSM’s
2008 Standard Life Competition. In 2013 as part of a commemoration of the Korean War
Armistice of 1953, he appeared as a soloist with the World Peace Orchestra for Korea, an
ensemble comprised of musicians from each of the UN affiliated countries that
participated in the war. Keith also spent 5 years as a member of the All-Star Brass, a
quintet that performed and recorded at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Keith was the first prizewinner of the International Trombone Festival’s 2009 Robert
Marsteller Competition (Denmark) and the 2009 Alessi Seminar Solo Competition (New
Mexico). During his time with Canadian Brass, their 2012 album “Brahms on Brass” was
nominated for a Juno Award in the category of Classical Album of the Year: Solo or
Chamber Ensemble. Keith holds a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University’s
Schulich School of Music and Master of Music degree from Northwestern University’s
Bienen School of Music. His primary teachers include Michael Mulcahy, James Box,
Peter Ellefson, and Tim Higgins.
Keith is Vincent Bach performing artist.
David Pell
David Pell has been Principal Trombonist of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002, Bass Trombonist of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra since 2006, and Principal Trombonist of Orchestra London since 1998. He has also been a member of the Winnipeg Symphony, the Victoria Symphony and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Touring Orchestra. He is a member of Toronto’s Esprit Orchestra and performs regularly on trombone, bass trumpet and euphonium with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company and New Music Concerts. He has also performed with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and the Thunder Bay Symphony, with the Stockholm Chamber Brass and the True North Brass. David appears on Bass Trombone on the Canadian Brass recording, Brahms on Brass, playing Euphonium on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Holst’s The Planets and Bass Trumpet on the TSO’s recording of the Rite Of Spring. He was Bass Trumpet soloist in the Canadian Opera Company’s acclaimed Ring Cycle and has played on many jingles and soundtracks. David is Artistic Director of the renowned Hannaford Street Silver Band and co-founder of the ArtFarm, a multi-media based amorphous chamber ensemble dedicated to performing new works and conventional music in unconventional settings. He has shared stage and recording studio with musicians such as Herbie Hancock, Supertramp’s Roger Hodgeson, Broken Social Scene, Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy), Michael Bolton, Sheena Easton, David Foster, Holly Cole, Kenny G and Dudley Moore and has played and toured North America with productions of Wicked, Les Miserables, Showboat, Ragtime, Chicago, Urinetown, Phantom of the Opera, Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady, Cats and Evita.
Peter Sullivan
In the fall of 1999, Peter Sullivan was appointed Principal Trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Mariss Jansons. Canadian-born Sullivan came to Pittsburgh following a long and fruitful tenure as Solo Trombone with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit. Sullivan has performed as a soloist on many occasions with several orchestras including the Pittsburgh and Montreal Symphonys. In 2006, he performed the world premiere performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Trombone Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis and the PSO. Apart from his activities in Pittsburgh, Sullivan performs regularly across North America, Europe and Asia as soloist and chamber musician alongside the world’s leading brass players. He is a regular visitor to Japan, playing and teaching at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, the Suntory recital hall in Tokyo, the Hamamatsu Summer Academy, as well as performing solo recitals in Osaka. In China, Peter is involved with the Canton International Summer Music Academy and performed and gave master classes at the Tian Jin and Beijing Conservatories in April of 2006. Aside from countless orchestral performances in the great concert halls of Europe, Sullivan has performed at the Ascoli Piceno Brass Festival in Italy, and was featured in Christian Lindberg’s Trombone Concerto in Bunol, Spain with the composer on the podium. Sullivan was also the first prize winner in the 1990 Umea International Solo Competition in Sweden. Peter Sullivan has given concerts and clinics from coast to coast, including master classes at the Juilliard and Manhattan schools in New York City, The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Glenn Gould Academy in Toronto, coaching at the New World Symphony and the Banff School and tours with the Summit Brass and the Music of the Baroque in Chicago. He has been heard across Canada in recital on CBC radio and on NPR with his colleagues in the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass. Presently, Sullivan serves on the faculties of Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon universities in Pittsburgh, following 15 years as adjunct professor at McGill University in Montreal. For the past few years, he has been working with the Yamaha Corporation on the development of their new line of orchestral trombones, the prototype of which he plays every week with the PSO.
Gordon Wolfe
Hailing from Nelson, B.C., Gordon Wolfe has been a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 2001, taking over the role of Principal Trombone in 2006. He was previously a member of the Winnipeg and Victoria Symphony Orchestras, and has had the privilege of performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the National Ballet Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Gordon studied with Canadian trombone icons Ian McDougall and Peter Sullivan at the University of Victoria and McGill University while working through his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in music.
An accomplished chamber musician, Gordon was a founding member of the Central Park Brass, a privately funded brass quintet that is dedicated to performing free concerts for young people in the playgrounds of Central Park, and working regularly with under privileged children in the Union Settlements of the Bronx.
In demand as a soloist, Gordon has been featured with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, and the Hannaford Street Silver Band. As a highly respected educator, Gordon draws top students from across Canada to his trombone studio at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School.
Gordon Wolfe is an S.E. Shires Artist.