Dave Burns

Principal Timpani/Percussion - Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra

Percussionist David Burns is passionate about chamber music, having founded several groups in his native Canada with the purpose of commissioning and performing new works from around the world. He has performed with members of NEXUS, Steven Schick, and Canadian Brass. He was recently appointed Principal Timpani/Percussion of the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra in Japan and has performed with members of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the philharmonics of Vienna and Berlin, as well as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. David received his training at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Jonny Smith

Percussionist

Toronto-based percussionist Jonny Smith is an avid performer of new and contemporary music. His solo concerts have been described as “phenomenal and surprising, even from a performer who is already known for eclectic and diverse performances.” (M. Wightman, The Argosy). Jonny has worked with a number of Canadian composers on developing new works for solo percussion including Kevin Lau, Riho Maimets, Quinn Jacobs, Stephanie Orlando, and Caleb Chan. Jonny is also a founding member of the marimba duo Taktus. Taktus released its debut album, “Glass Houses for Marimba” in July 2015. It has been nominated for an East Coast Music Award in the category of Classical Recording of the Year and was included in the CBC’s Top 10 Canadian Classical Albums of 2015. Jonny also performs regularly with Spectrum, a percussion quartet which he co-founded in October 2013. Spectrum has given performances at the AGO’s “Friday Nights” series, the COC’s noon-hour concert series, and created an original score for the silent film “Man With a Movie Camera” screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre. Outside of the realm of classical music, Jonny performs regularly with the alternative/indie band Barbarosa. The band released their second album, “The Eye of the Rabbit” in November 2016. Jonny is currently working toward his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto.

Nathan Petitpas

Percussionist

Percussionist Nathan Petitpas was born and raised in Cape Breton Nova Scotia and now enjoys a busy performing career based in Toronto.

Nathan has been a member of the Thin Edge New Music Collective since 2012. Since joining the collective Nathan has had the honor of touring with them across Canada multiple times, performing in Argentina, recording on their first studio album, and premiering dozens of new works by living composers from Canada and abroad. Thin Edge has been ensemble in residence with Array Music since the beginning of the 2015/2016 season.

Nathan is also a founding member of Duologue, a violin and percussion duo with violinist Suhashini Arulanandam. They are committed to expanding the repertoire for this unusual combination by commissioning new works.

He has performed with organizations such as Cirque du Soleil, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Against the Grain Theatre, The Talisker Players, the Two Planks and a Passion Theatre Company, FAWN Opera, Bad New Days, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Stereoscope Saxophone Duo, and Rose Orchestra to name a few. He has also performed in various festivals and concert series including Nuit Blanche Toronto, New Works Edmonton, New Music Calgary, Music on Main (Vancouver), Open Spaces in Victoria, The Music Gallery's X Avant Series, NUMUS, and twice in the Cape Breton International Drum Festival.

Outside of a classical context Nathan performs regularly on drum set with various projects in the Toronto area. He can also be heard on the debut album of Brooklyn-based orchestral pop band San Fermin. The album was released on Downtown Records in 2013, it was praised by NPR as "one of the year's most surprising, ambitious, evocative and moving records," and it reached #18 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers album chart.

As a composer, Nathan has had his music performed by the Toy Piano Composers Ensemble, the Stereoscope Saxophone Duo, the Thin Edge New Music Collective, Duologue, and the Acadia University and University of Toronto Percussion Ensembles.

Nathan teaches a variety of music programs through the Regent Park School of Music as well as private drum set and percussion lessons from his studio in Toronto. He has also coached the University of Toronto Percussion Ensemble, the Toronto All City Band, the South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra, Calgary Youth Orchestra, and Edmonton Youth Orchestra.

Nathan holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto where he studied with Russell Hartenberger, Beverley Johnston, and Mark Duggan as well as a Bachelor of Music degree from Acadia University where he studied with Mark Adam. He has also received coaching from Steven Schick and Pius Cheung. In  2011-2012 he completed two ten-week independent music residencies at the Banff Centre and more recently has taken part in a performer-composer collaborative summer program as part of the Banff Centre's ARC summer programming.

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Nathan is an artist endorser of Dream Cymbals and Gongs and Mannion Mallets.