Meet The Band !!

The members of WBQ have varied and diverse musical backgrounds. Read on to find out a little more about each of the players.

Anne Sluyter - French Horn

After extensive piano and voice training throughout her school years, Anne started out in 1981 at the University of Victoria on her school band favorite, the French Horn.  While there she played in the Wind Symphony, and Orchestra, and worked as a member of the 5th (BC) RCA Band and with the Naden Band on tour.  During her studies at UVIC she also attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and won the annual UVIC student Concerto Competition.  Anne's further studies took her to the University of Illinois, Urbana Champain. In Illinois Anne was a member of the University Wind Symphony, Orchestra, Opera Orchestra, Jazz Band and New Music Ensembles.  After finishing her Master's at the University of Illinois, Anne married Roy (the love of her life) and moved back to northern BC, Canada.  Since then Anne has branched out into other aspects of music and of life including teaching, coaching speed skating, organizing community Bands, Orchestras, Musicals, Summer Jazz School, performing on the violin with "Moonshine", a bluegrass band, and the Terrace Symphony Orchestra (the other TSO.)  Roy and Anne moved back to the Lower Mainland in 1999 and since then Anne has become a member of the Pacific Wind Symphony and the Wyndham Brass.  Anne's teachers on the horn include Richard Ely, Fred Rizner, David Hoyt, Tom Holden, Dale Clevenger, Mier Rimon, and Philip Farkas.  Anne's professional experience includes the 5th (BC) RCA Band, the Jericho ARTS Band, the Naden Band, the Victoria Symphony, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Top Brass Quintet, the Illini Collegium Musicum and the Springfield Illinois Symphony Orchestra.

Garth Balint - Trumpet & Flugelhorn

An architect by day, Garth's unofficial second career is playing the trumpet. Originally from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Garth started in music with piano lessons at an early age, but switched to trumpet in the 4th grade (it was louder). He continued playing trumpet through high school and during the summers played in the military bands at HMCS Quadra (Comox BC) first as a Sea Cadet, and later as an OJT instructor. He played in numerous music performance groups while studying architecture at the University of Manitoba and Montana State University, and became the first MSU student to begin an architectural thesis presentation by playing the concept of his building (Bach's Contrapunctus IX). After arriving in Vancouver in 1988, he continued to play in big bands and musical theatre pit orchestras. He is currently a member of the Douglas College Night Band and Urbana, two jazz-oriented big bands, as well as the Wyndham Brass Quintet.

Kerry Hicks - Tuba

Kerry's day job is simply an inconvenience to his musical interests. At age 12 his first trombone started off his pursuit of the sonorous sound of the low brass. Through high school, college, and university the tuba was and remains his principle instrument. Kerry is in demand by many Vancouver area orchestras and musical productions. He has played with the Royal City Musical Theater Company in "The Sound of Music" and is a member of the New Westminster Symphony, the Fraser Valley Symphony, a dixie band, and the Wyndham Brass Quintet.

Terry Keller - Trumpet

A Vancouver native, Terry began playing trumpet at age 13, and was playing professional jobs by the time he was 16. Early on he was tutored and encouraged by his father, Allen Keller, also a trumpet player. During High school Terry studied privately with Vancouver trumpeter Stew Barnett.

After high school, it was on to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Berklee Terry studied trumpet under such notable  teachers as Wes Hensel, Jeff Stout, and Greg Hopkins. He toured extensively throughout New England as a co-founding member of a 10 piece R&B group. After obtaining his Bachelor of Music degree in 1988, Terry returned to Vancouver.

Terry is currently active with several Vancouver based groups including: The Douglas College Night Band, the Douglas College Little Big Band, Top City Rhythm and Blues, The Third Stream Trio, and Tony Theiss' Silverstars.

Terry also teaches trumpet. For advice and info about learning to play trumpet, soundclips, and a few free downloads, please visit his website at www.terrykeller.ca Terry is also the WBQ webmaster.

Brian Thomson - Trombone

Brian started off, at age nine, playing in brass bands in Toronto. His first teacher was a British trained military band conductor. He played in the local Canadian military bands (Governor General’s Horse Guard and Royal Canadian Army Service Corp).

After a surfeit of band concerts in the park and parades (Santa Claus, Grey Cup) he discovered symphonic music and studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Harry Stevenson, bass trombone in the Toronto Symphony. That led to a brief professional career as a symphonic trombonist. He played in the first three seasons of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, was principal trombone for five years in the Hamilton Philharmonic, and spent three summers with the Stratford Festival Orchestra.

After finishing his studies at the Universities of Toronto and Waterloo in mathematics, he moved to the west coast to take a faculty position at Simon Fraser University. The trombone collected dust for 15 years. Brian enlisted the help of the incomparable Vancouver trombonist Dave Robbins to get his playing back in shape. During this time Brian also  joined the 15th Field Artillery Band, the Preservation of Swing Band, and the West Coast Symphony Orchestra. Now retired from teaching mathematics, he splits his time between mathematical research and the trombone. He has performed in recent years with Brass Band Northwest, the Seattle Philharmonic, Lake Union Civic Orchestra, Sammamish Symphony, Northwest Symphony, Puget Sound Symphony, Vancouver Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Burnaby Symphony, New Westminster Symphony, Theater Under the Stars, and the Royal City Musical Theatre Company. He can be reached at thomson@sfu.ca and his web site is http://www.math.sfu.ca/~thomson/

Jeannie Cameron - French Horn

Jeannie was a charter member of the WBQ and we miss her alot! Jeannie left us to relocate with her family to Vancouver Island. Jeannie: we still rehearse on Wednesdays, so drop in and see us if you are ever in the neighbourhood!

A domestic engineer by day (and most nights!), Jeannie loves to play her old Alexander horn. Jeannie and her husband Pat hail from Antigonish, Nova Scotia home of St Francis Xavier University and the longest running Highland Games in North America.  Jeannie has been a member of numerous community orchestras, concert bands and quintets in Halifax, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver. After a sabbatical to study applied mathematics at grad school, Jeannie returned to music at Douglas College and the University of British Columbia. Most weekends, Jeannie, Pat and their daughter Deirdre can be found exploring the West Coast in their Westfalia.

Blythe Polreis - Trombone

A charter member of WBQ, Blythe has left Wyndham to pursue other musical activities. Blythe was a charter member and our librarian and we wish her all the best in her future playing endeavors. Many Wednesday nights in the early days were spent practicing in Blythe's living room. Thanks for everything... and we may need to call you if the library gets out of control! We look forward to playing with you in other projects around town.

Musical legend says that trombonists never grow up. Blythe is living, breathing proof that it’s not a myth. (Peter Pan, eat your heart out!). After all, how can it be anything but fun to play an instrument that constantly changes shape? [grrr]  It comes as no surprise thereby that Blythe’s favourite musical genre is free improvisation, which stretches the bonds of traditional tonality to the outer limits of the imagination.  Raised in the Bible belt of Saskatchewan, Blythe’s first brass group was born to play from the hymnal for people to sing when the local church organ decided to have an untimely seasonal breakdown! This has given her almost as deep a love for the rich traditional harmonies.  Whether on the page or off, Wyndham for Blythe is an even happier place than Never Land could ever be.