Woodwind - Regular Program
Timezone: Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada (GMT-8)
Language: English
HIGHLIGHTS:
- 20-year veteran of the Army Bands performing and teaching all age groups in countries around the world
- Winner of the Carmel International Chamber Music Festival and Army Music Performance Team of the Year in the Woodwind category
- Certified Master Resilience Trainer who incorporates positive psychology into designing instruction that is engaging and appropriate for each student
Bassoonist Tracie Whitelaw has spent the last twenty years as a military musician with the United States Army. As a First Sergeant, she led her Soldiers on musical performances and educational outreach for audiences all over the world. Favorite moments include working with Iraqi musicians at the American Embassy in Baghdad, teaching masterclasses at the St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota, performing friendship concerts at the Seoul Tower in South Korea, participating in the 60th anniversary of D-Day ceremonies in Normandy, being an artist-in-residence at the El Sistema-based program, Soundscapes, in Newport News, Virginia, and touring the American west coast with the Army Field Band where they recorded Soundtrack of the American Soldier at Skywalker Sound. Tracie spent three years teaching the bassoon and chamber music at the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia, working with all incoming bassoonists for the Navy, Marines, and Army. While on faculty, she coordinated many masterclass opportunities for her students, including sessions with the Imani Winds.
Tracie is the current contrabassoonist of the El Paso Symphony and has actively freelanced throughout her Army career playing with the Virginia Symphony, Virginia Musical Theatre, Calgary Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony and Olympia Symphony. She has participated in many festivals including the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp, Banff Summer Music Festival, Scotia Festival of Music, Brevard Summer Music Institute, Indiana University’s Early Music Institute, Barockfestival Nordfriesland, and the European Mozart Academy. As a chamber musician, she has received a National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency grant, the Army Musical Performance Team of the Year award for woodwinds, won 1st prize at the Carmel International Chamber Music Festival and performed a young artist debut recital at the National Arts Center of Canada.
An advocate for new music, she is a member of the International Fellowship of Conductors, Composers, and Collaborators and has been a member of several chamber groups that have debuted new works by living composers including Brian DuFord and Heather Schmidt. With a passion for social justice, she has also produced several benefit recitals in Texas and Virginia focusing on feeding the homeless.
Tracie is a Master Resilience Trainer for the Army where she received her training from the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center. She also has an education degree from the University of Calgary and has always been fascinated by how we learn. She is an avid believer in life-long learning and works tirelessly to help unleash every student’s potential, and to help them embrace and fall in love with the never-ending journey of mastery.
Tracie holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance, Magna cum laude, from Oklahoma City University, a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of British Columbia, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary, and a Professional Certificate in Electric Bass from the Berklee College of Music. Her primary mentors include Betty Johnson, Jesse Read, Christopher Millard, Loren Glickman, Jim Stinnett, and Ariane Cap. When she’s not playing music, she enjoys cooking, yoga, running, hiking and birding.