Maritime Brass Quintet
The Maritime Brass Quintet brings the highest caliber chamber music to concert halls, churches, festivals and schools across the Maritimes. The group is comprised of five of Canada’s finest brass players: Curtis Dietz and Richard Simoneau (trumpet), Gina Patterson (horn), Eric Mathis (trombone) and Bob Nicholson (tuba & bass trombone).
Maritime Brass Quintet members have studied throughout North America and performed or held positions with many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, Toronto Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. They also have experience playing in numerous smaller groups and ensembles, including Foothills Brass, Northumberland Brass, Honolulu Brass Quintet, the Jive Kings and the Canadian Brass.
Since forming in the spring of 2011, the Maritime Brass Quintet embarked on a busy concert schedule and have been featured guests at many of the regions’ well-known concert series and performance venues: including the Scotia Festival of Music, the Music Room, Acadia University, University of Prince Edward Island, Universite de Moncton, and First Baptist Church, Halifax. They frequently collaborate with some of the regions finest musicians including Paul Halley and the King’s College Choir, Nick Halley and Capella Regalis, Jeff Joudrey and the Halifax Camerata, and in recital with Mark Duggan at the Scotia Festival of Music.
Recent performances include concerts with the Musique Royale Concert Series, Music at Three Churches, Mahone Bay, collaborations with Kings Chapel Choir and Capella Regalis and recent tour with jazz pianist/composer David Braid.
All MBQ members are dedicated educators as well as players, and are committed to working with brass players of all ages.
The Members of Maritime Brass Quintet
Curtis Dietz, trumpet
A long-time member of Symphony Nova Scotia, trumpeter Curtis Dietz is a native of Hanover,Ontario. He is a graduate of the University of Montreal and also studied at the University of
Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Banff Centre. Before coming to Symphony
Nova Scotia, Curtis was a freelance musician in Montreal performing with the Montreal
Symphony Orchestra, I Musici de Montreal and L’Orchestre Metropolitain.
In the summer of 2002, Curtis joined the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra for their
performances at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. In 2005 he was featured as lead trumpet
in Neptune Theatre’s production of Chicago. For several years, Curtis was on the faculty at Acadia University’s School of Music. His mother thinks he is very good.
Last but not least, Curtis is the proud father of two wonderful daughters, Greta and Kate, and
son Peter, with his wife Gina Patterson.
Richard Simoneau, trumpet
Richard was born in 1970 in Quebec City, and began playing trumpet at age thirteen in highschool. He pursued his studies at the Quebec and then Montreal Conservatories, graduating
in May 1994. That summer, he auditioned with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and won a
one-year contract to play third and assistant principal trumpet. The next year he played
principal trumpet with the Hamilton Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in
Ottawa, before moving to his current position of principal trumpet with Symphony Nova Scotia
in September 1996.
Since moving to Halifax, Richard has been heard on many occasions as soloist with
Symphony Nova Scotia. Many of those performances have been recorded and broadcast
nationally by the CBC. His other musical activities include performing brass concerts with the
Maritime Brass Quintet. Richard has been on faculties of such Universities as Acadia
University in Wolfville and Université de Moncton. He also acts as artist in residence at the
Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax.
When Richard is not performing on the trumpet, he enjoys spending time outdoors, mostly
hiking and camping.
Gina Patterson, horn
Company Orchestra. During her tenure there she performed with the orchestra in its award-
winning production of Oedipus Rex and Bluebeard’s Castle at the Edinburgh Festival in
Scotland, recorded for Rhombus Films, Bravo Television, CBC Records, and CBC’s Saturday
Afternoon at the Opera as well as performing on the many acclaimed COC recordings with
Richard Bradshaw.
An experienced chamber musician, Gina has rehearsed with the Canadian Brass and
performed on the live national broadcast of the Schubertian Celebration at the Glenn Gould
Studio in Toronto. She has played with I Musici de Montreal, performed at the New Brunswick
and Indian River Chamber Music Festivals, and was a finalist at the CIBC National Music
Festival.
Gina has performed with orchestras across Canada, including Symphony Nova Scotia,
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Newfoundland
Symphony, and the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra.
Dale Sorensen, trombone
musical theatre genres. An enthusiastic promoter of Canadian music, Dale has premiered
more than 25 solo trombone pieces and dozens of chamber works, and recorded an all-
Canadian CD of music for trombone. In addition to his frequent solo recitals, Dale has
performed as soloist with the PEI Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Symphony, Nova Sinfonia,
and the Acadia University, UPEI, and University of Toronto Wind Ensembles. He is a proud
Yamaha Artist and plays Yamaha instruments exclusively.
As an orchestral musician, Dale performs regularly with the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra,
Symphony Nova Scotia and the PEI Symphony, has held positions with the Windsor
Symphony (ON) and Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and has freelanced with groups such
as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo
Symphony, Orchestra London, Winnipeg Symphony, National Ballet of Canada, and Opera
Atelier in a 3-week, 8-city tour of Japan.
A dedicated educator, Dale is currently Assistant Professor of Brass and Chair of the
Department of Music at UPEI. He regularly serves as an adjudicator, clinician and conductor
at music festivals and workshops throughout the Maritimes and Ontario. For more
information, please visit islandtrombone.com.
Bob Nicholson, tuba & bass trombone
Quintet and the PEI Symphony as well as bass trombone with Symphony Nova Scotia, The
Back Alley Big Band and Halifax Trombone Summit. Bob performed for five years with The
Phantom of the Opera in Toronto, three years as tubaist with Calgary based Foothills Brass
Quintet, and for 14 summers in the pit orchestra of "Anne of Green Gables" at the
Charlottetown Festival. Other theatre work “in the pit” includes Toronto productions of Beauty
and the Beast, Showboat, Crazy for You, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, A Year with Frog and
Toad at Neptune Theatre and numerous productions at the Charlottetown Festival.
As an orchestral musician Bob has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Hamilton Philharmonic, Quebec Symphony, CBC Toronto Jazz Orchestra and the National Ballet Orchestra among others.
Bob studied at the University of Prince Edward Island, the Orchestral Training Program at the
Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the University of Toronto, the Banff Centre of the Arts
and two beautiful summers at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.
He is also an avid runner who has qualified for and run the Boston Marathon twice and the
PEI Marathon three times.
Besides performing, Bob is a Brass Specialist for the Halifax Regional Centre of Education and previously taught at Acadia University, UPEI, Nova Scotia Community College, and Humber College.