Professional Musician

Performing in Vancouver Opera’s Don Giovanni, 2006

Heather Walker is a professional French horn player.  She is a core member of  the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra. She also freelances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Kamloops Symphony, the Okanagan Symphony, Opera Kelowna, and many other groups in British Columbia. She has previously played horn with the West Isle Winds, the Bessborough Brass Quintet, the Ad Mare Wind Quintet, and the Band of the Fifteenth Field Artillery Regiment. She actively teaches French horn lessons and clinics.

Training and Education

Performing with the Bessborough Brass

Heather has a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia and a “Diplôme d’études Supérieur II” (Master`s Performance Diploma in Solo and Chamber Music) from the Québec Conservatory of Music.  She has performed with orchestras outside of B.C. including Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres, Monterrey (Mexico), and others. Heather has also participated in numerous training courses, workshops, and intensive programs around the world.  These include the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (’97-98, cross-Canada and European tours), Schloss Pommersfelden Collegium Musicum (Germany, 1996), the Domaine Forget Music Academy (Quebec, 1995-2000), the Scotia Festival of Music (Halifax, 1999), and the Banff School of the Arts (Alberta, 1995).

“Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong.” – Terry Pratchett

“No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.” – W.H. Auden

“Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.” – Moliere