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Anita McAlister

An active freelancer in Toronto, Anita McAlister has an interesting and varied career performing with the Toronto Symphony, the National Ballet Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Anita is a member of the Esprit Orchestra and the Hannaford Street Silver Band and has been a contracted member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Stratford Festival. She has toured as Principal Trumpet of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra and performed with a number of theatre productions such as Phantom of the Opera. As a student, Anita studied with the Canadian Brass in Banff. She went on to be a member of the Great Lakes Brass Quintet, the Composers Brass, and for many years performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Brass Quintet. As a soloist, Anita won the National Competitive Festival of Music at age 18 and has since performed as a soloist with a number of orchestras and in recitals. Anita is an active adjudicator and clinician, trumpet faculty at National Music Camp, and is currently on Faculty at the University of Toronto as Head of Brass, teaching trumpet and orchestral studies, coaching chamber music and teaching music education classes. Anita is a board member of NABBA (North American Brass Band Association) and a core member of the Canadian Women’s Brass Collective. Dedicated to the development of brass education, Anita has been the Director of the Hannaford Youth Program for the past 18 years and conducts the Junior, Community and Youth Bands.