Winnipeg based Victoria Sparks is an active solo, orchestral and chamber percussionist. She runs the percussion area at the Desautels Faculty of Music. She is principal Timpani/Percussion with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and performs regularly with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Victoria works closely with clarinettist Cathy Wood in their collaborative project Viđarneistí. This duo has commissioned works for their unique instrumentation and they perform regularly in Manitoba and as well as touring throughout Canada and internationally. Victoria is the founder and director of the MBA Prairie Percussion Workshop (running annually since 2012), an education and performance based event for percussion students in middle and high school. She also maintains an active schedule as an adjudicator and clinician through various Canadian organizations and festivals. Victoria serves as the President of the Executive Board of Groundswell Inc., a concert series focused on presenting new music in Manitoba and she also serves as Vice President on the Executive Board for the Music Professionals of Manitoba (Local 190). Victoria is honoured to be a part of the Yamaha Artist family and proudly endorses their world class instruments and artistic initiatives. 

In 2014, Ben Reimer completed a Doctorate in Music at McGill University in Montreal. Blurring the boundaries between popular music and contemporary classical performance, his main focus of research and performance has been to demonstrate how the drumset, traditionally an improvised instrument, has recently emerged as a solo instrument with prescribed notation. This is explored in his dissertation, “Defining the Role of Drumset in Contemporary Music Performance.”

Between 2012 and 2014, Ben premiered four concertos by Nicole Lizée: Triple Concerto for Power Trio and Orchestra, “Fantasia on Themes by Rush” with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Edwin Outwater conducting, “The Man with the Golden Arms”: Concerto for Drumset and Orchestra with SMCQ, Walter Boudreau conducting, “Son of the Man with the Golden Arms”: Concerto for Drumset and Extended Percussion Quartet with Architek Percussion Quartet in Montreal and “Katana of Choice”: for Drumset soloist and Percussion Quartet with TorQ Percussion in Toronto.

Ben is a member of Architek Percussion, a Montreal-based quartet dedicated to the development and performance of avant-garde, experimental, minimalist, and electroacoustic music.

Scott Senior is a Grammy nominated/ Juno award winning percussionist who is most know for his work with Canadian folk groups The Duhks and The Rankin Sisters. 

Studying with the masters of percussion in Havana, Cuba and Rio DeJaneiro, Brazil, Scott is playing locally with such bands as Dirty Catfish Brass Band and Trio Bembé.

Eric Platz is a drummer and percussionist whose performing career encompasses a diverse array of styles including jazz, Americana, Afro-Cuban, Arabic, North African, and contemporary improvisation. He has toured extensively throughout North Americaperforming at venues including the Blue Note and Lincoln Center in New York City, the House of Blues in New Orleans, and at festivals including the Winnipeg Jazz and Folk Festivals, the Sasktel Jazz Festival in Saskatoon and the Sephardic Music Festival in Brooklyn. Current projects include the Complete Rebirth of the Cool ensemble, whose most recent recording was nominated for a 2014 Western Canadian Music Award, and the New York Andalus Ensemble which performs traditional repertoire of southern Spain and northern Africa. Eric is also a regular guest with the Saskatoon and Winnipeg Jazz Orchestras and recently performed with the Winnipeg Symphony as part of the Pops series. He is currently completing work on a recording featuring his original compositions for percussion, clarinet and cello. Eric is an Assistant Professor at Brandon University School of Music where he teaches jazz ensembles, applied drumset, world music, and jazz styles. He is an endorsing artist for Vic Firth Drumsticks.

  Alyssah Poiron is a music educator based in Winnipeg. Born and raised in Transcona, she developed a love of music and teaching by learning from the musicians and teachers in her life. She completed her post-secondary studies at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Music (percussion studies) and a Bachelor of Education. She has had the pleasure of teaching general music, choir, band, and jazz band at École Regent Park and currently teaches general music at École Centrale. She started her journey with Prairie Percussion Workshop as a student, proceeded to volunteer with PPW, and is now excited to continue as an instructor.