Roxi Dykstra
Artistic Director
Roxi Dykstra (Doctorate Kunstuniversitat Graz, Austria, Masters, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Dance Lyon, France, M.Mus. Univ. de Montréal, ARCT Piano) has been working as a professional musician since 2004. She held the principal viola position of the Prince George Symphony for three years, an assistant principal viola position in the Orquestra do Norte in Portugal, and a permanent full-time position at the National Portuguese Orchestra (with the national opera at the historic Teatro Sao Carlo). She performs chamber, orchestral, and solo work across Europe and Canada, including with the Vancouver, Toronto and Okanagan symphonies and with chamber ensembles in the area, and most recently, has been filling in for concertmaster for the Prince George Symphony.
An enthusiastic northerner, Roxi works hard to promote musical opportunities and musical excellence in the north. She is the founder and co-director of the Orchestra North Summer Program, and director of its Academy program, which is committed to developing professional development opportunities for northern professionals and emerging artists from across BC.
Roxi has extensive experience as a teacher, director and workshop host- she has been a Royal Conservatory of Music instructor for over 15 years, adjudicates with the British Columbia Performing Arts Festival Association, as well as on many occasions directed bands, choirs and orchestras, including most recently in 2021, a production of Peter and the Wolf with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. She is also the artistic director of the Spirit of the North Classical Music Festival which typically brings dozens of classical concerts annually in August to Smithers and area.
Calvin Dyck
ONSP Academy, symphony and violin
Concert violinist Dr. Calvin Dyck wears many hats (literally and figuratively). He is in his 25th season as Concertmaster for the Vancouver Island Symphony (Nanaimo), and is in demand as an adjudicator for music festivals across the country. Calvin is the Artistic Director for Oceanside Classical Concerts, the Artistic Director of the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, has a teaching studio with 25 students, and is a busy producer with his company Songs, Strings and Steps Events Ltd. In his spare time he runs a Christmas tree farm in Mission.
Calvin has his Doctor of Musical Arts (in violin performance) from the University of Southern California with minors in conducting, music education and music history. He has produced 4 CDs which help raise money for Communitas, a charity which supports people living with disabilities.
Highlights from the past few years include producing concerts with the Celtic Tenors, Barrage, and Cirque Musica. In 2012 Calvin was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to the community and in April 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities by Trinity Western University. In 2024, Calvin was awarded the “Order of Abbotsford” to recognize his work with youth.
Dennis Colpitts
Winds and Brass
Dennis Colpitts, a graduate from the Department of Music (UBC, 1976), has taught music in the Lower Mainland and Okanagan at all levels of the school system. His blended major of trumpet, voice and conducting have enabled him to participate in a wide variety of musical opportunities including the Vancouver Cantata Singers, Phoenix, a Chamber Choir, the Okanagan Festival Singers, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the Kelowna City Concert Band from 1992 to 2000 and 2011 to 2020, and co-conducted the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra with Rosemary Thomson from 2010 to 2022.
Mr. Colpitts has been second chair in the horn section of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra since 2000 and plays trumpet in the OSO Brass Quintet (aka Fish On Five). In 2011 Mr. Colpitts retired from 34 years of teaching and began a busy life as a Teacher On call and a volunteer working with brass students in the schools. He also conducts the OSO Wind Ensemble for the UBC Okanagan's convocation ceremonies each year.
Mr. Colpitts has played the Last Post since 1994 for Kelowna's Remembrance Day Ceremony and since 2001 has played on an authentic World War I bugle.
Kent Dykstra
Violin, Band and String Coach, Composer-In-Residence
Kent Dykstra (B.Ed. Trinity Western Univ., M.Ed. Univ. of Alberta) is the music teacher and principal at Credo Christian High School, Langley, BC. He trained as a youth in both violin and piano, and has served as church organist and choir director. From 2000 to 2008, Kent successfully built a band program at Parkland Immanuel Christian School, Edmonton, which sent groups on tours to BC, Manitoba, and Ontario. His passion is composing and arranging music for his students, for both band and stringed instruments, especially based upon the Genevan Psalms. He released three CDs of Genevan Psalms arranged for string orchestra.
He has been the director of the Reformed String Camp in Canada for seventeen years.
Jordan Daviel
Cello/Bass and Ready, Set, Cello!
Jordan moved to Smithers in September 2017 as incoming music teacher at Smithers Secondary School. He has many years of experience of performing, teaching, and conducting community musical groups including the Dawson Creek Kiwanis Band and Prince George Sinfonia. Jordan holds a Masters of Cello Performance from the University of Ottawa and is an accomplished cellist, bassist, guitarist, and percussionist, and has picked up many other instruments over the years including the trombone, tuba, and sousaphone.