Faculty 2025

Roxi Dykstra (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. 

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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.

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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 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. Roxi is a current doctoral candidate at the Kunstuniversitat Graz, Austria.

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.

Angela Luchkow, residing in South Delta, has enjoyed performing and teaching the violin in the

lower mainland for over 25 years. Originally from Edmonton she studied under Mauricio Fuks at

McGill University and earned her Bachelor of Music with distinction in violin performance. After

moving to Vancouver she enjoyed a vibrant performing schedule in the Vancouver Opera

Orchestra and began cultivating her private music studio.

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Before too long Angela was drawn to Vancouver’s baroque music scene. Having studied early

violin with David Douglass she began to play in the Pacific Baroque Orchestra under the

direction of Marc Destrube. In addition to playing the baroque orchestral repertoire she enjoys

appearing in solo and chamber performances ranging from the medieval rebec to classical

string quartets.

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As a teacher she feels there is no greater joy than helping a child discover and develop the

natural ability within them and watching their self-confidence grow as a result. Angela has a

thriving private studio and loves the challenge and reward of breaking complex skills down into

their smallest elements all while having great fun thus cultivating a language of self-expression

that far surpasses speech.

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.

Cellist and educator Nico Stephenson, currently on faculty at Langley Community Music School and Langley Fine Arts School, is equally inspired preparing students for award-winning performances and high-level auditions as he is introducing beginners to the joys of cello playing and chamber music. A student of artists and educational thinkers including cellist Johanne Perron and academics Ardith Haley and Dale Lonis, Nico’s teaching produces in his students a unique blend of precise technical refinement and intentional artistic decision-making. 

In addition to his work at LCMS and LFAS, Nico is a frequent coach and adjudicator with the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Surrey Youth Orchestra, and was previously on faculty at Saint James Music Academy. Since 2016, Nico has also led the cello and chamber music program at Yukon Summer Music Camp in Whitehorse, helping to create a cello community in the North of passionate and driven artists of all ages. 

Nico’s energy for cello playing and teaching is renewed by frequent visits to art galleries, bike rides on the Gulf Islands, and Italian restaurants in East Vancouver.