Ken MacDonald

Acclaimed as a “French horn master” by the Toronto Star, Ken MacDonald has performed in every province with a variety of Canada’s top ensembles. He is currently Associate Principal horn with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, having played principal horn with the Hamilton Philharmonic (for seventeen seasons), Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. He has also performed as a guest artist with the Vancouver Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Orchestra London, the Victoria Symphony, and the Regina Symphony, to name but a few.

As a chamber musician, Ken has enjoyed longstanding associations with the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Ontario, and with the national touring ensemble Octagon, who were featured in Winnipeg’s Virtuosi Concerts last season. Solo appearances include the Winnipeg Symphony, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and national CBC broadcasts of newly- commissioned works.

Ken is a National Arts Centre teaching artist and, in co-operation with the Winnipeg Symphony, has travelled to several of Manitoba’s northern communities for educational workshops with composer and conductor Andrew Balfour. He also teaches at the University of Manitoba. He lives just outside Winnipeg with his husband, two children, six goats, five horses, and a variable number of chickens and turkeys.