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Cathi-MacDonnell

Kevin Harris

Principal Bassoon

Always striving to expand his role as a performer, Kevin has built a career around deeper audience connection, wider collaboration, and delving deeper into unfamiliar musical territory. As a freelance bassoonist, he performs regularly across Southern Ontario and the GTA in nearly every established orchestra, including the Toronto Symphony, the National Ballet, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and the Niagara Symphony.

Based in Toronto, Kevin is a member of two ambitious woodwind quintets: Quintagious and Blythwood Winds, each of whom are known for their innovative projects and engaging concert experiences. He contributes a variety of musical arrangements and transcriptions, and many hours of research to help these ensembles achieve their goals of building a broad and inclusive repertoire. In addition to his woodwind quintet transcriptions, Kevin has undertaken the work of producing editions of previously unpublished bassoon concerti by Canadian composers Jean Coulthard and Imant Raminsh.

As a studio musician Kevin has had the opportunity to lend his skills to a number of exciting projects in film, television, and video game soundtracks. Recently, he contributed to “The Ugly Chickens,” a short film produced by famed novelist and screenwriter George R.R. Martin and scored by Canadian composer Agatha Kaspar. Other soundtrack credits include the hit video game “Cuphead,” composed by Toronto musician Kris Maddigan. Kevin can also be heard on the 2023 album “Lignum et Spiritus” by composer Robert Lemay, featuring works for solo woodwinds and piano.

Kevin is an Edmonton, Alberta native, and he moved to Toronto to attend the Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory, where he studied with Fraser Jackson and Nadina Mackie Jackson, receiving his Performance Diploma in 2013 and Artist Diploma in 2015.