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In addition to teaching at Laurier, I am a freelance French horn player (both modern and historical instruments), conductor, organist, composer, arranger/orchestrator, music editor/copyist and clinician.
I received a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition, a diploma in Performance, and a diploma in Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters of Music degree in horn performance from Western University.
I am conductor of the historic Waterloo Concert Band, conductor and Artistic Director of the new Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Concert Band, organist at both Zion Lutheran Church in Philipsburg and St. James Lutheran Church in Baden, as well as co-owner/Director of Renaissance School of the Arts.
While maintaining an active performance schedule, I am also a busy arranger/orchestrator and composer. My work has been performed by symphony orchestras (and smaller ensembles) across Canada and around the world, and has been broadcast nationwide on CBC radio.
- Currently writing a full-length orchestra concert for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and KW Glee, Canada’s top youth pop choir. Performances January 22 & 23, 2019 at the Centre in the Square.
- Other recent commissions have included music for the KWS, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Kingston Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia and the K-W Chamber Orchestra.
- Music copyist to the late Howard Cable, Peter Hatch, Alain Trudel and Boyd McDonald, among others.
- Other research interests include historical Canadian band repertoire, particularly the work of Prof. C.F. Thiele.
- I have written more than 1000 arrangements and transcriptions – from Vivaldi to Lady Gaga.
- 2015 and 2008 nominee for KW Arts Awards in the music category.
- Transformation by the Gallery Players of Niagara (2014) – this recording features my transcription of Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin for oboe (James Mason), clarinet (Peter Shackleton), violin (Julie Baumgartel), cello (Margaret Gay) and piano (Leslie De’Ath) and was met with critical reviews (“Wagler’s quintet version of the Ravel is so crisp and vivacious it might well have been written for these instruments by Ravel himself.” — Fanfare Magazine, May/June 2015).
- I have performed with many Canadian orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Tafelmusik, Orchestra London, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Nota Bene Period Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony, as well as the Stratford Festival and Drayton Entertainment.
- January 2019 - I will conduct the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at the Centre in the Square for KW Glee Live III, a joint concert with Canada’s top youth pop choir, for which I’m writing an entire show of ALL-NEW orchestral arrangements
- January 2015, January 2017 - Conducted the K-W Symphony at the Centre in the Square for KW Glee Live! and KW Glee Live II, for which I wrote the orchestral arrangements
- May 2016 – Conducted the premiere performance of Howard Cable’s “A Musical Tribute to a Legendary Music Man: Prof. C.F. Thiele” with the Waterloo Concert Band.
- May 2016 – Performed Mozart’s 3rd horn concerto on natural horn with the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra.