Announcing new Director roles at the VSO School of Music

The VSO School of Music is thrilled to welcome Carla Birston, Director, String Studies and Jodi Proznick, Director, Jazz Studies to our leadership team. The Directors will play a central role in continuing to provide high quality pedagogical leadership and support students, families and faculty to ensure we offer the highest standards of musical education and programming.

Jodi Proznick says, “I’ve been the Jazz Department Chair since 2013 and the artistic director of the VSO SoM Summer Jazz Workshops since then. I was asked by Bramwell Tovey to start a Jazz department and am proud of how the program has continued to build and the exceptional work of our faculty and students.”

Carla Birston has been with the VSO SoM for 12 years and says, “My dream was to create a String Ensembles Program that would benefit all ages and abilities. We began with six students. The program is now over 150 string students strong, ranging in age from 5 to 85. Working with the faculty, staff, students and their families has been a joy. We are, indeed, a unique organization.”

“It goes without saying that we are honoured to have these two amazing artists and pedagogues take on full time positions at the VSO School of Music. They will no doubt help move us to our next chapter of excellence and joy in music. Both will continue as faculty members, facilitating classes and ensembles as well as provide leadership at the VSO SoM. I look forward to continuing working with Carla and Jodi in their new capacity,” says Angela Elster, President & CEO of the VSO School of Music and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

About Carla Birston:

One of the Lower Mainland’s most active and successful string pedagogues, violinist Carla Birston has dedicated her career to fostering the joy of playing and learning to students of all ages and levels. A much-in-demand teacher with one of the largest private lesson studios in Metropolitan Vancouver, her students are consistently successful in various music festivals, at the Provincial Finals and in international competitions.

Though she has performed as a freelance musician through

out her career with such groups as the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and in various chamber ensembles, her passionate focus has been string teaching and developing the String Orchestras she has founded and nurtured over the last three decades.

An Examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, she is in demand as an adjudicator at festivals and competitions locally and provincially. Carla holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia, where she studied with Gerald Stanick, and an A.R.C.T. in piano performance, and enjoys accompanying her students.

About Jodi Proznick:

Jodi Proznick, a distinguished Canadian jazz bassist, composer, and educator, was honoured as the 2019 Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and boasts three Juno Award nominations. Recognized for her impactful contributions to music education, she received the 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Arts and Music Award in British Columbia.

Proznick has collaborated with jazz luminaries like David “Fathead” Newman, Ed Thigpen, Sheila Jordan, and Peter Bernstein, and has performed as a jazz soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. She currently serves as the Director, Jazz Studies, at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music and has taught at renowned institutions like the Banff Centre for the Arts, Capilano University, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where she continues to shape the future of jazz education.

In addition to leading her quartet, Proznick is the co-leader of both the Ostara Project and Triology. In 2022, she co-founded the Ostara Project, which earned a Juno nomination for its impactful debut album. She also won the 2022 Western Canadian Music Award for Instrumental Artist with the Jasmine Jazz Project. Proznick has shared the stage with international artists like Michael Bublé and Byron Stripling and has been featured on over 50 recordings as a sideman, solidifying her as a versatile and influential figure in Canadian jazz.