Clarinetist Virginia MacDonald Quartet

Juno Award-winning clarinetist VIRGINIA MACDONALD has established herself as a leading voice of her generation. Known for her lyrical and dynamic approach to the clarinet, she has been described by legendary clarinetist Doreen Ketchens as playing “like a scholar, very refined with plenty of soul.” As an in-demand bandleader, side woman, and composer, she maintains a busy international performance schedule across North America and Europe, regularly appearing at renowned venues such as Birdland, Smalls, Ronnie Scott’s, Le Duc des Lombards, and Dizzy’s. Her festival appearances span the globe, with performances at the Detroit, Rochester, Torino, Montreal, and Toronto Jazz Festivals, among others. Born and raised in Toronto, the Canadian clarinetist now resides in New York.

Virginia has worked under the leadership of luminaries such as Michael Dease, Dick Oatts, and Kirk Lightsey. She has performed and recorded with distinguished artists including Harold Mabern, Ira Coleman, Geoffrey Keezer, Bruce Barth, Joe Magnarelli, Xavier Davis, Eddie Henderson, Jerry Bergonzi, Rodney Whitaker, Quincy Davis, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Derrick Gardner, Neil Swainson, and Terry Clarke. Virginia is a frequent collaborator with Grammy Award-winning trombonist Michael Dease, appearing on three of his albums to date, and performing regularly as a member of his groups. Her composition “Up High, Down Low” is featured on his 2023 release Swing Low.

Virginia co-leads a quintet with renowned trumpet player Joe Magnarelli. The two recently recorded an album with frequent collaborator and acclaimed saxophonist Dick Oatts at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studio, slated for release in 2026. Virginia is also the co-leader of a quintet with Baltimore bass clarinetist Todd Marcus, which highlights their rare soprano and bass clarinet frontline. Both groups perform frequently across Canada, the U.S., and Europe.

In 2020, Virginia won the International Clarinetist Corona Competition, judged by Anat Cohen, Victor Goines, Ken Peplowski, and Doreen Ketchens, among other leading clarinetists. Other recent accolades include headlining the International Clarinet Association’s 50th anniversary celebration at ClarinetFest 2023 in Denver and being featured as a guest artist with the Orchestre National de Jazz de Montréal for the premiere of Starbirth, a suite written for her by resident composer Jean-Nicolas Trottier, which was nominated for a 2024 Prix Opus for Concert of the Year.

Virginia’s debut album In Search Of… was released on May 29th, 2026 on Cellar Music. Comprised of original compositions for quartet, the project features luminaries Geoffrey Keezer on piano and Ira Coleman on bass, alongside two preeminent voices of the next generation, drummer Curtis Nowosad, and featured vocalist Laura Anglade.

Virginia is a member of the Canadian Jazz Collective, a seven-piece ensemble comprised of award-winning Canadian jazz musicians. She appears on the Collective’s debut album Septology, which was nominated for the 2024 Juno Award for Jazz Album of the Year, and their subsequent 2024 release, Live at Le Vauban.

Alongside her other projects, Virginia enjoys working with her father, renowned Canadian jazz saxophonist Kirk MacDonald. She appears on several of Kirk’s albums, notably including his 2018 release Generations which features the esteemed pianist Harold Mabern. The two have toured together extensively, including multiple European tours and a tour of India in 2020.

Virginia has performed on over twenty albums as a side woman, including Caity Gyorgy’s Juno Award-winning albums Now Pronouncing (2022) and Featuring (2023).

In addition to her active performance career, Virginia is a highly sought-after educator. She has been a visiting artist at numerous post-secondary institutions around the world, including Princeton University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, McGill University, and University of Toronto. She is on faculty at the Jazz Institute at Brevard Music Center.

Virginia is an endorsed artist for Buffet Crampon, D’Addario Woodwinds, and Rovner Products.

“[Virginia’s] playing is exemplary, with technical infallibility, a full focused sound, and dexterity reminiscent of Eddie Daniels. Her improvised lines are equally engaging, putting one in mind of what a young Branford Marsalis was pushing in the ’80s. It is refreshing to hear the clarinet making its mark so effectively in a contemporary jazz setting.” ~ Charles Rees, London Jazz News

WILL BONNESS on piano is a Canadian jazz pianist from Winnipeg, Manitoba who won the Juno Award for Jazz Album of the Year (Solo) at the Juno Awards of 2022.

A graduate of the jazz program at the University of Manitoba, he is currently a professor of jazz piano   at the same institution. He and faculty colleague Jon Gordon, who was a fellow Juno nominee in the same category, both played on each other’s albums.
He began his career in Maynard Ferguson’s band in the early 2000s, before releasing his own debut album Subtle Fire in 2009.

Award winning New York City based bassist MARK LEWANDOWSKI originally hails from Nottingham, England. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music in London and New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, he has earned the respect of his peers and elders alike as a creative, supportive and individual sideman and bandleader. After graduating with a first-class honors degree from the Guildhall School, Mark had the great honor of being awarded the Yamaha Jazz Award, which was presented to him by the UK Government at the Houses of Parliament.

“The kind of finesse that made a single repeated note seem interesting” ~ ★★★★★ The Telegraph

“Sonorous, fluent, delivered with the presence of a bassist who has already earned his place as an indispensable part of our scene.” ~ London Jazz News
Since relocating o New York City, Lewandowski’s performance credits include such luminaries as Joe Chambers, David Liebman, George Cables, Lew Tabackin, Cyrus Chestnut, Steve Wilson, Buddy Greco, The Mingus Big Band, Peter Bernstein, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Jeremy Pelt, Billy Drummond, Javon Jackson, Kirk MacDonald, Mark Whitfield, Ed Cherry, Jon Faddis, Willie Jones III, Sullivan Fortner, Freddie Hendrix, Joe Magnarelli, Stacy Dillard, Josh Evans, Philip Harper, Nasheet Waits, Dayna Stephens, Mike Ledonne, Vic Juris, Frank Lacy, Rick Germanson, Wayne Escoffery Sherman Irby, Joe Cohn, Joseph Farnsworth, David Hazeltine, Johnny O’Neal, Wayne Escoffery, Eric Alexander, Steve Nelson, Warren Wolf, Philip Harper, Sheila Jordan, JD Allen, Jeb Patton, Grant Stewart, Bruce Harris, Benny Green, Aaron Goldberg, Dave Kikoski and Jerry Weldon.

Lewandowski has also performed frequently as a member of Pulitzer Prize winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ quartet including performances in such esteemed venues and festivals as London’s Barbican Hall, Cheltenham Festival and The Institute of Peace, Washington D.C.
He has toured internationally in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America and is frequently found on many of New York City’s famed stages including Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Village Vanguard, Birdland, The Jazz Standard, 55 Bar, Smalls, Mezzrow, Smoke and Minton’s Playhouse.
Mark’s work as a bandleader includes three releases – 2017 saw the release of Mark’s debut release ‘Waller’ on the Whirlwind Recordings label. This debut album solidified his reputation as a stellar bandleader and received rave reviews internationally. Featuring two of the most respected musicians on the European jazz circuit, pianist Liam Noble and drummer Paul Clarvis, Waller is an exploration of the music of one of the early innovators of the jazz genre, Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller. The album featured highly in critical polls ranking at Number 3 in Chris Phillips’ Jazz FM Charts.

2021 saw the highly successful release of Lewandowski’s second record as band leader, ‘Under One Sky’ which has attracted press attention and airplay internationally. Comprised of exclusively original material, the album features two of the young stars of the New York City jazz scene – award winning pianist, Addison Frei and Washington D.C born drummer Kush Abadey. Lewandowski’s unique and personal compositional style is at the foreground of this album, which was described by the UK’s renowned critic, John Fordham (The Guardian, Jazzwise Magazine) as ‘a sublime confection on compositional class and individual improv skill’.

A highly anticipated duo recording (the third under Lewandowski’s own name) featuring ‘Waller’ collaborator, Liam Noble was released in 2023. An imaginative reimagining of music associated with Billie Holiday, featuring U.K vocalist Heidi Vogel, the album ‘A Bouquet (For Lady Day)’ was celebrated widely by the international jazz community and received much critical interest from press both sides of the Atlantic.
2022 saw Lewandowski again on the international stage, as 1st prize winner of the prestigious UNISA International Jazz Strings Competition held in Pretoria, South Africa. In this 40th year of the competition’s existence, he was awarded the prize by South Africa’s former president, Thabo Mbeki. The Jury also awarded Mark 2 out of 3 of the competition’s special prizes – ‘Best Performance of a Ballad’ and ‘Best Performance
of a Rhythm Changes’ respectively.

Other career highlights include his 2015 commission by the EFG London Jazz Festival, reimagining the music of one of his great influences, Charles Mingus; performing as special guest soloist in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall as part of Igor Butman’s Future of Jazz Festival; leading his trio at the 2018 Rochester International Jazz Festival as part of the ‘Made in the UK series; work for the British Arts Council in the Middle East, and two successful trips to Shanghai, China as a ‘Cultural Ambassador’ for Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Mark Lewandowski’s multiple recording credits occupy a diverse range of the jazz genre, ranging from such major artists as Joe Chambers (who Mark is featured on his 2023 Blue Note Records release ‘Dance Kobina’) to American cult composer and saxophonist John Zorn (with whom Mark is featured on his Tzadik release ‘The Book of Beriah’). Also closer to home in the U.K with the Leo Richardson Quartet, who’s record ‘The Chase’ was selected as one of the Sunday Times ‘Best 100 Albums of the Year’ in all genres.

2025 signaled Mark’s debut on Broadway as he performed at the legendary Winter Garden Theater in New York City as part of George Clooney’s Tony nominated play ‘Good Night and Good Luck’. Box office records were broken by this production which became the highest grossing show in Broadway History. Following a successful run of 99 shows, the play again made history as the first of its kind, streaming live on CNN to 7.34 million around the world.

As an educator, Lewandowski is on the faculty of the renowned Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz Studies at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. He has also had experience teaching in several major institutions including Torino Conservatory (Italy), Birmingham Conservatoire (U.K) and his position as ‘Professor of Bass Studies’ at the prestigious Hampton School. Mark has lead workshops in cultural exchange visits to China in-front of 2000 elementary school children. He also has worked for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People and Essentially Ellington programs in and around New York City.

NICK BRACEWELL on drums is a JUNO nominated drummer, composer, and educator based out of Vancouver, British Columbia.

He has performed and recorded with artists such as Rodney Whitaker, Randy Napolean, Raagaverse, Noah Franche Nolan, Jodi Proznick, The Shuffle Demons, Laila Biali, XL the Band (Swollen Members), James Danderfer, Ashely Wey, Gabriel Mark Hasselbach, Corey Kendrick, Diego Rivera, Rick Roe, Micheal Dease, Etienne Charles and Perry Hughes.

Nicholas was exposed to a diverse range of musical influences from an early age, which fueled his passion for music. He pursued formal training in music and had the privilege of studying under Randy “Uncle G” Gelispie at Michigan State University. Since relocating to Vancouver, he has established himself as a prominent figure in the city’s music scene, showcasing his versatility by performing in various settings, from intimate jazz clubs to large concert halls.

Apart from being a skilled performer, Nicholas is also a committed educator, sharing his knowledge and experience with aspiring musicians.