Heather Wootton – French Horn Calgary

Heather was a member of the horn section of the Calgary Philharmonic from August 1993 until her recent retirement in May of 2025 after 32 seasons.

Before coming to Calgary, she was a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra for six years, a member of the Stratford Festival Orchestra, and maintained an active free-lance career about southern Ontario.

Heather received a Bachelor of Musical Arts and an Artists’ Diploma in Performance from the University of Western Ontario, and continued her studies with the Orchestral Training Program of the Royal Conservatory and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

Further studies included summers at the Keystone Brass Institute in Colorado, the Kent/Blossom Festival studying with members of the Cleveland Orchestra and performing as principal horn of the Festival Orchestra of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

From 2001- 2008, Heather was guest soloist and horn instructor for the “Summer Music on the Shannon” music festival, then held in Limerick, Ireland.

She is founding member of the chamber ensembles, Rosa Selvatica, and Altius Brass and is  busy as a teacher, coach and clinician.

Along with her colleagues in the Calgary Philharmonic, Heather helped launch “HornFest”, a yearly weekend Horn workshop for horn players of all ages and levels.

From 2016 to 2024, Heather was involved as the Lead Teaching Artist of the Calgary Philharmonic’s “PhilKids” program, inspired by the work of the Sistema movement.

In September 2025, she was presented with the Betty Webster Award from Orchestras Canada for her work with PhilKids and music education.

In retirement, Heather continues to play, teach and coach, both through the CBE and Mount Royal University Conservatory. 

In the fall of 2025, she established  the Mount Royal Horn Choir, an adult amateur group meeting every two weeks throughout the year to explore horn playing and horn ensemble repertoire.