Samantha Whelan Kotkas is a professional trumpet player, teaching artist, storyteller and award-winning children’s book producer with over 20 years working in the Alberta, Canada and International Arts communities. She is the second trumpet player in the Red Deer Symphony and performs regularly with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Rosa Barocca, Altius Brass. She has authored several works. Samantha is the education advisor for Calgary Pro Musica and a teaching artist for the National Arts Centre of Canada (NAC) where she finds the cross-cultural work she does with Walter MacDonald White Bear, as part of the Music Alive Program, very meaningful. She has written outreach and music teaching guides for the NAC, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. She just finished writing and producing ‘Wandering with Wonder’: an immersive outdoor musical storytelling experience which was successfully premiered in September 2021 at the Leighton Arts Centre.



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