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Born in Saskatoon and raised in Regina, Derek Friesen was exposed to music at an early age.  One of his first words was "record" as he learned to flip the LP's on his grandparents' record players.  Derek began his musical journey at the age of 3 with piano lessons at Yamaha.  Later, he would join the Lions and Catholic School Band programs.  During high school  Derek co-led the Friesen-Delsnider Quintet - a successful group of young musicians from Regina including Sean Delsnider, Carl Bray, Sam McLellan, and Gordon Bintner.  In his senior year, Derek was a runner-up in both soloist and lead trumpet competitions at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.  Six months later, he was offered a full tuition scholarship to Boston’s, Berklee School of Music.   However, Derek opted to stay in Canada and is now in his 3rd year of a Jazz Performance Degree at McGill University.  In Montreal Derek performs with the McGill Jazz Orchestra, the Montreal All-City Big Band (lead trumpet), the New Groove Orchestra, and various small groups.  In the future, Derek will continue be a professional student as he looks to complete a Master's Degree in Music, a Degree in Denistry - or both!