Derek Friesen

Trumpet

Derek Friesen is a Saskatchewan-born professional musician and dentist.  He grew up playing in the Regina Lions Band and Regina Catholic School bands.  In 2005, Derek was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to study music at Berklee College of Music and was also McGill University’s selection for the Ray-Hnatyshyn-Oscar-Peterson scholarship for top graduating Canadian high school jazz musicians.  Derek elected to study at McGill in hopes of pursuing a future career in dentistry.

Following his graduation from McGill in 2010, Derek went on to pursue a Master’s degree in music.  He received call-back auditions from The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, University of Miami, University of Toronto and eventually ended up choosing to study at New England Conservatory in Boston.  In 2012, Derek graduated from New England Conservatory with academic honours. Derek’s professional music career has taken him to over sixty-five countries and he has worked with and alongside renowned musicians and performers such as Talib Kweli, Charles Bradley, Slide Hampton, Dave Holland, Alan Evans, Cecil McBee, George Cables, Victor Lewis and Jason Marsalis.

In 2020, Derek’s dream to become a dentist was realized when he graduated from James Cook University in Australia.  Currently, Derek lives in Regina with his wife, Shayann, and their four beautiful daughters. Derek is now a partner at the practice his father built - Landmark Dental - and alongside his partners, has recently opened Lewvan Dental.  Despite being busy with work and life at home, Derek continues to teach and perform music. He is a member of Rory Allen’s band, the Trent Reschny Sextet, and The Regina Jazz Orchestra.