OUR VOICE. IN RHYTHM.

Penny Spalding

Penny Spalding’s professional career has been centered in wellness and the food industry. She began her journey training as a chef at NAIT and launching her career at the Westin hotel in Edmonton. She eventually moved to the West Coast and opened a bakery and café on Pender Island. She then trained and worked as a life coach while also continuing her cuisine talents in the form of cooking classes and managing a bakery dept at Thrifty Foods in Victoria BC. When she moved back to Edmonton she side stepped into the wellness industry as a manager for River Stone Wellness Centre. Most recently Penny started nutritional training and now adds holistic nutritional consultant to her tool belt. She has recently started coaching again and now operates her own nutrition and coaching business Lifethyme Concepts.

On a personal level, Penny was raised surrounded by music and storytelling and embracing the sounds and stories of many different cultures. She herself has dabbled with many instruments including guitar, baritone, ukulele, djembe, penny whistles and trumpet. She most recently discovered Marimba with Pasi Gunguwo as her teacher. It is one of the most satisfying things she has done. She brings a passion for learning about other cultures and believes strongly in the power of music and the arts (and food) to bring people together. What she lacks in musical training she makes up for with her enthusiasm and is thrilled to be able to help build the Izwi Lethu Arts Society as it embodies a cross cultural connection and community.

Brian Thurgood

Brian Thurgood obtained a Masters of Music Education in Jazz Studies from the University of Victoria and a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Alberta. He has developed both a successful teaching and a varied performance career.

He was the Percussion/Drumset department head at MacEwan University from 1980 to 2020 where he designed, developed and implemented a successful program curriculum. Many of his students have continued to have careers in music either as educators or performers including drummers for such acts as Social Code, Nickleback, Jann Arden, Kathleen Edwards, Gord Bamford, Whale and the Wolf and K-OS.

Brian has performed as both a classical/pop percussionist and as a drum set artist. He has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Opera, Alberta and Winnipeg Ballet Companies, Tommy Banks, Frank Sinatra Jr., Ian Tyson, Ashley MacIssac, Bela Fleck and Stewart Copeland. He has performed over 60 musicals including those at the Citadel Theatre as well as traveling musicals including Ain’t Too Proud, Mary Poppins, Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond.

Brian has also had several articles published in Downbeat and MusicCom magazines. He is also co-writer of “Percussion Clinic” published by First Stroke Publishing. In 2022, Brian purchased Brandenburg Music, an exclusively percussion store and in January 2024 acquired Handbells Etc..

Leo Chamahwinya

Tanaka Nyatoro