Katrina Marzella Wheeler
Principal Conductor
Katrina Marzella-Wheeler was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1983 and is well-established in the brass music world as an instrumentalist, conductor and teacher. For many years, Katrina practised as a lawyer in Manchester, England, before committing her professional life entirely to music. As an instrumentalist, Katrina was the solo baritone horn player of the world famous Black Dyke Band from 2011 to 2020. She won the inaugural BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Soloist of the Year in 2004, as well as the British Open Solo Championships in 2006 and 2007, and the Ern Keller International Soloist Award in 2007 and 2008. She was runner-up at the 5th European Soloist Competition in Linz in 2010 and was awarded the ‘Best Soloist’ award at the 2014 European Brass Band Championships in Perth. Katrina is passionate about new music and has premiered over 25 new solo works for her instrument with piano, brass bands, wind bands and orchestra. Katrina was integral to the development of the Yamaha Neo baritone horn and performs exclusively as a Yamaha Artist on the instrument she helped design. Katrina is now in increasing demand as a conductor across the UK and Europe. She aims to bring vitality to the brass music sector with her programming, collaborations and creative productions, and has a commitment to increasing diversity on the conductor’s podium in brass and wind bands. In recognition for her work in this area, she has been nominated to receive an Inspiration Award at the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. In recent years, she has been the guest conductor of Eikanger Bjørksvik Mussiklag (NO), Festival Brass Band (BE), Regensburg Brass Band (DE), Aldbourne Band (UK), and is currently the Principal Conductor of the Glasgow-based Cooperation Band.
Principal Conductor