Danise Ferguson

Danise Ferguson, Associate Professor of Music, was appointed to the Faculty at Mount Allison in 1973. She currently teaches Music Theory, Aural Skills, Cello, Double Bass, String Methods and Chamber Music. She is Director of the Chamber Orchestra, and is active as a performing cellist in both solo and chamber recitals with Mount Allison colleagues. She also performs regularly as Principal cellist of the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra, and as a member of the Confederation Centre Orchestra.

She serves as a music examiner for Mount Allison's Local Centre Examinations. Professor Ferguson also gives private instruction to cello and bass students of all ages, has taught at the Université de Moncton, and is a member of the Sackville and N.B. Registered Music Teachers' Associations. A number of her former students have gone on to successful careers in performance and teaching.

Research interests in British and Italian cello and string music have taken her to the Royal Academy, Royal College and Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, and to the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, Italy.

Danise Ferguson began her musical education in Calgary, Alberta, where she was born into a musical family. Her first cello teacher was Jeanette Whitney. From the age of ten she was an active performer of solo, chamber and orchestral music. Later she played in the National Youth Orchestra, the A F of M Congress of Strings and the Calgary Philharmonic.

At the University of Calgary she studied with cellist Talmon Herz, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance. At the University of Western Ontario she studied with cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and bassist Jeffery Stokes, and graduated with a Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature.

Some recent performances have included Duo and Trio Recitals with colleagues Peter Higham, guitar, Peter Groom, voice, Copper Ferreira, clarinet, and Michael Thibodeau, piano [ Bachelor of Music '09, Mount Allison ].