Merrie Klazek completed her Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary and Master of Music from Northwestern University where she studied with the late Vincent Cichowicz. Merrie is active as a performer and recording artist in orchestral, chamber, solo classical, folk, contemporary, and pop music. Her musical travels have taken her throughout Canada, to Japan, Hungary, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. Highlights include performances at the Festiva Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy; a production of Claude Vivier's “Kopernicus” at the Festival Contemporaire in Strasbourg, France; Mahler's 5th Symphony in Tokyo's Bunka Kaikan Hall; CBC broadcast of the Shostakovich Concerto for piano and trumpet with Marc-Andre Hamelin and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2 with the TBSO.

Merrie currently plays Principal trumpet with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, a position she has held with the TBSO since 1999, and also with the Victoria Symphony (2005) and Orchestra London Canada (1996-99). Merrie teaches at Lakehead University where she has been an instructor since 2001. She has performed in the trumpet sections of the Montreal Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, and others. Merrie has released a solo recording entitled “Songs to the Moon” with pianist Jennifer Snow, on the Phoenix Records label.