Jack Winn: Accidental bass player and structural impressionism painter 

Unwilling to be separated from his girlfriend while she was at a summer music camp, then-Grade 10 student Jack Winn, no particular fan of music, decided to follow her there. At the camp, the young lad from north Toronto met Tom Monahan, principal bass with the Toronto Symphony, who introduced Jack to the double bass, offered free lessons and ignited a new love affair. While a Grade 11 and 12 student, Jack took lessons in Monahan's University of Toronto studio, then spent a year just practicing the bass after eschewing another year of high school. "I felt I was more likely to have a job, to achieve something" by pursuing the bass rather than continuing high school [in Grade 13], Jack, a member of the SSO bass section, now recalls.

He received full scholarships at Eastman School of Music and the University of Toronto. At the age of 22 he was appointed principal bass of the Edmonton Symphony. He was principal bass with Orchestra London for 26 years. He has also performed with the Toronto Symphony and National Ballet Orchestra bass sections and as principal bass with the Hamilton Philharmonic, Kitchener Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Kelowna Symphony, International Symphony (Sarnia) and Stratford Symphony. He was an assistant professor of performance music at the University of Western Ontario from 1981 to 1997.

When he's not playing, Jack is likely to be pursuing his "structural impressionism" painting in his downtown Stratford studio. His work has been displayed in a number of area galleries. His favourite subjects are based on quantum mechanics and particle physics. "I read a lot about time," he says. He organized the Stratford on Avon Sherlock Holmes Society and hosts meetings in his Stratford apartment.