May 2026
Andrew Klassen’s connection to MBCI stretches back further than almost anyone’s. His grandfather was one of the original signatories who remortgaged his home to help purchase the land on which the school was built in 1945. Andrew’s parents and siblings all attended MBCI before he began walking these halls as a student from 1976 to 1982. Then, after completing his studies at the University of Manitoba, Andrew returned to MBCI in 1987, inheriting the baton from his own mentor, Ken Epp. Andrew has been here ever since. After 39 years of teaching and a lifetime of belonging to this community, we are honoured to celebrate Mr. Klassen’s retirement and to recognize the remarkable legacy he leaves behind.
What Andrew has built at MBCI is more than a band program, it is a community. From the beginning, he has been intentional about creating ensembles where students feel known, valued, and genuinely connected to one another. Through collaborative music-making, he has cultivated empathy, cooperation, and a sense of shared purpose that extends well beyond the rehearsal room. Students have learned teamwork, leadership, and self-regulation, and have developed confidence through performance, reflection, and the kind of encouragement that only comes from a teacher who truly sees them. As Executive Director & Principal Andrea Buller reflects, Andrew “fosters a deeply supportive social and emotional environment”.
Andrew’s approach to teaching has always been grounded in meeting students where they are. Through carefully sequenced lessons, differentiated parts, targeted sectionals, and individualized feedback, including personally recorded verbal responses to student playing submissions from Grades 5 through 12, he has guided each learner along a meaningful musical pathway. He has made room for student composition and conducting, welcomed instruments like string bass and electric guitar, and consistently surveyed students for their feedback so that the program could grow to meet their needs. As Andrea notes, his ability to differentiate instruction has allowed every student to “experience meaningful challenge while feeling supported and capable.”
But Andrew is quick to redirect the credit. What he says he is most proud of are the moments when collaboration took over; when students were giving feedback in rehearsal, solving problems together, and arriving at results that no single person, including their teacher, could have achieved alone.
“The answers are always truly ‘in the room,'” he says, “and better answers than I could have come up with at any moment.” His greatest satisfaction has come in those times when he felt he had made himself unnecessary — when a culture had taken root and students were flourishing on their own terms.
The mission statement printed at the top of his course outlines for years has read: “God has given every one of us some measure of musical talent. Band helps develop this talent so it can be used to His greater glory.” This has not been window dressing. It has been the animating conviction behind every rehearsal, every tour, every talent show he has shepherded with such joy and care. His leadership of school talent shows, in particular, has created what Andrea describes as “an open, joyful space for students to take creative risks, share their passions, and celebrate one another”. These events have become highlights of the school year because of his rare gift for cultivating belonging across grade levels.
Even through the disruptions of the pandemic, Andrew emerged as a model of resilience and adaptability. He innovated rapidly, embraced new approaches, and ensured that music education not only continued but thrived. In the years since, he has rebuilt and revitalized the program with renewed energy and vision.
Andrew has given this school something that cannot be fully measured — a program built on humility, generosity, and an abiding belief in our students. He has taught generations of young people not just which notes to play, or even how to play them, but why the notes matter. He has shown us, by example, what it looks like to pour yourself into something larger than yourself, and to find the highest reward in that act of giving.
Thank you. The music you have set in motion will continue to play for many years to come.
