About John Becker (con't)

Back.... a writer, English teacher, classical guitarist, opera critic, radio commentator, music teacher, stagehand and yacht skipper. He holds a Certificate in Conflict Management from Conrad Grebel University College University of Waterloo, an M.F.A. in Ethnomusicology and a B.F.A. in Music Composition from York University. He also has an English-as a-Second-Language teaching certificate. He is the author of Discord: The Story of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, he was a columnist for the Georgia Strait and the Winnipeg representative for Opera Canada magazine. He appeared frequently as a music critic on CBC Radio. With composer R. Murray Schafer, he participated in the annual wilderness music theatre/environmental art work And Wolf Shall Inherit the Moon.

An active volunteer in the Winnipeg arts community, he served as chair of the Winnipeg Arts Council from 1997-2000.
His writing has received the support of the Canada Council and the Manitoba Arts Council and has won a Western Magazine Award for arts criticism.

A former member of the Alpine Club of Canada, he participated in several climbing expeditions in the Canadian Rockies, the most recent of many adventures animated by his life-long passion for the great outdoors. He is Canadian Yachting Association accredited sailing yacht captain with a wide experience in fresh and salt water sailing. He crewed on an Atlantic Ocean passage in 1980.

He is member of the Zen Temple of Toronto and the Canadian Tibetan Buddhist Society of Manitoba and has since 1993 been a student of a Nyingma master from Western Tibet, the Venerable Tenth Reincarnated Tulku of Dakshong.