Joan Thelma Watson

Watson's final performance was on February 22, 2015. She died from breast cancer on March 12, 2015 at the age of 61 at her home in Owen Sound, Ontario.

Watson's chamber music performances were heard frequently via the Canadian Broadcasting System and with New Music Concerts. She performed as a featured soloist at the International Women’s Brass Conference, the International Horn Symposium in Banff, Alberta and the International Brass Quintet Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, Watson was a featured soloist and lecturer at the International Horn Symposium in Chicago in 2009, and in June 2010 in Toronto, she hosted the International Women’s Brass Conference.

She served as an artist and clinician for Yamaha Canada developing a 30-year relationship that allowed her to mentor many young artists. In 2008, the Yamaha Corporation chose Watson for signature recognition on a company poster, which made her "the first woman brass player in the world featured on a Yamaha poster." The company described her as, "this country’s foremost horn virtuoso and educator, Joan leaves behind a musical legacy that will be an inspiration for generations."

Joan Thelma Watson (June 28, 1953 – March 12, 2015) was a Canadian french horn musician and teacher. She served as principal horn of the Canadian Opera Orchestra and was a founding member of the True North Brass quintet.

Watson was born in 1953 and married musician Scott Irvine, who became the principal tuba player of the Canadian Opera Orchestra (COC). They raised two sons together, Max and Joel.