Edmonton - Adjudicators and Clinicians
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**These are adjudicators from 2023, this page will be updated in the fall of 2023** Dr. Gordon Brock (Concert Band) Dr. Gordon R. Brock is Professor Emeritus and former Director of Bands at the University of North Florida’s School of Music Flagship Program in Jacksonville, Florida, where he conducted the Wind Symphony, instructed courses in conducting and woodwind performance, coordinated the graduate instrumental conducting program and instituted the highly regarded annual UNF Conducting Symposium. Earning his B.S.E. from Dickinson State University, M.M. from Michigan State University, and D.M.A. from the University of Colorado-Boulder, Dr. Brock’s career as a music educator encompassed elementary through university levels. Under Dr. Brock’s leadership as chair (2002-12), the Department of Music was awarded the elite flagship designation and emerged as a program of prominence recognized throughout the region for its renowned faculty, dedication to student learning and community engagement, as it continues to garner recognition as one of the leading music programs in the country. Under Dr. Brock’s direction, the UNF Wind Symphony performed at prestigious events and venues including the annual Mayo Clinic Upbeat Pink: A Musical Tribute to Breast Cancer Survivorship Concert Series, the Florida Music Educators Association State Conference, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall-Lincoln Center and the Southern Division College Band Directors Association/National Band Association Conference. Before joining UNF, Dr. Brock was Director of Bands at the University of North Dakota, conductor of the Greater Grand Forks Youth Symphony, and the Grand Forks Chamber Ensemble. Under his direction, the UND Wind Ensemble performed at two North Dakota Music Educators Conferences, the Ohio Music Education Association/North Central MENC Professional Conference, and a joint concert series in Great Britain with the Central Band of the White Russian Army. In addition to an annual CD project dedicated to recording the best in traditional and contemporary wind literature, Dr. Brock instituted an annual Conducting Symposium, which attracted both regional and international participants. Having been twice honored by the Alberta Provincial Government for his nationally recognized ensembles and contributions to music education throughout Canada, Dr. Brock was also included in the fifth edition of “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.” He has been acknowledged as a Distinguished Alumnus of Dickinson State University (2006) and as the UNF Gerson Yessin Professor (2010-12). He has served as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States, Canada, Japan and Israel, and was honored with guest conducting appearances with both the United States Army Field Band and Chorus, and the President’s Own United States Marine Band. Dr. Brock has performed with a broad spectrum of internationally recognized organizations within the mediums of chamber music, jazz, wind band, theater, dance, and orchestra. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association (FL state chair, 2003-2005; ND state chair, 1995-99 and currently past-president of CBNDA Southern Division), Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu, National Association for Music Education, Florida Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, and the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. A chapter contributor to the GIA publication, The Art of Interpretation of Band Music, Dr. Brock has also served as a Research Associate and author for the GIA instrumental music education series Teaching Music through Performance in Band, a series that functions as a primary text in more than 300 universities in the United States and 20 countries. Dr. Jeremy Brown (Concert Band) Jeremy Scott Brown is a renowned Canadian saxophonist, woodwind doubler, teacher, expert on the music of Henry Cowell and conductor. He is Professor of Music and the former Head of the Music Department at the University of Calgary. (1990-present) He has also been an Artist-In-Residence and a visiting artist/lecturer at the Banff Centre. In 2015 his recording of Wayfaring by Nova Pon was nominated as the Outstanding Classical Composition the Year by the Western Canadian Music Awards and in 2010, his CD solo recording of Canadian saxophone music, “Rubbing Stone” was nominated outstanding classical recording of the year. In 2014 he was awarded the inaugural University of Calgary Faculty of Arts Teaching Award. In 2009 he was conferred the title “Canadian Music Ambassador” by the Canadian Music Centre for his work promulgating music by Canadian composers, with more than forty works commissioned. In 2008, he was named an “Innovator of the University of Calgary” for his community outreach, and in 2007 was awarded the David Peterkin Award for his contribution to music education in Alberta by the Alberta Band Association. In 1999 he was awarded the University of Calgary Student’s Union Teaching Award for the Faculty of Fine Arts. As a university teacher, his undergraduate and graduate students have won numerous national and international awards, scholarships and recognition. His university ensembles have been widely recognized for original programming and performing excellence; most recently the U of C Jazz Orchestra won the Outstanding Ensemble Award at the 2013 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and ten outstanding soloist awards at the 2014 Elmhurst Jazz Festival, Chicago Illinois. He has recorded numerous records, including Scaramouche with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, (2003, CBC records) In the Company of My Soul (2003, Arktos Label), Ornamentology (lightblue records) Rubbing Stone (2010, Centredisc Label), The Lethbridge Sessions (2014, Centredisc Label) and The Verismo Jazz Quintet (2005). His inaugural recording of the wind band works of Henry Cowell with the winds of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra will be released in 2016 together with his forthcoming book, “The Wind Band Music of Henry Dixon Cowell” for Sourcebooks in American Music, the College Music Society. As a saxophone soloist he has appeared with many bands and orchestras including the Washington-Idaho Symphony, the National Youth Band of Canada, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Red Deer Symphony, Festival Orchestra of the 2003 World Saxophone Congress (Minneapolis) the Okanogan Symphony Orchestra, Kensington Sinfonia and the Ottawa Symphony. He is also lead tenor saxophonist with the Calgary Jazz Orchestra. Recently, his world premiere of The Orchid Garden for tenor saxophone by Andrew MacDonald with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (November 2015) was reviewed as “a dazzling display of classical discipline and agility combined with a jazz artist’s freedom and sense of exploration.” (Ottawa Citizen, Natasha Gauthier) He is the founding artistic director of the Rubbing Stone Ensemble, a new music ensemble based in Calgary and former conductor and founding artistic director of the National Concert Band of Canada (2002-2010). He is has been Artistic Director of the Calgary Wind Symphony since 1997, a 60 piece community band founded in 1955. In 2003, he co-founded Verismo, a Calgary jazz quintet whose inaugural recording garnered great critical acclaim and subsequently performed at the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival. Dr. Brown has written numerous pedagogical articles and in addition to his forthcoming book, was co-compiler and series editor of the inaugural Royal Conservatory of Music Saxophone Series (2014). This groundbreaking and comprehensive saxophone series includes graded repertoire, etudes, technical studies and orchestral excerpts and is used internationally. His numerous articles are published in the Instrumentalist, Journal of Band Research, Journal of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Saxophone Symposium, Canadian Band Journal, International Society for the Investigation of Wind Music and Canadian Winds. He is a currently a contributing editor to Canadian Winds. Dr. Scott MacLennan (Concert Band) Dr. Scott MacLennan is an active adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor who frequently works with ensembles, schools, honour groups, and festivals across Canada. He is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia and has been the Music Director of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Wind Ensemble and the Music Director at the Byng Arts Academy in the Performing and Visual Arts in Vancouver, B.C. For more than 30 years, he has taught bands and orchestras at all levels from elementary to post-secondary and performed extensively on bassoon. He has conducted his award-winning ensembles in various locations throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, China, the United States, and Canada. His ensembles have performed in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, New York, USA, and Santa Maria della Pieta (Vivaldi’s Church) in Venice, Italy. In March 2011, with Johan de Meji’s endorsement, Dr. MacLennan conducted the Canadian premiere of his composition At Kitty O’Shea’s. He holds a Bachelor of Music (1988) and a Bachelor of Education (1990) from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Music (2010) in Conducting (Wind Band) from Sam Houston State University, Texas, and a Ph.D. (2015) from the University of British Columbia. He studied conducting with Ken Hsieh, Morihiro Okabe, and Wayne Toews and participated in numerous conducting master classes given by Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Anthony Maiello, Ralph Hultgren, and Robert Ponto. As an active music educator, he has worked for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to edit and draft curriculum for their VSO Connects (Secondary) program, chaired the BC Music Educator’s Association’s Conference Pulse 2006, and currently sits as a board member of the Chamber Music in the Schools Society, and the BC Band Association. He is a recipient of the BC Music Educators’ Association’s Outstanding Professional Music Educator’s Award in recognition of exemplary commitment, talent, and leadership for music education in British Columbia. Dr. Angela Schroeder (Concert Band) Dr. Angela Schroeder is Professor of Music in the Department of Music at the University of Alberta. She is the Director of Bands, the Area Coordinator for Winds and Percussion, and conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Summer Band. Angela was awarded the 2016 Faculty of Arts Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and the 2017 Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by the University of Alberta. She teaches courses in conducting and music education, and works with Graduate students in instrumental conducting. She previously taught conducting at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Angela is the conductor of the St. Albert Community Band, an ensemble that is currently in their 52 n concert season. She lead the ensemble on their first European tour in July 2015, performing in Germany and at the MidEurope Band and Orchestra Festival in Schaldming, Austria. A native of Alberta, Dr. Schroeder completed undergraduate studies in Music at University of Calgary, majoring in Secondary Education, with performance studies in piano and trumpet. She also completed the Diploma of Fine Arts in Wind Band Conducting at University of Calgary under the supervision of Glenn D. Price. After several years of teaching at various secondary schools in the Calgary area, she entered the Long Term Residency program at The Banff Centre, where she studied and performed on piano, trumpet and as a conductor. Angela entered the Master's program in Wind Conducting at Northwestern University in 2002, where she studied with Mallory Thompson and earned the Master of Music in Conducting. In 2007, she completed the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Band Conducting at the University of North Texas, under the supervision of Eugene Migliaro Corporon. Angela Schroeder is well known in the Alberta music education community, not only through her teaching and conducting both in schools and in community music organizations, but through her involvement as an executive director of the Alberta Band Association for two terms. Angela has performed on cornet with the Mill Creek Colliery Band and was the Principal Trumpet for the Concordia University Orchestra for seven seasons. She is currently Principal Second Trumpet with the Borealis Symphony. Angela has guest conducted and adjudicated numerous school bands in festivals and clinics throughout Canada, the United States, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Australia and Thailand. She is a contributor in Canadian Winds, the national journal for wind band educators, and wrote chapters in eleven volumes of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series, which profile wind literature for all levels of instrumental instruction, published by GIA. Dr. Robert Taylor (Concert Band) Robert Taylor is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, where he conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting, and serves as Chair of the Woodwind Brass and Percussion Division. With a career in music education spanning over twenty-five years, previous appointments include the University of Puget Sound in the state of Washington and Eureka High School in northern California, where ensembles under his direction earned recognition by Downbeat Magazine, the Selmer Corporation, and Grammy Signature Schools. Dr. Taylor maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor. Past engagements include performances with the Vancouver Brass Orchestra, Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and Chicago-based contemporary music group, the Maverick Ensemble, in addition to collaborations with a wide range of international artists—from brass virtuosi Allen Vizzutti, Gail Williams, Jeff Nelsen, and Daniel Perantoni; to composers Jodie Blackshaw, Michael Colgrass, John Corigliano, David Maslanka, Cait Nishimura, Joel Puckett, Alex Shapiro, Frank Ticheli, and Dana Wilson; to jazz and pop performers Ingrid Jensen, Manhattan Transfer, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. As a passionate advocate of music in the schools, Dr. Taylor is in high demand as a festival adjudicator, rehearsal clinician, and guest conductor throughout North America and internationally. His frequent appearances with young musicians include serving as principal conductor of the Puget Sound Youth Wind Ensemble and guest conductor of numerous honor groups, such as the National Youth Band of Canada, California Orchestra Directors Association Honor Symphony, and many provincial and all-state bands across Canada and the United States. Taylor received the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in conducting from Northwestern University, where he studied with Mallory Thompson, and the Bachelor of Arts degree in Trumpet and Music Education from Humboldt State University. His research on wind literature, rehearsal techniques, and the use of technology in the training of nascent conductors and performing musicians has been presented in leading wind band publications and featured in presentations at regional and national music conferences, including appearances at the Midwest Clinic and College Band Directors National Association. Recent research focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion, through contemporary, socially-conscious programming and as co-author of The Horizon Leans Forward, a new resource that amplifies the talent and voices of the many underrepresented communities in the wind band field. Dr. Taylor is a Killam Laureate, Jacob K. Javits Fellow, and has served as on the executive boards of the British Columbia Music Educators Association and College Band Directors National Association (Northwest Region). He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Societies, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and National Association for Music Education. Dr. Darrin Oehlerking (Concert Band) Dr. Darrin Oehlerking is a faculty member in the Music Department at the University of Saskatchewan, as well as Interim Associate Dean of Student Affairs for the College of Arts and Science. He conducts the University of Saskatchewan Wind Orchestra, and oversees student services, learning communities and recruiting for the College. He previously served as Director of Bands and Jazz at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, and as Music Coordinator for the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His post-secondary experience also includes assignments at the University of Manitoba and Iowa Wesleyan College. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dr. Oehlerking earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting at The University of Iowa, where he studied with Dr. Myron Welch. He also studied with Dr. Dale J. Lonis at the University of Manitoba, where he earned his Masters in Music Performance with an emphasis in Conducting. His undergraduate work was also at Manitoba, where he earned separate Bachelors degrees in Music and Education. Prior to his appointment at Saskatchewan, Dr. Oehlerking taught a wide variety of students and musicians at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. His ensembles have enjoyed success at the local, national and international levels, garnering outstanding performance awards and showcase invitations from a variety of organizations. In July 2015, the University of Saskatchewan Wind Orchestra had the honour of performing at the bi-annual conference of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in San Jose, California. In 2013 the ensemble performed at the Jungfrau Festival in Interlachen, Switzerland and the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Dr. Oehlerking is currently the Chairperson of the Canadian Wind Conductors of Canada, and has previously served as the President of the Canadian Band Association, as well as the President of the Saskatchewan Band Association. He is also a Yamaha Artist/Educator. He belongs to several other professional organizations, including the Saskatchewan Music Educators Association, Manitoba Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, WASBE, and Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Oehlerking has conducted ensembles, served as an adjudicator, conference presenter and clinician across Canada, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. He has had two arrangements for wind band released by Eighth Note Publications – Regimental March of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Souvenir de Quebec. Joel Gray (Jazz Ensemble) Edmonton-based freelance trumpeter and music educator with 25-years of experience, Joel Gray has shared the stage with some of the world's finest artists, including Tommy Banks, PJ Perry, Slide Hampton, Diana Krall, Nikki Yanovsky, Lew Tebackin, Allen Vizzutti, Gino Vannelli, Kent Sangster, Hugh Fraser, Jens Lindemann, and commercial talents Frank Sinatra Jr., the Temptations, Gino Vannelli, Wayne Newton, and Rollanda Lee, to name a few. Known for his versatility, Joel is in high demand in both jazz and classical genres. He is a regular performer with many local artists and diverse musical ensembles, including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, The Edmonton Jazz Orchestra, The Edmonton Jazz Collective, Edmonton Opera, Pro Coro Canada, the Don Berner Sextet, the Prime Time Big Band, the Retrofitz, the Polyjesters, the Tommy Banks Big Band, The New Orleans Connection, and Capital Brass, to name only a few. Joel is also a veteran in the orchestra pit, having performed many professional musical theatre productions, including the National Broadway Tours of Book of Mormon, Wicked, Marry Poppins, A Chorus Line, Billy Elliot, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, as well as many local professional productions presented at the Citadel Theatre. He has recorded on over 30 CDs and performed numerous times for CBC radio, and played assistant principal trumpet with the ESO in Carnegie Hall in May of 2012, and was a featured soloist with the ESO in January of 2018 doing a "Tribute to Louis Armstrong." As a music educator, Joel has been teaching since 1995, and teaches trumpet at MacEwan University and has taught at Augustana University and Keyano College. He is an instructor at MusiCamp Alberta and has adjudicated for the Cantando Music Festival, the Rocky Mountain Music Festival, the Foothills Jazz Festival, and the Kiwanis Music Festival. Since 2004, he has been the director of the award-winning “Littlebirds” big band. Dr. Ethan Sperry (Concert Choir) Hailed by The Oregonian for providing “the finest choral concerts in Portland in recent memory,” Ethan Sperry is in his eleventh year as Director of Choral Activities at Portland State University, where he conducts the world-renowned Chamber Choir and leads undergraduate and graduate programs in conducting. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Oregon Repertory Singers, one of the America’s most distinguished adult choruses. Choirs under his direction have performed at over a dozen ACDA and NAfME Conferences, won over thirty awards and medals at international choir competitions on four continents, and sung at The Hollywood Bowl, The Kennedy Center, and the United Nations. Under his direction in 2013 The Portland State Chamber Choir became the first American Choir ever to win the Grand Prix at the Seghizzi International Choral Contest in Italy, and in 2017 they became the first American choir to win the Grand Prix at the Bali International Choral Festival, the largest choral gathering in Asia. Sperry has recorded albums for the Naxos and Gothic labels. His 2017 release The Doors of Heaven: Music of Eriks Esenvalds hit #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart and was named a “Recording to Die For” by Stereophile, both firsts for a University chorus. His 2018 release Shadows on the Stars: Music of Morten Lauridsen and Other Pacific Northwest Composers with Oregon Repertory Singers was awarded The American Prize in Choral Music. A prolific arranger of World Music for choirs, Dr. Sperry is the editor of the Global Rhythms series for Earthsongs Music, one of the best-selling choral series in the world, and is also published by Hal Leonard. Sperry is also a frequent collaborator with film composer AR Rahman and has appeared as a guest conductor for him numerous times including at Bollywood Night at the Hollywood Bowl and the 2008 Filmfare Awards, the Indian equivalent of the Oscars. He also serves as a consultant for the KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, the first classical music school in India, which opened in 2009. Born in New York City in 1971, Sperry began studying conducting at the age of eight, cello at the age of twelve, and singing at the age of eighteen. He has earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Harvard College and Masters and Doctoral degrees in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern California. Prior to moving to Oregon, Sperry served for 10 years on the faculty of Miami University in Ohio where he conducted the Men’s Glee Club, Collegiate Chorale, and Global Rhythms Ensemble. He has also served as Artistic Administrator of the Arad Philharmonic Chorus in Romania and Conductor of the Coeur Regional de Guadeloupe, the only Symphonic Chorus in the French West Indies. Tim Shantz (Concert Choir) Dr. Tim Shantz recently joined the University of Alberta's Music Department as an Associate Professor beginning in July 2019. Dr. Shantz brings a wealth of expertise and artistry to the University of Alberta's Department of Music, as an experienced conductor, collaborator, and tenor soloist. Currently based in Calgary, Shantz is the Chorus Master for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Founder and Artistic Director of Luminous Voices and Artistic Director of Spiritus Chamber Choir. As a conductor, Shantz is recognized for his work in early-music, contemporary works, and virtuoso unaccompanied choral music, as well as large choral-orchestral masterpieces. Kenneth DeLong of the Calgary Herald wrote, "Timothy Shantz led the choir with both energy and grace, drawing from the ensemble sounds that were refined, balanced, and filled with inner life." Under his direction, Spiritus Chamber Choir earned the Healey Willan Grand Prize from the Canada Council in 2017 and 2013 and has toured internationally, earning second prize at the Fleischmann International Choral Competition in Cork, Ireland as well as second prize at the Florilège Vocal de Tours in France. Shantz's preparation of choruses for major orchestral works has been equally successful. He has collaborated with conductors Rune Bergmann, Christoph König, Matthew Halls, Paul Hillier, James MacMillan, Nicholas McGegan, Roberto Minczuk, John Morris Russell, Yoav Talmi, Ivars Taurins and Jean-Marie Zeitouni among others. He has also performed as tenor in ensembles under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Frieder Bernius, Paul Goodwin, Paul Hillier, Andrew Megill, John Poole, Leonard Ratzlaff, Daniel Reuss, Robert Shaw, Richard Sparks, Jon Washburn and Bruno Weil. Shantz has several recordings to his name, including Zachary Wadsworth's The Far West (2016) of which Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "beautifully sung, as everything here is, by the aptly named Luminous Voices under Timothy Shantz." "The Far West" was awarded the 2018 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Recording and 2016 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition from Choral Canada. The choir's first recording, "Mendelssohn's Te Deum" earned the 2016 Choral Canada award for Outstanding Choral Recording. Other recordings include, James MacMillan's Seven Last Words (Spring 2014), All the Stars Looked Down (2012) and Of Stars and Solitude (2010) with Spiritus Chamber Choir. Performance highlights as tenor include Händel's Messiah at Carnegie Hall, soloist and ensemble singer at the Carmel Bach Festival (2008-2016) and twice with the Lucerne Festival Academy under the direction of Pierre Boulez. Shantz holds a Doctor of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a dissertation analyzing the unaccompanied choral work Sun-Dogs by composer James MacMillan. Shantz is also a graduate of the University of Alberta's Choral Conducting program (M.Mus 1999), and has a degree in piano performance at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario (B.Mus 1995). Previous academic appointments include sessional and associate instructor at the University of Calgary, the University of Windsor, Indiana University, and The King's University College. Dr. Nicole Lamartine (Concert Choir) Dr. Nicole Lamartine is thrilled to be joining the excellent music faculty at Central Washington University, where she will act on her values of empowering the next generation of choral educators and cultivating excellence in 21st century choral performance. As a clinician and guest conductor of three international honor choirs (DoDDS Honor Choir in Germany, AMIS TTBB Honor Choir in Abu Dhabi, TAISM Festival Choir in Oman), nine All-State choirs (MN, CO, WA, OR, WY, MT, AK, KS), the 2014 NW ACDA TTBB Honor Choir, and dozens of regional honor choirs, Nicole seeks to positively impact choral musicians all over the world. An avid champion for music education, Nicole has headlined conferences of the Association for Music in International Schools (Hong Kong) and the Washington Music Educators Association. Dr. Lamartine’s research focuses on rehearsal technique and anatomy and movement for conductors, and she has presented at dozens of conferences including national and regional meetings of the American Choral Directors Association, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, College Music Society, California All-State Music Conference, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. From 2020-2022, Dr. Nicole Lamartine served as the Sorensen Director of Choral Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she conducted the flagship UCSB Chamber Choir, integrated relevance into graduate choral studies at the MM and DMA levels, and taught studio conducting and voice. As Professor and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wyoming from 2008-2020, she led the Collegiate Chorale, The UW Singing Statesmen and the Happy Jacks, and taught conducting and studio voice. Her choirs were honored to sing at several national and regional conferences (2020 NW ACDA, 2017 NW NAfME, 2015 NW NAfME, 2012, NW ACDA, 2011 NCCO, 2011 NW MENC), and she is a recognized expert in females conducting tenor/bass choirs. She won the Ellbogen Award for Meritorious Classroom Teaching, the university's highest teaching award. Dr. Lamartine has enjoyed abundant opportunities to commission and premiere new works from leading composers such as Craig Hella Johnson, Libby Larsen, Jennifer Higdon, Gerard Schwarz, Forrest Pierce, Gabriela Lena Frank, John Muehleisen, and Karen Thomas. She conducts Chor Anno with Howard Meharg (Vancouver, WA), providing an opportunity for a creative outlet as ensemble singers to choral music educators in the NW. Chor Anno performed at the 2022 NW ACDA conference. She is also the founding Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara Gay Men’s Chorus, which just completed its first season. An active performer, Dr. La has sung professionally with Conspirare, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Colorado Bach Ensemble. She has served the American Choral Directors Association as President of the Northwestern region. She achieved world, national, and state records in powerlifting, demonstrating that creativity is intertwined with strength of body and mind. The “Nicole Lamartine Choral Series” is published with Santa Barbara Music Press and focuses on accessible music for emerging Tenor-Bass choirs Dylan Bell (Vocal Jazz) In a word… multifaceted. Juno-nominated Dylan Bell’s affinity for music was discovered early, when his parents realized he could sing in tune at three years of age. They realized he had perfect pitch and soon enrolled him in classical piano and violin lessons. At the age of twelve Dylan moved to the cello; in high school he discovered the guitar, bass, and drums, and began directing and arranging music for the school’s vocal jazz ensemble. He then went to York University where he studied piano, bass, percussion and conducting. He received his BFA in music in 1995, his B.Ed from Western University in 1997, and his Masters in Music (Jazz Performance, Voice/Piano/Bass) from the University of Toronto in 2014. Since he first discovered his parents’ eclectic Beethoven-to-Bob Dylan record collection, Dylan’s musical curiosity has kept him effortlessly crossing and blurring musical boundaries. Dylan is a mainstay on the Canadian music scene, having sung with many of Canada’s premiere vocal ensembles such as Cadence; Hampton Avenue, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, The Watch, the eclectic FreePlay Duo, and the 1980s-era vocal pop group Retrocity. When he’s not singing, he freelances as a keyboard player and bassist, working with varied artists from classical violinist Lara St. John, to world-music’s Autorickshaw, to veteran rockers Honeymoon Suite, as well as studio and theatrical work. Behind the mixing board, Dylan has produced or engineered several award-winning albums, including a Juno co-nomination as Best Engineer for the Cadence album Twenty For One, the album Ferris Wheelswith the world-renowned Swingle Singers from London, England, and the most recent, Juno-nominated album with the a cappella legends The Nylons, Skin Tight. Dylan’s work as a composer and arranger has garnered international recognition, as winner of the John Lennon International Songwriting Competition (Best Jazz Song, 2005), and a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (Best Original Song, 2006). When it comes to vocal arranging, Dylan wrote the book… literally. His major work “A Cappella Arranging” (co-written with Deke Sharon) was published by Hal Leonard Music in 2013 to international acclaim. His choral compositions can be heard in such varying contexts as the Victoria Scholars, the Canadian Chamber Choir, and Cadence, as well as several American and European choral ensembles. Dylan is also in demand worldwide as an instrumental teacher and vocal/choral clinician. Dylan has given masterclasses at the International Association for Jazz Educators, the Brhaddvani Institute in India, numerous colleges and universities, as well as community choral workshops in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Suba Sankaran (Vocal Jazz) Suba Sankaran is a DORA award-winning, JUNO-nominated musician whose career began at an early age while studying South Indian classical singing and percussion with her father, master drummer Trichy Sankaran. She graduated from York University in 1997, where she studied jazz, early music, world music and contemporary improvisation, and completed her Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology in 2002. Suba is artistic director of the award-winning Indo-jazz fusion ensemble Autorickshaw and regularly performs with other world music groups including Trichy’s Trio and most recently with the Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and premiere percussion ensemble NEXUS, to name a few. She crosses genres with the FreePlay Duo, and sings the top 40s of the 80s with Retrocity. She effortlessly combines musical worlds, spanning several centuries and genres, and has performed across Canada, the US, Europe and India. Highlights include performing for Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Peter Gabriel. Suba is in demand as a private teacher, educator, choral director, arranger, adjudicator and composer and has given numerous workshops to choirs around the world. She has composed, recorded and produced music for theatre, film, radio, and for south Indian and modern dance. Recent highlights include collaborations with Oscar nominee Deepa Mehta. Suba is currently artist-in-residence at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, co-chair of the JUNO World Music Committee, and she conducts master classes with the Soul Pepper Theatre Academy, Common Thread Community Chorus, Penthelia Singers and Big Voice Studios (with Elaine Overholt). She has adjudicated and conducted choral clinics at OVF (Ontario Vocal Festival) over the last two years. Recent highlight activities include vocal arranging for the Canadian musical theatre production Noah’s Great Rainbow, teaching at the Yukon Summer Music Camp, CAMMAC, curatorial service/programming for the CanWest Cabaret Festival and LuminaTO at the Distillery, as well as volunteering on the programming committee for the Harbourfront Centre. Suba has performed on numerous recordings and film soundtracks and has been recorded in many contexts by CBC Radio. 2019 Festival Adjudicators:
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