Cantando Music Festivals

Dr. Erin Bodnar is Visiting Associate Professor of Music and Director of Concert Bands at the University of Washington where she conducts the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, leads the graduate wind band conducting program and provides administrative leadership for the UW Bands. Previously, Dr. Bodnar directed the Wind Symphony and Orchestra at the University of North Florida. Under Dr. Bodnar’s baton, the UNF Wind Symphony performed at the Florida Music Educators Association Conference in January 2025, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Buñol, Spain in July 2019. The UNF NuMIX, co-directed by Dr. Bodnar and Dr. Venet, performed at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference in February, 2022. Prior to her appointment at UNF, Dr. Bodnar was Director of Bands at Graceland University for four years during which time the Symphonic Band performed at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference. During 2013-2014, Dr. Bodnar was the conductor of the Wind Symphony and Orchestra at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Bodnar maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician, traveling to Argentina, Thailand, Indonesia, and throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. Bodnar has contributed to A Composer’s Insight: Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band, Volume 5, the GIA Teaching Music Through Performance Series for Volume 7 and the revised Volume 1. She excelled at teaching both middle and high school band in Alberta, Canada for which she received the Keith Mann Young Band Director’s Award and the Edwin Parr First Year Teacher Award. Dr. Bodnar has presented at conferences in Canada, the United States, Scotland, Thailand and Austria. Her research interests include conducting pedagogy and motor cognition, and her articles have been published in the Journal of Music Teacher Education and Music Perception. An avid runner and group fitness instructor, Dr. Bodnar has completed 60 marathons, including 6 Boston marathons, ten 50 km races and one 100 km race.

Conductor and educator Dr. Danielle Gaudry is the Director of the Wind Orchestra and Associate Professor of Instrumental Conducting and Community Engagement at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, where she also serves as the Chair of the Performance Department. Prior to her appointment at McGill, she served for ten years as Director of Bands and Coordinator of Instrumental Music at the California State University, East Bay. As a bilingual music educator born and raised in the Franco-Manitoban community of St. Boniface, Dr. Gaudry taught high school instrumental music for several years in a French Immersion program. She proudly served as a musician and conductor in the Canadian Armed Forces for fourteen years, most notably as Director of Music of The Regimental Band of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles and as Conducting Instructor at the Canadian Forces Logistic Training Centre. Retaining her military affiliations in the US, Captain Gaudry was the Associate Conductor with the 38th Infantry Division Band, Indiana National Guard for three years. Dr. Gaudry earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting with a Cognate in Music Education from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also holds degrees from The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Calgary, the University of Toronto, and McGill University. At home, Danielle and her husband, a musicologist, maintain a fast-paced life with their two sets of energetic twin boys.

Dr. Scott MacLennan is an active music director, adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor who frequently works with ensembles, schools, honour groups, and festivals in Canada. He has been the Music Director of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble in the School of Music at the University of British Columbia, Music Director of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Wind Ensemble, and Music Director at the Byng Arts Academy in the Performing and Visual Arts in Vancouver, B.C. Presently, he is a Sessional Lecturer in Music Education at UBC. For over 30 years, he taught bands and orchestras at all levels from elementary to post-secondary and 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. He guest conducted the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra on two separate occasions and worked with honour groups in BC and Saskatchewan. As a champion of new wind band repertoire, Dr. MacLennan conducted the Canadian premieres of compositions by such notable composers as Johan de Meji and Frank Ticheli.

He holds a Bachelor of Music (1988) and a Bachelor of Education (1990) from UBC, a Master of Music (2010) in Conducting (Wind Band) from Sam Houston State University, Texas, and a Ph.D. (2015) from UBC. 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, “Dr. Mac” worked for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to draft and edit 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. He has presented at various conferences and has articles published in the Canadian Music Educator Journal and Bandworld Magazine. Dr. MacLennan 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.

Elroy Friesen is Director of Choral Studies at the University of Manitoba, where he conducts multiple choirs, and teaches graduate conducting. His award-winning ensembles have toured extensively, garnered national and international acclaim, and been featured on CBC Radio.

Friesen enjoys fostering artistic collaborations, partnering with organizations such as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. He is the newly appointed Artistic Director of Canzona and the former Artistic Director and Founder of Prairie Voices, a renowned Winnipeg-based youth choir.

A dedicated educator, Friesen has served as a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor across North America and Northern Europe. He holds degrees from the University of Manitoba and the University of Illinois, and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and grants.

Raised in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Thomas Burton is Artistic Director of the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, Conductor of the Tenor/Bass Chorus at the University of Toronto, and Artistic Director of Durham Region’s RESOUND Choir. He additionally serves as Co-Conductor of the award winning, Halifax-based, Borealis Chamber Choir. Praised for his innovative and eclectic programming as well as his dynamic presence on the podium, Thomas is in-demand nationally as a guest conductor, clinician and educator.

Thomas is passionate about inspiring excellence in performers of all ages and abilities. He has had the privilege of working with such ensembles as the Pacific Chorale, The Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, Pro Coro Canada, the National Youth Choir of Canada, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir. An accomplished choral singer, Thomas has sung with some of Canada’s finest choral ensembles including the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, Voces Boreales, and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.

Thomas is a recipient of the Iwan Edwards Scholarship for Young Choral Conductors, awarded by Jeunesses Musicales in 2024,  the Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship, and the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Trombone Performance from McGill University and a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan where he studied with Dr. Jerry Blackstone and Dr. Eugene Rogers.

Carrie Taylor studied music at the University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota and at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC, where she obtained her Bachelor of Music and Professional Teaching Certificate. She has also studied at the Banff School of the Fine Arts.

Carrie taught in the public school system for 38 years, where she enjoyed teaching both band and choir. At Burnaby Central Secondary, Carrie ran one of the largest choir programs in the province that included a Concert Choir, a Men’s Choir, a Women’s Choir, and two Chamber Choirs. In addition to her work teaching high school, for over 20 years Carrie was the coordinator for the B.C. Provincial Honour Choir.

Carrie has also worked extensively in music education outside of the public school system. She recently retired from Vivo Children’s Choir, a community children’s choir she co-founded and directed for 24 years but maintains involvement with children’s choir by assisting the Phoenix Chamber Choir with their Hatchlings program for elementary school-aged singers. Carrie is currently the educational consultant for Chor Leoni and directs both their MYVoice Teen Choir and their Promys Program for students in grades 4-7. This past year Carrie was the director of the British Columbia Choir Federation Teen Choir.

In 2022, Carrie was honoured by the BC Music Educators’ Association with their award for Outstanding Music Educator.

Carrie has recently retired from teaching high school and is enjoying spending time with choirs around the province providing workshops and adjudicating at music festivals.