Sir William Hughes

Sir William (Bill) Hughes was the Director of Music for the 200 piece Burlington Teen Tour Band (Canada’s largest Youth Band). Born in Holywood, Northern Ireland, Bill was the principal flute and piccolo player with the band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines for nine years, during which time he performed solos for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and other heads of state at many official functions as well as at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

He performed as a freelance flautist throughout Britain and Europe and with many of the top orchestras in London (B.B.C., London Symphony) as well as doing recordings for television and radio. He has performed for H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Michael of Kent, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Princess Margaret, King of Norway, President Reagan and other Heads of State.

In 1982, he became Captain and Principal Director of Music for the 48th Highlanders of Canada. In 1998, Sir William became the Director of Music for the Burlington Teen Tour Band – Canada’s largest and most award winning Youth Band.
A frequent adjudicator and clinician Bill has judged throughout North America and at the World Championships for Marching Bands (Calgary, Germany, Japan). Bill is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Ontario Arts Council, Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and currently sits on the Music Advisory Committee for Mohawk College.

Guy Few

Guy Few’s instrumental versatility and fearless interpretations have been noted by the international press, “outrageous…simply phenomenal” (Le Devoir, Montreal) and “sheer brilliance” (L.A. Times).  He has performed with many Canadian and US symphonies as a trumpet, piano and vocal soloist, remains a committed chamber artist in ensembles Bellows and Brass, Few and Fewer, Project Aria and the Few Mara duo, and has been a guest at many summer festivals including Festival of the Sound, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Elora Festival, Tanglewood, Oregon Bach Festival and Sweetwater.  A prolific recording artist, Guy has released CDs on numerous labels including Arsis Classics, CBC SM5000, Naxos, MSR Classics and Hänssler Classics.  Recording and performance awards include a Grammy (CREDO, OBF principal trumpet/Rilling/Hänssler), Best Classical Orchestral Album, Just Plain Folks (Bacchanale/TCO/Kevin Mallon/MSR), a JUNO nomination (CCP Vol 1/g27/Paetkau/MSR) and CAPACOA Touring Artist of the Year.  Guy has appeared on CBC-TV, CTV, BRAVO, TV5 and European television broadcasts and is heard regularly on CBC Radio and NPR.

Guy has adjudicated for festivals in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and PEI, judging piano, brass, bands and music theatre.  His enthusiastic perspective has been enjoyed at local, provincial and national levels.  “Share the joy” is his motto.  Festivals should be fun!

Guy is a sessional lecturer at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, where he coaches chamber music, teaches trumpet and facilitates the Laurier Brass Ensemble.  Guy is a Yamaha Artist.

Markus Howard

As a conductor, director and choreographer, Markus Howard has worked extensively in the arts throughout Canada and abroad. He has appeared in 27 countries, working with musicians of varying ages, cultures and experiences. A conductor, educator and private voice teacher, Markus works in many musical genres including opera, musical theatre, pop and jazz voice. His students have included members of the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, Toronto’s Lion King, Billy Elliott, The Producers, and Jersey Boys, and a number of Broadway and National Touring companies, and has worked as lead voice coach for Mirvish Production’s Lion King School. His talents have been recognized by Yamaha Music Canada, the Swedish Ministry of Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, and the International Association of Jazz Educators.

He has been nominated four times as a candidate finalist by the Ontario Arts Council for the Leslie Bell Prize for excellence in conducting. Mr. Howard pursues an active adjudicating schedule across North America, most recently overseeing Music Theatre and Classical Voice at the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals National Finals, Nova Scotia Provincial Finals for Voice and Choirs, and the Ontario Music Festivals Provincial Finals. This coming season takes him to Newfoundland, British Columbia and Stratford, Ontario. Currently Markus is the Artistic Director for two of Ontario’s most outstanding youth choir organizations, the award-winning Guelph Youth Singers and La Jeunesse Choirs, Cobourg.

He serves as the founding conductor of the professional chamber choir LA MOVIDA, and appears as guest conductor for advanced choirs around the province. Upcoming engagements include concerts with Pro Musica, London, guest conductor with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra, and as conductor for the Handel opera, Alcina with Halifax Summer Opera. He held the position of Lead Artist Educator with the Canadian Opera Company, and was on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Glenn Gould School and the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts. At the University of Toronto, Markus directed the Hart House Jazz Choir and Massey College Choirs.

Guy Few

Guy Few’s instrumental versatility and fearless interpretations have been noted by the international press, “outrageous…simply phenomenal” (Le Devoir, Montreal) and “sheer brilliance” (L.A. Times). He has performed with many Canadian and US symphonies as a trumpet, piano and vocal soloist, remains a committed chamber artist in ensembles Bellows and Brass, Few and Fewer, Project Aria and the Few Mara duo, and has been a guest at many summer festivals including Festival of the Sound, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Elora Festival, Tanglewood, Oregon Bach Festival and Sweetwater. A prolific recording artist, Guy has released CDs on numerous labels including Arsis Classics, CBC SM5000, Naxos, MSR Classics and Hänssler Classics. Recording and performance awards include a Grammy (CREDO, OBF principal trumpet/Rilling/Hänssler), Best Classical Orchestral Album, Just Plain Folks (Bacchanale/TCO/Kevin Mallon/MSR), a JUNO nomination (CCP Vol 1/g27/Paetkau/MSR) and CAPACOA Touring Artist of the Year. Guy has appeared on CBC-TV, CTV, BRAVO, TV5 and European television broadcasts and is heard regularly on CBC Radio and NPR.

Guy has adjudicated for festivals in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and PEI, judging piano, brass, bands and music theatre. His enthusiastic perspective has been enjoyed at local, provincial and national levels. “Share the joy” is his motto. Festivals should be fun!

Guy is a sessional lecturer at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, where he coaches chamber music, teaches trumpet and facilitates the Laurier Brass Ensemble. Guy is a Yamaha Artist.

Edward Turgeon

Dr. Edward Turgeon has performed with noted musicians of our time including Sidney Harth, James Campbell, CheeYun, David Jolley, Ivan Chan, Keith Robinson, Michael Rusinek, Michael Webster, John Dee, Ransom Wilson and Laura Gilbert. As a member of the piano duo “Duo Turgeon”, with his wife Anne, Edward has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, several Russian concert tours, Asian appearances including Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, and music festivals in Kracow, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Detroit, Santa Rosa, Toronto, Montreal, Norfolk, Nassau, Minsk, Krasnoyarsk, Chisinau, Miami and Kitchener.   The duo is the only Canadian piano duo to have taken first prizes and numerous additional prizes at the world’s major international duo piano competitions including the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition (Miami) and Schubert International Competition for Piano Duos (Czech Republic). Their six recordings on the Vanguard Classics, Marquis Classics, Marquis/EMI, Dranoff Foundation and ClassXdiscs labels are hailed by critics, including several “top ten” lists (CBC), “Artist of the Month” (CBC Galaxy) and high ratings from periodicals and guides such as La Scena Musicale (5 out of 5 stars), “Les Grandes Pianistes et le Piano”, Wholenote Magazine, Musicweb, Soundstage, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Sound Advice” (5 out of 5 stars). 

The Turgeons have given world premiere performances of works by Alex Pauk, Libby Larsen, Aaron Copland and John Corigliano. Noted French music critic Stephan Villemin recently named the duo as “among the top four or five world class piano duos of our time”, and they have been included in the French publication “Les Grandes Pianistes et le Piano”.  Their performances are heard in radio broadcasts worldwide, including National Public Radio’s “Performance Today”, CBC, BBC Radio, the NPR television documentary “Two Pianos – One Passion”, American radio stations including MPR, WPR, WQXR, WGBH, CBC Radio I and II, Dutch Public Radio, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.   Turgeon was recently invited to join the international roster of Steinway artists.

Turgeon appears frequently as a competition judge, most recently at the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition, the Chicago Liszt 200 International Competition, Isidor Bajic International Piano Competition (Serbia) Markham Music Festival, National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, Hamilton Kiwanis, London Kiwanis, Windsor-Essex Kiwanis, Premio Brazil International and the national finals of the Canadian Music Competition.

Dr. Turgeon’s college, conservatory and university work has included Associate Professor of Music and Artist Faculty in Collaborative Arts at the HARID Conservatory, Associate Professor of Music, Director of Keyboard Studies, Director of Collaborative arts and Ensemble-in-residence at Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of the Arts, Boca Raton, Florida.

Lindsay Price

Lindsay Price is the Vice President of Theatrefolk Inc, the co-creator of the Drama Teacher Academy and has been a professional playwright for twenty-three years. She specializes in plays for schools and student performers with over 900 productions a year across Canada, the US and overseas. Further to playwriting Lindsay has twenty-one years experience teaching workshops at conferences, festivals, and in the classroom.

If theatre in education is her first love, adjudicating is her second. Lindsay has been a main stage screener for the Educational Theatre Association and a National Individual Events Showcase adjudicator at the International Thespian Festival. She has judged for the Florida State Thespian Festival, the Virginia Theatre Association, the Indiana State Thespian Festival, and close to home at the former Sears Drama Festival. She was the Western Ontario Drama League Pre-Festival Traveling Adjudicator and is an invited member of the Theatre Ontario Adjudication Talent Bank.

Martha Gregory

Martha Gregory was born in Rochester, New York where she studied violin, piano and voice at the Hochstein School of Music,The Eastman School of Music, and Roberts Wesleyan College. Her string studies involved classical and Suzuki methods. After moving to Canada in 1974, she established a private studio in Pickering, Ontario that she still maintains. Since her move to Canada, Martha has enjoyed performing, teaching and promoting Canadian music through her work with music festivals. She currently performs with the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra and is principal violinist with the Hamstrings of Durham Trio. She has been an active freelance performer in classical voice, music theatre, violin and piano.

Martha has been involved with music festivals for the last 31 years and has been Executive Director of the Pickering GTA Music Festival for 16 years. She is the Executive Director of the Pickering GTA Music Festival, Past- President of the Ontario Music Festivals Association, the Ontario representative on the National Board of Governors and has enjoyed adjudicating all across Canada.

Karen Reed

Karen is originally from Sudbury, Ontario where she studied both fiddle and classical accordion winning numerous awards on the accordion that included 2nd place in her age group in the U.S. Accordion Championships and, at the same time, becoming one of Canada’s top fiddlers.

During her fiddling career, Karen won numerous awards. Some of the highlights include:

• Ranked as one of Canada’s top ten open fiddlers at the Canadian Open Fiddle Championships in Shelburne, Ontario
• 12 and Under Canadian Champion
• Women’s Open Canadian Champion
• Canadian Open Novelty Champion – runner up
• Former Canadian Champion Fiddler
• Ontario Open Champion
• Grand Master’s Finalist

Karen is a full time fiddle instructor, the Director of the Karen Reed Fiddle Orchestra, is a performer/entertainer, fiddle competition judge, and Director of the Orangeville Fiddle Camp. She runs workshops out of Waterloo, hosts jams for women and is engaged in many other fiddle projects.

Torin Chiles

Torin Chiles (tenor) wears many hats. As a performer Mr. Chiles’ active performing career has spanned 20 years and his resume is replete with engagements from North American Symphonies and Opera Companies. He was featured on CBC Television’s Opening Night as McAlpine in the critically acclaimed new Canadian opera, Filumena. His operatic credits include: Count Almaviva and Pinkerton for the Opera Lyra at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and for the Manitoba Opera Association, Pang for L’Opera de Montreal, Arizona Opera, Vancouver Opera Association, Calgary, Edmonton and the Manitoba Opera Association. He has played the Magician in the Consul for the Florentine Opera company in Milwaukee, the Manitoba Opera Association and twice for L’Opera de Montreal where he has also been featured as Bob Boles in their highly successful Peter Grimes. Other performances have included MacDuff in Winnipeg, Tom Rakewell and Rodolfo in Toronto. Mr. Chiles has often been featured on the CBC Saturday Afternoon at the Opera broadcasts as both artists and panelist. Over the past twenty years Mr. Chiles has performed for every major opera company in Canada and most Canadian orchestras.

Torin Chiles is also a seasoned performer of Operetta and Music Theatre repertoire. He has performed Gilbert and Sullivan roles for The Winnipeg Symphony, the Manitoba Opera Association, and the Festival of the Sound. He is also featured on a CBC SM5000 recording entitled A Gilbert and Sullivan Gala with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey. Mr. Chiles has performed Music Theatre “Pops” concerts with several Canadian orchestras including the Winnipeg Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra and he has portrayed Operetta roles such as: Orpheus in Orpheus in the Underworld for the Toronto Operetta Theatre (TOT), Camille in the Merry Widow for the Regina Symphony, the Windsor Symphony and TOT. Mr. Chiles has been involved with the development and premiers of new music, opera projects such as Luis Applebaum’s Erewhon, John Beckwith’s Taptoo, Timothy Sullivan’s The Lady of the Lamp and recently John Estacio’s Filumena.

As a pedagogue, adjudicator, examiner and clinician Mr. Chiles is in ever increasing demand. He has been a full-time voice faculty member at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario since 2004, serving as the Voice Division Coordinator from 2006-2011 and from 2016 to the present; he began his Institutional teaching career at Western University in 1999. Examining and Adjudicating have taken him across the continent since 1999. Mr. Chiles teaches graduate and undergraduate Vocal Pedagogy courses at UWO and frequently presents public lectures and Voice Technique Workshops to groups as diverse as: the Alberta Music Teachers Association, NATS Ontario, Conservatory Canada, the interdisciplinary Music and Medicine series and the Schulich Faculty of Medicine at UWO. A NATS member since 1999, Mr. Chiles is the Past President of the Ontario Chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), is a past Great Lakes District Governor and sits on the National NATS Foundation Board.

Now residing in London, Ontario with his wife, Lesley and their two young sons (Nawton and Tennyson), Torin Chiles is the Director of Music for a thriving and exciting music ministry at New St. James Presbyterian Church in downtown London.

Marion Abbott

Marion Abbott is a proud graduate of the Musical Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan College. Upon graduating, she was immediately hired to teach for the program and was later named one of the top twenty graduates of the program. She has her Grade 10 Voice and A.R.C.T. in Piano Performance from The Royal Conservatory of Music. She studied piano with Margaret Parsons Poole, Clifford Poole and Ted Ellis. She studied voice with Christina James, Alan Reid, Deb Joy and Sheila Brand. Marion is the creator of The Confidential Project, The Plain Stage Theatre Company, The Women Of Musical Theatre Festival, The Artist Discovery Series and The Spirit Of Maud Theatre Company. Her mandate as a producer was to provide as many opportunities for as many artists as possible; consequently, Marion produced over 400 productions in Toronto and other cities.

Of the many (many!) shows Marion has worked on, some of her favourites include The Scarlet Pimpernel, All Shook Up, Anne And Maud, No Safe Harbour, Ragtime, Streetcar Named Desire and Passion. As a Musical Director, Marion most recently worked for Drayton Entertainment (Cinderella: The Panto) and was a part of the first Drayton Youth Program. As a private teacher, Marion has taught voice, piano and acting for 29 years to students of all ages. From festivals to recitals to performing in Disney World, Marion cherishes her memories of her time with her students dearly.

Marion is now in demand as a consultant, adjudicator and private coach. She has written three books: 700 Song Suggestions For Singers, 100 Suggestions For Teaching Private Lessons and How To Parent A Child In The Arts: A Guide For All Seasons – all available on Amazon. Marion LOVES Walt Disney and tries to get to Walt Disney World in Florida at least once a year. Her favourite rides are Splash Mountain and the Tower of Terror. Marion is married to visual artist Giancarlo Piccin and they have a son, also named Giancarlo. The three of them are addicted to movies.

Kevin Ramessar

Award-winning guitarist Kevin Ramessar has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras, and has taken his music to concert halls and festival stages throughout North America. Kevin is a frequent adjudicator at festivals and enjoys giving workshops and lessons to students of all musical backgrounds and ages.  He teaches occasionally at Wilfrid Laurier University and Conrad Grebel College (University of Waterloo) and recently finished writing three volumes of interactive digital curriculum for the guitar program at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA.

Kevin currently holds the lead guitar chair for the Tony Award-Winning “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” on Broadway, and divides his time between Kitchener-Waterloo and New York City. Kevin played lead guitar in the 2012 Tony Nominated Broadway musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” and has enjoyed performing onstage and in the orchestra at the Stratford Festival (The Who’s Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Man of La Mancha, Evita, and others). His classical recordings can be heard online and on CBC & WNED.

Julia Seager-Scott

No one ever asks Julia Seager-Scott if she wishes she played the flute. Not as she muscles her Lyon & Healy concert harp (47 strings, 82 lbs) backstage at the National Ballet of Canada, or at symphony gigs across Ontario, or opening for Feist with Charles Spearin and The Happiness Project (Juno Award winner, 2010).

It doesn’t happen as she wheels her harp into the pit at the Stratford Festival for the 1000th time, nor when she draws the short straw between the other two harpists in the Soaring Harp Trio and they get to say hello to fans while she schleps the bloody great things across the parking lot.

Harps can fall over in the wind, you know. They’re dangerous. But, no. People never say anything like that. That’s why she decided she needed more harps, like the baroque, wire-strung Gaelic harp called the Clarsach (34 strings, 15 lbs), so she can more accurately play the music of the Irish blind harper Turlogh O’Carolan (who at least had a guide and a horse when he was on the road). And that’s why she got an Italian triple harp (93 strings 28 lbs). It was David Fallis and the Toronto Consort who encouraged her to get that one, and she’s since played with them and with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, both as a continuo accompanist (to Dame Emma Kirkby, among many others) and as a featured soloist. She also played the Handel Harp Concerto all the way across the country in Calgary, with the Rosa Barocca Ensemble. All those burly handlers at the airports in Toronto and Calgary? Nope. They never said a thing.

Julia even played for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. After she had finished, he looked her right in the eye as if there was something he wanted to ask, but, being a man who knows what’s good for him, all he said was “Thank you very much.”

Gerard Yun

Ensemble director, multi-instrumentalist, composer, conductor, and scholar Dr. Gerard Yun brings together highlevel training in Western classical musics (DMA in choral/ orchestral conducting) and world music traditions (Japanese Shakuhachi, Asian Overtone Singing, West-African Kora, South African Choir, Mbira, Didgeridoo, and Native flute) bridging cultures through community music practices and forms.

As a professor of music at Wilfrid Laurier University, he teaches courses in Community Music, Critical Music Studies, and Global Citizenship. Dr. Yun teaches courses in global sacred musics and music and social activism at the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. His interests include cross-cultural and interfaith musical ethics, choral improvisation in crosscultural community settings, and contemplative music as community He was recently recognized for his contributions with the community music award for by the Laurier Centre for Music in the Community