Adjudicators 2021
Valdine Anderson
(W.A. Mozart) Valdine’s solo performances and concert tours include the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, Germany’s Ensemble Moderne, France’s Ensemble Intercontemporain where she toured extensively with Pierre Boulez, the Orchestre National de France, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Chicago Symphony where she performed with Winton Marsalis and Daniel Baremboim, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and many more. In 2004, Valdine toured the U.S.A. with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle. Premieres written for and interpreted by Valdine include works by Kaija Saariaho, Gerard Grisey, Henryk Gorecki, Witold Lutoslawski, Thomas Ades, George Benjamin and Elliot Carter. Valdine has worked with conductors Sir Colin Davis, Seiji Ozawa, David Robertson, Winton Marsalis, Bramwell Tovey, Esa Pekka Salonen, and Edo de Waart among others. Valdine’s recording of Mahler’s 4th Symphony CD with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra won a Prairie Music Award (now Western Canadian Music Awards), and her recording of the opera Powder Her Face by Thomas Ades was nominated for Grammy. Her signature aria from that recording was made into a short music video by Canadian film director Guy Maddin called ‘Fancy, Fancy Being Rich’ in 2002. Other solo recordings include Szymanowski’s Songs of the Fairy-Tale Princess, Gavin Bryars’ The Adnan Songbook, Eliot Carter’s opera What Next which was shortlisted for a Grammy nomination, and Michael Torke’s Book of Proverbs. Valdine Anderson is a frequent juror for the Canada Council for the Arts, and in demand as an adjudicator across Canada. Locally, Valdine has worked as vocal coach for Manitoba Opera, and maintains a private voice studio. In 2011, Valdine founded the women’s choral ensemble, Esprit de Choeur and in 2017 was appointed Artistic Director of Pembina Trails Voices, a choir organization for school-aged children. Her choirs have won awards nationally and internationally and regularly record and commission new works for choral ensembles. An established international and Canadian artist with over two decades of solo performances and recordings, Grammy nominated soprano Valdine Anderson currently serves on the voice staff at the Desautels Faculty of Music, University of Manitoba.
Amanda Brunk
(Vocal, Musical Theatre and Gilbert & Sullivan) is a cross-over voice teacher with a special interest in vocal health and rehabilitation. Her curiosity for the mechanics of singing and speech has let her to enhanced study in the field of vocology and is currently training as a Designated Linklater Teacher. Amanda adjudicates regularly for classical, choral, pop, and musical theatre categories. from coast to coast. She is vice-president of the Ontario chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and is a published author for the NATS Journal of Singing. Amanda teaches Contemporary Voice at Wilfrid Laurier University and maintains a successful crossover studio in Waterloo. Her voice students have gone on to perform throughout Canada, on North American tours and in Broadway shows. As conductor of the Grand Philharmonic Youth Choir for eight years, Amanda led the choir to win competitions nationally and internationally, and to perform with grammy-winning recording artists and rock groups. A passionate advocate for the education and inspiration of young artists, she developed the concept for the Music Theatre Academy at Laurier, an intensive three-week performance program for pre-professional emerging artists where she teaches contemporary voice techniques to classical singers and sits as the Artistic Director. Amanda is also the Founder and Artistic Director of The Singer's Theatre, a summer music theatre training program that attracts singers from across North America and has served as vocal director for various cruise lines.
Claudette Caron
Claudette Caron (Junior Piano, Canadian Composers and W.A. Mozart) is devoted to teaching a varied class of piano students with a special emphasis on ensemble playing. Her students have consistently won awards at the local and provincial levels and have distinguished themselves as scholarship recipients in music programs in Canada and the USA. She holds a special interest in teaching young students and consequently has always included them as part of her teaching studio. As a solo pianist, Claudette has presented recitals at Brandon University, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Winnipeg, as well as for the St. Matthew’s Anglican Cathedral (Brandon) Te Deum Series. She pursued her interest in chamber music in the Ford/Caron flute and piano duo with flautist Robert Ford from 1989 to 2010. These years saw the release of a CD dedicated to the works of composer Siegfried Karg-Elert and the premiere of a commissioned trio by Kenneth Nichols on the Brandon University Pro Series. She has also premiered several works by Western Canadian composer David Dahlgren. Claudette Caron is a member of the Canadian Adjudicators’ Association and Senior Examiner with the Royal Conservatory of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance from the University of Manitoba, and a Licentiate Performer’s Diploma (LTCL) from the Trinity College of Music, London. She now makes her home in Winnipeg.t is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Donna Fletcher
Donna Fletcher (Canadian Composers and W.A. Mozart) is an accomplished actor, singer, and concert performer with a wide range of national experience. Proud of her prairie roots, Donna received her early training in Winnipeg and earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Manitoba, a diploma in Music Theatre from The Banff Centre for the Arts, and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from The University of Toronto. As an actor, Donna has been acclaimed in principle roles from east to west with the Charlottetown Festival, Drayton Festival, Rainbow Stage, Theatre Calgary, Stage West Calgary, the National Arts Centre, Manitoba Opera, MTC, PTE, MTYP, WJT, the Belfry Theatre and Persephone Theatre. As a director Donna has helmed the Rainbow Stage/WSO concert presentation of South Pacific; Kiss Me Kate, Carousel and City Workers In Love for NUOVA; Phantom of the Opera, Into the Woods & The Sound of Music for Opera on the Avalon, The Bridges of Madison County, The Addams Family and Sweeney Todd for Dry Cold Productions; Brundibar for the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the WSO presentation of Send in the Clowns: The Music of Stephen Sondheim where she took the stage with TONY Award winner Len Cariou. Donna spent her COVID hibernation working as director for the new East Coast Musical No Change in the Weather. Donna serves as the Manitoba/Nunavut Councillor for Canadian Actor’s Equity and was inducted into the Rainbow Stage Wall of Fame in 2012. Always seeking new challenges, she co-created Winnipeg Musical Theatre Company Dry Cold Productions which is celebrating its 21st season. Donna is a nationally respected clinician, Voice and Musical Theatre Instructor at the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music as well as the University of Winnipeg Theatre Department and is a faculty member of the NUOVA Opera and Musical Theatre Summer Training Programme in Edmonton.
David Letkemann
David Letkemann (Classical Guitar) earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Sacred Music from Canadian Mennonite Bible College, a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Music degree (classical guitar performance) from the University of Western Ontario. He has studied in master classes with Oscar Ghiglia, David Russell, Alice Artzt, Sergio Abreu, the Amsterdam Guitar Trio, and many other world class performers. He taught at Brandon University for 28 years, at the Canadian Mennonite University Community School of Music and Art for 16 years and now teaches at his own studio. Together with flutist Stuart McVey he released a recording of flute and guitar music. He is also a composer and arranger who has produced music for himself, his students, and the guitar ensemble in Brandon. His own compositions, arrangements and transcriptions have been published by Les Productions d’OZ and Mel Bay.
Boyd MacKenzie
Boyd MacKenzie (Strings and Canadian Composers) is a violinist with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and was also a long-time member of the period performance group, MusikBarock Ensemble as well as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He serves as the contractor and concert manager of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and manages the MCO’s Minstrel booking agency. In addition, he coordinates and contracts musicians for Artists in Healthcare Manitoba in collaboration with the MCO. He has composed a number of scores for film, television, and commercial use, and has arranged music for a variety of instrumental configurations. In addition to his performing, Boyd has maintained a private teaching studio and worked as a music educator. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Brandon University, where he studied with Francis Chaplin, and spent 2 years in Utrecht performing with the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra before returning to Canada.
Haley Marie
Three-time Carnegie Hall performer Haley Marie (Woodwinds and Brass) became the founder and director of Aurelia Productions in 2011, a company devoted to presenting classical music in new, yet authentic ways to audiences. Its main series, The Men Behind the Music, introduces the behind-the-scenes history of composers through projections, storytelling, and live performance, often leaving the audience stunned about the circumstances and background of much-loved music. Prior to forming Aurelia Productions, Miss Marie obtained degrees from the Royal Conservatory of Music, McGill University, and the prestigious School of Music at Yale University. She is also the recipient of the 2002 Governor General’s award at the Winnipeg Music Festival. Since completing her studies, Miss Marie has carried out concert tours both in Canada and in Europe. Her recordings have been distributed in the Americas, Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Australia. She is also honoured to be a member of the College of Examiners at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Nonetheless, preserving the authentic history of classical music is where her true passion lies—she can often be found giving talks to audiences about Bach’s jail time or Chopin’s fear of large audiences. Miss Marie’s unique combination of music, multimedia and history has led many audiences on a journey to discover the inner workings of genius and the human spirit. Aurelia Productions tours extensively.
Scott Meek
Described by the Winnipeg Free Press as a “consummate musician” who plays with “near-impossible fluidity” and “total physical involvement and passion,” Canadian pianist Scott Meek (Intermediate, Advanced and Senior Piano, Canadian Composers and W. A. Mozart) is a highly active and sought-after collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and teacher in Vancouver, British Columbia. His extensive repertoire of collaborative works includes over 170 complete concertos and sonatas. Meek has performed as soloist with the Edmonton, Toronto, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras, as well as with several orchestras in the USA. He has performed as a chamber musician in many series around British Columbia, including regular concert tours as the Meeks Duo with his wife, pianist Clare Yuan, and with violin virtuoso Oleg Pokhanovski. Meek has performed in prestigious halls all over the world, including the Taiwan National Concert Hall (Taipei, Taiwan), Kennedy Centre (Washington, DC), Roy Thompson Hall (Toronto, ON), Winspear Centre (Edmonton, AB), and Centennial Concert Hall (Winnipeg, MB). Meek attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, to earn his Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts (East Asian Studies) degrees, studying under Alvin Chow. At the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Scott Meek received his Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees, studying under the world-renowned pianist and founding member of the Beaux-Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler.
Nancy Nowosad
Nancy Nowosad (Preliminary Piano, Canadian Composers, and W.A. Mozart) received her musical training in Saskatchewan, obtaining a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Regina and an Associateship Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music. Her teachers have included Dorothy Bee and Dr. Lyell Gustin. She also studied both saxophone and flute and has been involved in a wide variety of bands and ensembles as a performer, clinician, and conductor. She has enjoyed a diverse musical career, combining private teaching with performing, accompanying, adjudicating, and various organist and choir director positions across Canada and while living in Germany and England. Nancy has lived in Winnipeg for the last 29 years, where she maintains a busy schedule as a teacher of piano, theory, and saxophone. She regularly adjudicates music festivals and competitions in MB, SK, and ON, conducts workshops and masterclasses, and examines extensively for the Royal Conservatory of Music in both Canada and the United States. A versatile performer with many musical interests, Nancy continues to do some accompanying and church organ work and plays jazz keyboard in the 17-piece Executive Big Band. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Winnipeg Music Festival, a member of both the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
Al Thorleifson
Al Thorleifson (Speech Arts) taught senior English, Math, and Choral Music at Nellie McClung Collegiate in Manitou, Manitoba for thirty-eight years. Although retired from teaching, he continues to learn, both in the academic community and through private research. He has taught public speaking and dramatic arts at many levels both in the schools and in the community. Mr. Thorleifson is, as well, a poet and storyteller. He has acted and performed in festivals and concerts for decades and still enjoys doing so. He integrated these storytelling skills into the classroom as a teacher and worked to develop the same skills in his students. Mr. Thorleifson has more recently been developing the Pembina Manitou Archive, a web-based platform for historical documents, newspapers, and photographs pertaining to Southern Manitoba. As a result of his work with local and regional programs and projects, Mr. Thorleifson was, in 2017, awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation and Promotion in Manitoba. Al performs with the vocal group On the Edge, which performs everything from Celtic music to Jazz and blue grass. As well, he sings with the Borderline Singers and is a member of the Manitou Coffee House Musicians. He is a dedicated member of the board which maintains and promotes the Manitou Opera House, southern Manitoba’s oldest performing arts theatre. Mr Thorleifson and his wife, Loretta, are the proud parents of two wonderful young adults, Erin Rose, and Skye – both of whom love performing, as well.