Joseph Resendes is a Lecturer at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario where he conducts the Concert Band, Orchestra, and teaches courses in conducting and woodwind methods. Previously, he worked as a Lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Music and has specialized in teaching areas pertaining to musicianship, composition, history, and music education. Joseph has an active and diverse professional career that has earned him a reputation as a leading conductor and educator through his experience conducting student, community, and professional wind ensembles and orchestras. As an adjudicator and clinician, Joseph has worked with many Canadian band festivals at the local and provincial levels, while giving clinics and workshops to elementary and secondary schools across Canada.

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Matthew Otto is an innovative conductor, educator, and collaborator, dedicated to developing artistic excellence, vocal integrity, and empowerment in singers of all ages. Matthew is a lecturer and Ph.D. candidate in Music Education at the University of Toronto where he teaches choral methods. Matthew is the Director of Education at the renowned Toronto Children’s Chorus where he co-founded the Toronto Youth Choir and conducts Chorealis & Cantare. He is founder/artistic director of Incontra Vocal Ensemble, a project-based, professional-level chamber choir in Toronto. As a strong advocate for the choral arts in Canada, Matthew has been the President of Choirs Ontario, a board member of Choral Canada, and has actively contributed to many choral communities in the Toronto area, including Pax Christi Chorale, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and served as Director of Music at several Toronto churches, most recently Christ Church Deer Park.

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Dr. Daniel Ramjattan is an award-winning classical guitarist, teacher, performance coach, and expert on music performance anxiety. He works as a guitar instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he also teaches a course in music performance anxiety and performance skills. He has given recitals across Canada, the US, Austria, Italy, and Japan, and has placed second in the FCMF National Music Competition in 2016 and as a finalist in the Montreal and Hamilton International Guitar Competitions. He recently released his debut album, Inspirations: New Music for Solo Guitar in January 2022, and the album has been acclaimed by CBC Radio and WholeNote Magazine. 

He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Toronto, supervised by Dr. Jeffrey McFadden, and a Bachelor's and Master's degree from the University of Ottawa, where he studied with Patrick Roux.

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Alberta-born pianist Clark Schaufele received his Doctorate in Music (Piano Performance) degree at the Université de Montréal under the guidance of Canadian pianist and educator, Paul Stewart. Clark enjoys a multi-faceted career, spanning genres beyond classical piano - on both the keyboards and the double bass, he has been involved in many performances, tours, and studio recordings, ranging from classical and jazz to country and folk. As a classical piano educator, he was previously the Head of Piano and Accompaniment at the Regina Conservatory for the Performing Arts, and has adjudicated music festivals across Western Canada. Dedicated to his local communities, he regularly performs across the prairies in series such as Gustin House, Ranva House, Regina Musical Club, Concerts in Care, and the Hands Across series. Between academic seasons, he has also performed at the Stratford Music Festival, Regina Chamber Music Festival, Banff Centre, and the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands.

Stéphan Sylvestre ranks among the most sought-after Canadian pianists. Compared by critics to Artur Rubinstein for his natural talent and flawless technique (La Presse, Montreal), he has given performances around the world. Mr. Sylvestre appeared with leading orchestras and collaborated with artists such as James Campbell, Martin Beaver, Alain Trudel, Ransom Wilson, Rivka Golani, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Penderecki, New Zealand, New Orford, string quartets, as well as with first chairs of the Israel Philharmonic, among others. His recording of Szymanovski’s complete works for violin and piano with violinist Jerzy Kaplanek received a stunning review in the Strad Magazine in the U.K. Mr. Sylvestre is Associate Professor and head of Keyboard Studies at Western University Canada. He regularly gives master classes around the world and sits on juries of national and international competitions.

Corey Lyle Gemmell, violinist, currently makes his home in Markham, Ontario. He has distinguished himself as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Canada, Germany, the United States and China. Mr. Gemmell is much in demand as concertmaster for numerous orchestras. He has taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Western Ontario and is a member of the Royal College of Examiners and is presently on faculty at the National Music Camp of Canada.

Nicky McGrath (MMusS) is a vocal pedagogue and performer specialising in popular musics and musical theatre with a passion for barbershop harmony. Nicky holds a Master of Music Studies specialising in Vocal Pedagogy with distinction from the Queensland Conservatorium (Australia). Her teaching philosophy is equal parts joy and science, grounded in free, efficient, sustainable voice use. Nicky works with healthy and injured voices in her private voice studio, is a part-time Professor at Sheridan College (Canada) as part of their industry-leading musical theatre degree, and is the founder of The Singers' Circle, an online community for passionate singers to further their voice education. In the barbershop world, Nicky is a sought-after coach, learning track producer, and Dean of the Voice College for Harmony University.

Dr. Webb serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the Laurier Wind Orchestra. Before joining the Laurier Faculty of Music, she served as an Assistant Professor of Practice in Conducting, Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Texas at Austin, and Instructor of Wind Conducting at Auburn and Grambling State University. An internationally sought-after educator and conductor, Dr. Webb is an active researcher, presenter, author, adjudicator, and guest conductor appearing at state, national, and international conferences and events.

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Ben Finley is a performer-composer specializing in the bass (acoustic and electric, sometimes with FX). He performs in various creative music ensembles and often composes music that attempts to engage the diverse life experiences of its participants while co-creating community connections with land. Since 2018, he has facilitated Westben’s Performer-Composer Residency—a celebration of a wide variety of sound practices—and is also Westben’s sustainability coordinator. Ben is currently undertaking his PhD in critical studies in improvisation at the University of Guelph.

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Guy holds a Fellowship Diploma from Trinity College, London, England and is a gold medal graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University. His awards include Juno finalist, Just Plain Folks Music Awards (best orchestral album) and Canada Council most promising artist (Arts Award Grant B). Guy has adjudicated for Local, Provincial and National festivals throughout Canada and has been a featured clinician in the USA and Japan. Guy teaches trumpet and coaches chamber music at WLU. He is a Yamaha Artist

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Praised by the New York Times for her “crystalline performances, gestural expressiveness, and careful attention to color”, and by the Boston Globe for her “effortless incisiveness”, award-winning pianist Dr. Katherine Dowling has performs throughout North America and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. She loves adjudicating at the local, provincial, and national levels, and holds the position of Professor of Classical Piano at York University in Toronto.

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The Frankfurter Rundschau has described Wolf Tormann as a “cellist of spontaneous elegance with a sound both honeyed and noble, displaying virtuosity and musicality in massive doses.” Born in Germany, Wolf Tormann studied at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt, with Arto Noras at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and Janos Starker at Indiana University. Before moving to Canada, he played with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Opera Halle and the Metropolitan orchestra in Lisbon. He has performed solo recitals in Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Portugal, the United States and Canada, and has recorded for Radio Difusao Portugesa, as well as the CBC.  Wolf has been the Principal Cellist of the Kingston Symphony Orchestra for the past 26 years. He also played in the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa for several years. He is an Instructor for Cello at Queen’s University’s DAN School of Drama and Music, and conducts the Queen’s orchestra.

JAMIE HILLMAN is a Canadian and American musician, active as a conductor, singer, pianist, music educator, and composer. He holds the endowed Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting at the University of Toronto where he is Director of Choral Studies and an Associate Professor. He is also cross-listed as an adjunct faculty member in Emmanuel College's Master of Sacred Music program. As a tenor soloist, Hillman has recently performed major choral-orchestral works by Beethoven, R. Nathaniel Dett, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Ramirez, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, and Schütz with choruses and orchestras in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia.  Dr. Hillman is an examiner for Conservatory Canada and has adjudicated, guest conducted, performed, and presented throughout the United States and Canada, and in France, India, Indonesia, and Portugal.  

Ralph is a professional musician and music educator in London, Ontario. An accomplished performer on saxophone, clarinet and flute, Ralph directs and plays lead saxophone in the London Jazz Orchestra, recipients of several London Music Awards. His past performing credits include The Grand Theatre, Talbot Theatre, Imperial Theatre, Stratford Festival Theatre, Orchestra London, Ice Capades, Garden Brothers International Circus, RCMP Musical Ride, Della Reese, Mel Torme, Rob McConnell, The Supremes and many more. Retired from a career teaching instrumental and vocal music at the high-school level, Ralph continues to be active as a performer, clinician, adjudicator and teaching Woodwind Methods at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, Western University in London.