VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
REGISTRATION IS OPEN
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
REGISTRATION IS OPEN
Meet the 2024 KWKMF Adjudicators
Orchestras & Brass
Daniel Warren
Daniel Warren is a highly accomplished conductor, composer, trumpet player, and arranger with a wealth of experience in the classical music industry. He has worked with some of the world's most renowned orchestras and has received critical acclaim for his innovative approach to conducting as well as his ability to bring new life to classic repertoire. His arrangements and compositions have been performed by orchestras worldwide. He lives in his owner-built house with his wife, Rosanne.
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Choirs
Elaine Choi
Dr. Elaine Choi contributes to Canada's vibrant choral community as a conductor, educator, adjudicator, chorister, and collaborative pianist. In addition to her role as Director of Music at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, she is also the Artistic Director of Pax Christi Chorale and founder/artistic director of Babεl.
Piano: Junior
Amber Morphy
Amber Morphy is the owner of Morphy Music in Cambridge Ontario. She is a recognized pedagogue throughout Canada having taught all levels of piano and voice. She is a vocalist, pianist, versatile performer, accompanist, teacher, adjudicator, and examiner.
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Piano: Senior
Edward Turgeon
Edward Turgeon’s teaching appointments have included Professor at HARID Conservatory of Music and Dance, Director of Collaborative Arts, Keyboard Studies, and Associate Professor at Florida Atlantic University, Professor of Music at Algoma University, and Artistic Director of Great Lakes International Summer Music Institute. Since 2000, he has performed hundreds of concerts with his wife Anne as a member of Canada’s internationally acclaimed piano duo, the “Duo Turgeon”.
Strings: Violin & Viola
Margot Jewell
Margot Jewell has been immersed in the Suzuki world for the last 50 years, training with many inspiring pedagogues, including Shinichi Suzuki in Matsumoto in 1985. She began her Suzuki teaching in Hamilton and then co-founded Etobicoke Suzuki Music in 1982. Margot became a teacher trainer for the SAA and enjoys working with adults in that capacity. Margot is an active festival adjudicator as well as an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music. She recently retired from teaching students in Toronto and now lives in Huntsville Ontario, near her children and grandchildren.
Voice: Musical Theatre & Popular
Breanne Rourke
Breanne Rourke is a professional voice teacher/singer based out of Niagara, Ontario. She is an evidence-based voice specialist, with a passion for pop and contemporary music. She graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and maintains a thriving multi-teacher studio in St. Catharines called The Honest Voice Co - where singers learn to show up authentically and nourish their voices.
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Guitar & Composition
Daniel Brophy
Dan Brophy is a composer, performer, and co-owner of the RanDuth Music Studio. He received his Doctor of Music from the University of Alberta and has received multiple academic and artistic awards for composition. He now lives in Hamilton with his wife and son where they run a successful music studio and perform in the avant-garde extreme metal band 30 immolated ; 16 returned
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Concert Bands & Jazz Bands
David Lum
David Lum retired from public school teaching in February of 2021, following a 32-year career with the former Scarborough Board of Education and the Toronto District School Board. He is a founding member of the Ontario Band Association and served on the board of the Ontario Music Educators’ Association from 2000-2015. David is an Honorary Life Member of both the OBA and the OMEA. He is a recipient of the Keith Mann Outstanding band Director award and is a Laureate of the Legion of Honor for the John Philip Sousa Society. He is President of the Lambda Iota chapter of the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters’ Fraternity. Currently, David teaches the Music Qualification course for the Faculty of Education and is the instructor of the Tuba/Euphonium studio in the Faculty of Arts, Media, Design, and Performance at York University. David is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.
Piano: Elementary
Fiona Jane Watson
Fiona Jane Watson, a Toronto-based pianist, has Piano Performance and Pedagogy degrees from McGill University, the Glenn Gould School, and U of Toronto. She is in demand as a solo and collaborative pianist, is an examiner for the Royal Conservatory, and is on the faculty of the Oscar Peterson School of Music at the RCM as well as at St. Michael's Choir School in downtown Toronto. She was a contributor and advisor to the 2022 piano syllabus and was on the jury for the Music Lights the Way Festival. She combines her love of performing with teaching and is a frequent adjudicator across North America in all levels of piano.
Piano: Intermediate
Natalka Podstawka
Dr. Natalka Podstawka holds a Doctorate of Arts in Piano Performance with a minor in Theory from Ball State University. As an experienced and active instructor and performer, she has taught the Inter Baccalaureate program, in-studio piano and theory classes, and university courses. Her concerts and repertoire span from solo piano and collaborative performances to studio recordings of modern and classical pieces. Dr. Podstawka is an Advanced Piano Specialist from the Royal Conservatory of Music with an ARCT in both Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy.
Strings: Cello & Double Bass
Susan Gagnon
Susan Gagnon is a registered teacher trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She is also on the faculty of the Oscar Peterson School of Music as well as the Phil and Taylor Academy for Young Artists at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Susan has been an examiner for the RCM since 1995 and authored the 1995, 2007, and 2013 cello syllabi as well as contributed to the cello repertoire and technique books published in 2013. Susan is currently working on the cello portion of the new Teacher Certification course being developed by the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Voice: Classical
Elizabeth McDonald
High-energy and innovative voice teacher, singer, and entrepreneur, Elizabeth McDonald has made a commitment to supporting the next generation of operatic artists. Elizabeth is on the Voice Faculty at the University of Toronto while also maintaining a private studio of young artist and professional level singers. Her students have won major awards including the Metropolitan Opera Competition, the Centre Stage Competition and the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition and are regularly accepted at young artist programs and graduate schools across North America and Europe. Elizabeth is principal and co-founder of the creative facilitation coaching practice em2CONNECT, and offers consulting, grant writing, event production, and career development mentorship for arts organizations and individual artists.
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Woodwinds
Ari Cohen Mann
Ari Cohen Mann (they/them) is a frequent recitalist, new music proponent, orchestral musician, and teacher based in Toronto. Ari is a faculty member at Wilfrid Laurier University where they teach oboe and coach chamber music. Ari has been fortunate to premiere pieces by Jocelyn Morlock, Matthew Emery, and Felipe Tellez. Ari has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Toronto, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagara, and Windsor.
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