Emily Akita, B. Mus, B.Ed, is an established music educator for the Vancouver School Board, specializing in teaching the VSB Strings Program.

From small beginnings over thirty years ago The Vancouver School Board Strings Program is now one of the most successful music programs offered at 19 elementary schools and 11 secondary schools throughout the district.

Currently, Emily works at 5 elementary schools, teaching over 380 students in grades 4-7. She provides the students with the basics of string ensemble playing on violin, viola, cello and bass. The highlight of the program is the annual district strings concert held at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in which Emily is the producer and coordinator.

Emily is a graduate of the University of British Columbia where in 2000 obtained her bachelor’s degree of music and in 2001, her bachelor’s degree in education.

In her spare time Emily enjoys playing violin in a baroque chamber ensemble as well as teaching private violin lessons to two very talented students.

Robert Baker (BMus 1982) is the Regional Director for the British Columbia Region of the Canadian Music Centre. He recently relocated from Calgary with his wife and two children to join his extended family in Vancouver and begin his new role with the CMC. His background includes that of an educator, arts administrator and musician. He is the founder of the renowned ClinicLine in Calgary, Alberta which serves some 25,000 students annually. He was instrumental in the transformation of the Calgary Opera Centre, worked with the Banff Summer Music Program and was the Director of Winds, Brass and Percussion at Mount Royal College, Calgary. He is an ardent supporter of Canadian music and as a Trombonist performed with the Vancouver Symphony, the CBC Vancouver Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic as well as for stage shows including West Side Story, Annie, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.

Click here for more information about Bob Baker on the CMC website

Lloyd Burritt: was born in Vancouver and has resided most of his life in the region. He received his M.Mus from the University of British Columbia while studying with Jean Coulthard and Cortland Hultberg. On fellowship with the Royal College of Music (London) he studied with Gordon Jacob and Herbert Howells and at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (USA) with Leonard Bernstein and Eric Leinsdorf.

Lloyd has composed in a wide variety of musical idioms, producing electronic music and numerous choral works as well as major orchestral works. His name has appeared in the programs of eminent orchestras in North America and Europe and of major ensembles in Canada, the USA, Great Britain, and Sweden.

Special projects include "Song for Marshall McLuhan" for the National Youth Choir and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to open the Canada Pavilion at Expo 86; and "The Dream Healer", an opera in two acts, which premiered in 2008. This is considered Lloyd's masterwork and featured Judith Forst, Simone Osborne, John Avey, Roelof Oostwoud, and the UBC Opera Ensemble conducted by David Agler.

Lloyd is presently working on his second opera.

Leslie Dala is the Music Director and Conductor of the Prince George Symphony and the Chorus Director and Assistant Conductor with Vancouver Opera.

For full biography please click here

Ann de la Hey is the Manager of the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach – An Arts Umbrella Project (SMMO), a free music program offered in Vancouver’s inner-city. Now in its sixth year, SMMO provides over 200 students with high-quality instruction in guitar, piano, percussion and choir, a foundation in classical practices and an exploration of world, jazz, folk and contemporary idioms. The program is also a support network that helps youth develop a life-long love of music, enthusiasm for learning and a positive self-attitude. Ann’s studies have taken her to UBC where she received a Bachelor of Music degree, to Northwestern University where she completed her master’s in flute performance and to the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester where she studied with Trevor Wye. She has performed with the Vancouver Symphony, for CBC radio and freelanced in Vancouver.As an administrator Ann has worked with the Vancouver Symphony as Production Manager, the CBC as Orchestral Librarian and Publicist for CBC Records.Ann currently is a member of the Vancouver Community College Professional Advisory Committee, UBC School of Music Mentorship Program and Junos Education Committee.Info re: Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach

Mentor 2007 - 2008
Saskatchewan native, Robyn Driedger-Klassen can be seen on many Canadian opera stages with roles ranging from Gretel in Hansel and Gretel to Donna Anna from Don Giovanni. As a solo artist Ms. Driedger-Klassen has performed Mozart's Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Handel's Messiah, Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Haydn's Creation, and was the soprano soloist for a new work by Canadian composer, Larry Nickel entitled Requiem for Peace. Ms. Driedger-Klassen is a frequent performer with Vancouver Opera, last season as Sophie in Massenet’s Werther, and as Naiade in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. Robyn was a member of the Seattle Opera’s young artist program from 2004 to 2006 where she performed the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. She will appear with Vancouver Opera this season as Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio and with Pacific Opera Victoria as Alexandra in Mark Blitzstein’s opera Regina. Mostly for fun, Robyn also sings in an improv/gospel trio consisting of violin, piano and voice, called Faspa! On Thanksgiving weekend, their new Cd, Faspa’s Gospel Songs will released.www.robynklassen.comwww.faspatrio.com

Also mentor in 2007-2008

Visit listing in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada

Morna Edmundson is one of Canada’s best-known choral conductors, with special interests in the areas of tone colour, language, and interpretation. As a conductor, singer, and administrator, her professional music career spans twenty-five years, including eight years as a professional singer in the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Ms. Edmundson is best known for her work as Co-Founder and Co-Conductor of Elektra Women’s Choir, with which she has received numerous honours and awards. Ms. Edmundson holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia, a Diploma in Choir Pedagogy from the Stockholm Conservatory and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Western Washington University. For 13 years, she was Associate Artistic Director of Coastal Sound Music Academy in Coquitlam, BC, where she was Music Director of the Youth Chamber Choir. In 1999, she co-directed the ACDA National Women’s Honor Choir in Chicago. For six years, she served on the Board of Directors of the International Federation for Choral Music. She served as Executive Director of the World of Children’s Choirs 2001 festival and symposium, which brought 47 children’s choirs from 17 countries to Vancouver. She is currently Administrative Director of Festival Vancouver. Ms. Edmundson has given lectures on her work at local, national, and international meetings of choral professionals. In May 2000, she was presented with the Healey Willan Award for outstanding service to the BC Choral Federation.

Principal Flute of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Brenda Fedoruk also plays flute and piccolo with the C.B.C. Radio Orchestra. She has toured with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra, and performed with the Vancouver Symphony and the Ford Centre orchestra in musical productions. She is currently Music director of the Capilano Flute Choir and teaches flute at the UBC School of Music. Following graduation, Ms. Fedoruk pursued studies in Toronto, Zurich and Salzburg.

An innovator, mentor, educator and musical entrepreneur, June Goldsmith is the Founder and Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Music in the Morning concert series now in its 24th season. Music in the Morning is known for its uncompromising quality and has grown to over 40 concerts per year.

June’s goal is to present innovative programs that feature both emerging and established artists performing classics of the past and music of our time. Music in the Morning’s offerings include the morning Concert Series, the educational Composers & Coffee Series, the early evening Rush Hour Series and Rob Kapilow’s Family Musik on Sunday afternoons.

June holds a Master of Arts in Music from Stanford University, a Piano Solo Performer Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree and Teaching Certificate from the University of British Columbia.

In 2002, June was inducted into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame. In 2005, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her lifetime contribution to music. She also received the Order of British Columbia the same year.

June was honoured last December as a recipient of the “Women in Music” award from the Minerva Foundation for BC Women for her outstanding accomplishments, passion and dedication in the field of music and commitment to giving back to the community.

I started my music career as a trumpet player, keen to be a professional orchestral musician. After a few years of study at UBC, I realized there were more than enough mediocre trumpet players in the world, and took an interest in the music recording business. Under the guidance of Professor Cortland Hultburg, I learned the basics of sound reproduction, and graduated with a B. Mus. in 1978.

After a (thankfully) short period of time mixing sound for a traveling Rock Band, I started work with CBC Radio as a Recording Engineer, and have continued there until July 2009. In my career at CBC, I have had lots of great opportunities to record a whole variety of music genres, and work in many different broadcast situations such as live to air outdoors, in concert halls and in studios as well as crafted music programs and documentaries. As a specialist in Classical Music, I have worked with the CBC Radio Orchestra over the last 16 years on their many award winning CD projects including the recent Grammy and Juno Award winning CD of violin concertos with James Ehnes, violin and the Vancouver Symphony.

Throughout this time, I have kept a strong interest in music making, but focusing more on folk styles, with guitar and mandolin. My latest favorite instrument is the Ukulele. I am back into brass playing, having recently joined the Little Mountain Brass Band. Since retiring from CBC I also work as a freelance recording engineer.

Hussein is a Vancouver (Canada) based community music educator with a passion for bringing people together through choral music. He has performed with Chor Leoni Men's Choir, Laudate Singers, University Singers (UBC), the National Youth Choir of Canada, and UBC Opera Ensemble. Hussein co-founded the Vancouver & Canadian Ismaili Muslim Youth Choirs and he facilitates choral music workshops internationally on themes of collaborative creation, identity, pluralism and fostering dialogue. As a composer he writes music inspired by Muslim cultures and societies. Hussein has co-written and conducted a choral piece for a musical tribute honoring His Holiness Dalai Lama; and has conducted choral performances in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan and his family, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and Federal government officials. Hussein was the first recipient of the BC Choral Federation Malcolm McDonald Youth Achievement Award for distinguished service, community building, and inspirational leadership. He currently serves as a member of the North American Coalition of Community Music and has been profiled in the University of British Columbia Alumni Affairs Trek Magazine.

Sharman King has been CEO of the Book Warehouse group since its formation in B.C. in 1980 and has overseen its steady growth to become a dominant multi-store bookseller in the Greater Vancouver area.
Mr. King is also active as a performing professional musician in studios and theatres and until 1991 was on the Music faculties of The University of British Columbia and Capilano College. He is currently bass trombonist of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and was previously bass trombonist of both the Edmonton Symphony orchestra and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. Mr. King was a member of the famed Buddy Rich Orchestra and has been privileged to perform with Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Paul Anka, Jack Jones, Tom Jones, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach and Luciano Pavarotti. He has appeared in over three hundred television programs in international distribution.

He is active as a board member of The Downtown Vancouver Association, The Vancouver Musicians Association, The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Festival Vancouver, The President’s Advisory Committee on the UBC Library and the advisory committees of Vancouver City College and Douglas College. He is currently a member of both the Finance and Facilities committees for Vancouver Opera is a voting member of both the Academy of Recorded Arts and Sciences and the Canadian Music Centre.

Music bio for Sharman King
Bass trombonist Sharman King (Bmus UBC 1970) has enjoyed a long and varied career in Western Canada. He learned to play the trombone as a member of the legendary Cave Theatre Orchestra house band under Fraser MacPherson. After graduating from The University of British Columbia in 1970 Mr. King joined the Buddy Rich Orchestra. While with “Buddy’s Band”, Mr. King toured 34 states and performed at the Newport, Monterey and Concord Jazz Festivals.
After a year playing tuba in a sing-along band in the “Your Father’s Mustache” club, Mr. King joined the faculty of The University of Calgary where he taught Music Theory and Stage Band. The UofC Stage Band featured performances with jazz notables Woody Shaw, Oliver Gannon and Ian McDougall and is believed to be the first “for university credit” stage band course in Canada.
While in Calgary Mr. King joined the Edmonton Symphony as bass trombonist and started an association with Edmonton’s Tommy Banks which continues to this day.
On his return to Vancouver Mr. King joined the faculties of The University of British Columbia (trombone and stage band) and Capilano College (trombone and “the business of music”) and resumed his playing career. He is currently bass trombonist of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and was previously bass trombonist of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. Mr. King has been privileged to perform with singers Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Paul Anka, Jack Jones, Tom Jones, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach and Luciano Pavarotti. He has appeared in over three hundred television programs in international distribution, including MacGyver, the ITV “In Concert” series, the Tom Jones series, the Paul Anka series, Celebrity Review with Tommy Banks and numerous CBC-TV series. Mr. King is proud to have been a part of many CBC jazz radio shows with prominent Canadian musicians including Tommy Banks, Bobby Hales, Ian McDougall, Dave Robbins, Ray Sikora, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Moe Kauffman and Fred Stride.
Mr. King is also active in “legitimate” and theatre music. He has been a member of the Vancouver Opera Association Orchestra since its inception twenty years ago, and has performs extensively in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre orchestra pit for many ballet and musical theatre companies, including Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Hello Dolly and Miss Saigon.
Sharman King is the founder and President of Book Warehouse, B.C.’s popular chain of discount bookstores. He is active as a board member of The Downtown Vancouver Association, The Vancouver Musicians Association, The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Festival Vancouver, The President’s Advisory Committee on the UBC Library and the advisory committees of both Vancouver City College and Douglas College. He is currently a member of both the Finance and Facilities committees for Vancouver Opera is a voting member of both the Academy of Recorded Arts and Sciences and the Canadian Music Centre.<> 

Visit web page for John Korsrud

George Laverock is Program Director for Festival Vancouver, the largest summer international music festival in Canada. In this capacity he plans over 50 concerts each summer for this $1.6 million event. He also supervises the 4 – person Production Department of the Festival. Laverock was one of the founders of Festival Vancouver, a non-profit Society that was formed in 1997. He has been involved in all aspects of developing this organization, from fund-raising to concert presentation to budgeting and marketing.

Laverock was a Producer and Executive Producer in the Radio Music department of CBC Radio for 30 years. In this role, he produced thousands of network radio programs, and hundreds of CDs. He also worked as General Manager of CBC Records, and as CBC Radio’s Coordinating Producer for Expo 86 Coverage and for the Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival in 1994 in Victoria. In 1993 he worked as the Executive Director of the World Symposium on Choral Music.

He has served on the Board of Directors of many cultural organizations, and at the present time he is President of the Health Arts Society (which presents professional performances in hospitals); Secretary/Treasurer of the Coal Harbour Arts Complex Society; Chair of the Cultural Tourism Committee of the Alliance for Culture; and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Laverock is a former co-owner of the Magic Flute Record Shop, and is a partner in the record label: Skylark Music. He has a Bachelor of Music degree from UBC and speaks English, French and Italian.

Karen Lee-Morlang is a professional pianist located in Vancouver, Canada. Known for helping her partners sound even more beautiful with her exquisite playing and gorgeous tone colors, Karen specializes in collaborative work, particularly in the classical art song and chamber music genre. When she is not performing, Karen also works as a director, lecturer, repetiteur and teacher.
Visit her website for more information

Diane Loomer, C.M. is internationally recognized as one of Canada's leading musicians; a sought-after conductor and clinician on the international choral scene with engagements taking her to all corners of the world. She is founder and conductor of Chor Leoni Men's Choir, co-founder and co-conductor of Elektra Women's Choir and most recently founder and conductor of EnChor Chamber Choir. She taught on the music faculty at the University of British Columbia. Her choirs have repeatedly won first prizes in national and international competitions and her choral compositions have been published and recorded internationally. and She frequently appears on CBC national radio and CBC TV as a spokesperson for the classical arts. The first woman to conduct the National Youth Choir of Canada, Diane received the Healey Willan award in 1990 for her service to choral music in British Columbia; in 1994, she was named YWCA's Vancouver's Woman of Distinction of Arts and Culture; and in 1997 and 2004 received Distinguished Alumni Awards honouring her achievements in choral music. In 1996 and in 2002 she received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her significant contribution to Canada’s culture. Diane has conducted several ACDA State Honour Choirs and has conducted Provincial Youth Choirs and Honour Choirs in every province in Canada. In 2003, Diane was appointed by the University of Victoria to the University Women’s Scholar Lecture Series and in 2005 was appointed Conductor Emeritus to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. In 2008 she was named as a Paul Harris Fellow to the International Rotary Foundation for her tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding among peoples of the world. With the help of her husband, Dick, she has established Cypress Choral Music as a thriving source of new Canadian choral music and an encouragement to Canadian choral composers. In recognition of her achievements in and service to music and humanity throughout Canada, Diane was honored to receive the country's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada.

Rachel Lowry is Marketing & Programming Coordinator at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. An award-winning venue, it is one of the only Canadian concert halls with a presenting mandate that also happens to be located on a university campus. Each season the Chan Centre programs and presents numerous concerts and events. Past performers have included Philip Glass, Chanticleer, Kronos Quartet, Gamelan Çudamani, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Evelyn Glennie to name but a few. www.chancentre.com

Rachel grew up in the Lower Mainland and attended the Langley Fine Arts School (a public, alternative fine/performing arts high school in Fort Langley, B.C.) as a music major studying both voice and trumpet. After graduation, she began studying business at Simon Fraser University. Missing music in her life, she transferred to U.B.C. in fall 2000, and began working towards a Bachelor of Music degree; studying trumpet with Martin Berinbaum and Marcus Goddard. Rachel graduated in 2004 as the first U.B.C. student to obtain a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Commerce. She immediately began a full-time position in arts administration with the Chan Centre where she continues today.

Rachel continues to perform on trumpet in various capacities and maintains a strong connection with the U.B.C. Balinese gamelan ensemble, Gamelan Gita Asmara, both as a performer and a board member. In 2006 she toured to Bali with U.B.C. Head of Ethnomusicology, Dr. Michael Tenzer, to première a new work for Balinese gamelan and Western instruments in the Bali Arts Festival.

Jocelyn Morlock completed her doctorate in composition at UBC in 2002. Her music has been performed across Canada as well as in the United States and Europe. Her quartet, Bird in the Tangled Sky was played at the 1999 ISCM World Music Days in Romania, and was recorded by Toronto's Continuum ensemble for their self-titled debut CD. Bird in the Tangled Sky also won the first annual CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composers competition. In June of 2002, Morlock’s Lacrimosa represented Canada at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (Paris, 2002), where it was a recommended work. It has since been broadcast in twenty-one countries. In 2005, Morlock wrote the imposed piece, Amore, for the Montreal International Music Competition, where it was performed by 43 singers.
She has written music for ArrayMusic, the Burney Ensemble, the CBC Radio Orchestra, Continuum Contemporary Music, Ensemble Symposium, Groundswell, Ian Hampton, Musica Intima and Steven Isserlis, New Music Manitoba, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Joseph Petric, the Tiresias Duo, Yarilo Ensemble, the Turning Point Ensemble, Mark Sabat, the Vancouver New Music Ensemble, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Canadian Music Festival among others. Upcoming projects include music for the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Mark Fewer and the Lotus Land quartet, and Kathleen McLean.
Morlock's compositions tend to explore unusual timbres made possible by extended playing techniques, at times in combination with relatively tonal or modal idioms. She enjoys experimenting with music of many styles and eras.
Mentor 2007-2008

Murray Nichol holds an Associate Diploma (Solo Performer) from the Western Board of Music, a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance (with Greatest Distinction) from Brandon University, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia. His teachers include Peggy Sharpe, Dr. Lorne Watson, Don Henry, Jane Coop, Rena Sharon, and Dr. Henri-Paul Sicsic.

In addition to having been a university teaching assistant in music history, secondary piano, and aural skills, Mr. Nichol also possesses varied experiences as both a solo and a collaborative pianist. In the fall of 2007, he was one of six examiners from the RCM College of Examiners who presented workshops across Canada on the new technical revisions to the Piano Syllabus, 2008 Edition. This year he is part of a large team of clinicians who will conduct detailed workshops on the many facets of this exciting new publication.

Because the 2007 - 2008 academic year was a sabbatical for Mr. Nichol, he had the opportunity for much travel (including Mexico, Sicily, Singapore, Dubai, and India) and self-exploration. This past year marked the conclusion of his three-year term on the RCM Examinations Council of Examiners (Practical Subjects), which is responsible for setting examining and marking standards across Canada, maintaining quality in the examination process, and selecting new examiners. During this time he was, in fact, the Council’s sole representative residing outside the province of Ontario.

Through adjudicating, conducting workshops, coaching, and mentoring, Mr. Nichol continues to be involved in a wide array of activities. Currently he is a senior faculty member at the Tom Lee Music Learning Centre in Vancouver and Richmond, British Columbia. In addition to being a Senior Examiner for RCM Examinations and a mentor for apprentice examiners, he is also a member of the British Columbia Registered Music Teachers’ Association, the Music Teachers’ National Association, and the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators’ Association.

Christine completed her BMus at UBC in 1994, where she studied violin and was a member of the UBC Symphony Orchestra. After graduating, she knew she did not want to play for a career. She’s grateful to Wallace Leung for persuading her to volunteer behind the scenes for The Little Chamber Music Series That Could - an experience which led her to pursue arts management. She completed her MBA at York University in 2000, specialising in Arts and Media Management. During school, she interned at the National Ballet of Canada and RCM Examinations.

Christine has been the Manager of the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir and Marketing and Development Coordinator of the Gallery Players of Niagara. From 2004–2007, she was the Administrator of the Penticton Academy of Music Society, during which time she managed the business and artistic operations of the school, growing its programming and enrolment while achieving financial stability. While in Penticton, she also sat on the Board of the Penticton & District Performing Arts Facilities Society which was actively working to get a new theatre built in Penticton.

Christine is currently the Programming Coordinator at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, where she plans and coordinates the Chan Centre’s presentations and outreach activities and sees her fair share of budgets and contracts. She is also a Board of Director of the Western Front Society. For better or worse, she gets her violin out of its case once a year to partake in the guilty pleasure of amateur chamber music retreats. 

 David Pay is Artistic Director of Music on Main, a concert series founded in 2006 and dedicated to a refreshing concept of concert going: shorter concerts, a bar before and after performances, and casual, stimulating environments. The Georgia Straight wrote that “If there was any doubt that Vancouver is becoming a real nexus of musical creativity, its
latest concert series should take care of that.” After just three months of classical and new music concerts at Heritage Hall on Main Street and The Cellar Jazz Club on Broadway, the series was chosen by both The Globe & Mail and The Georgia Straight as part of their “Best of 2006” lists.

As an independent arts consultant specialising in marketing, strategic planning and producing, David has worked with the Vancouver Recital Society, the British Council, Blackbird Theatre, musica intima, Skylark Music, Turning Point Ensemble, CBC Orchestra and many new music specialists including clarinettist François Houle, composer and musician Marguerite Witvoet and vocalist Viviane Houle. He has music degrees from the University of British Columbia and Indiana University (Bloomington), sits on the board of the Coal Harbour Arts Complex Society and chairs the Vancouver Music Alliance. He is a founding Co-Producer of CABINET Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and Co-Producer with Tom Cone and Karen Matthews of song room, a Vancouver-based producer of new song.
Link to Music on Main

If you asked Kate MacColl (Polsky) when she started making her living as a musician, she’d tell you that it started the day she wrote the following on a slip of paper:  “I will not limit the ways I am allowed to be a musician.”

From that point in time to now, her credits are so varied it’s hard to believe that one person has done so many things but for almost three decades, she has enjoyed working in three very different sectors of the industry: performance, administration, and teaching.

As a performing musician, Kate has sung and played in venues from the Orpheum to BC Place to the Commodore Ballroom and beyond. Administratively speaking, her past clients include Jane Siberry (also known as Issa), Musicfest Vancouver, and Music BC, eventually becoming its Executive Director (1999-2001). As well, she has taught primarily at the secondary school level in both the private and public sectors.

Kate is a classically trained pianist and an award-winning performing songwriter; she is the songwriting instructor at the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach. She has toured in parts of Canada and the States, and in Vancouver, Kate has played keyboards and percussion as well as sung with many artists. Not only has she appeared in several theatre productions over the past two decades, she has also directed, written, composed for, and / or choreographed almost two dozen theatre productions; for the 2010-11 year, she will be teaching Musical Theatre for Teens at Arts Umbrella. In 2005, Kate was accepted into the internationally renowned Elektra Women's Choir and founded her own vocal jazz group, VERVE Collective.

As a past Executive Director of Music BC, Kate was responsible for national and provincial funding programs, the editor of their newsletter, manager of province-wide conferences, BC representative for the Juno Awards and co-producer of the West Coast Music Awards, and has received many invitations to act as a guest speaker, panelist, event host and MC.

She is a music teacher for the North Vancouver School District, and she has written and arranged many pieces for different choral groups; Kate’s arrangements are available to the choral community on her website and she was delighted to have Elektra premiere in April 2010 an arrangement she wrote of a song by legendary Canadian songwriter, Shari Ulrich.  Kate is also in demand as a guest conductor and clinician for several lower mainland choirs and musical theatre programs.

For further details, please visit www.katepolsky.com

Shana White, mezzo-soprano, received her B. Mus from the University of British Columbia and her M. Mus in Voice Performance from the Western Washington University. Shana toured for nine seasons with the Vancouver Opera’s Touring Ensemble and has appeared extensively in Western Canada with the Opera Companies of Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Vancouver, Pacific Opera Victoria, and Modern Baroque Opera. Shana also sang her way to Alaska on many cruises. It was while singing Rosina in “The Barber of Seville,” for Tacoma Opera, Washington, that she met and began studying with William Eddy. She has appeared, as guest soloist, with the CBC Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Prince George Symphony and Sinfonia in numerous galas, oratorios and benefit concerts. In addition, Shana toured with the Livent production of “The Phantom of the Opera” on its Far East tour of Hong Kong and Singapore. As well as performing, Shana teaches voice in Vancouver

Kirsten Walsh is a native of Creston, B.C. She joined the UBC Music Library as Music Reference Librarian in 1982, and has been Head since 1996. After graduating from UBC as a Music History major, she earned her Master of Library Science and MA (Musicology) at the University of Western Ontario. She has also worked as Music Librarian at UWO, with responsibilities in cataloguing, collections development, and reference.
Kirsten has served on the Board of Early Music Vancouver, and is a Voting Member of the Canadian
Music Centre, BC Region. She is active in the Canadian Association of Music Libraries and the
Music Library Association Pacific Northwest Chapter. She is a former member of Gallery Singers and Vancouver Cantata Singers. Non-musical interests include gardening, bird-watching, cycling, and swimming.

Mentor 2007-2008

Mentor 2007-2008
As Associate Director of the Vancouver Recital Society, Gloria Wong has been with the organization since 1994, where she has been General Manager, and Director of Artistic Operations.

Among her community involvements, Gloria has served on the External Consultative Committee of the Kwantlen University College's Department of Music, as a Board member and Vice-Chair of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, and is currently on the Board of the British Columbia Chamber Orchestra.

Gloria holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Under the auspices of the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship as well as a B.C. Cultural Fund Professional Study Grant, she continued her post-graduate work at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England.

Ms. Wong has been awarded numerous scholarships and prizes among them: the Victoria Medal for the top graduating student in the Faculty of Arts and Fine Arts at the University of Victoria; the Peabody Conservatory/Johns Hopkins University full-tuition Graduate Entrance Scholarship; and a scholarship awarded by the German Government (DAAD) for studies in Munich at the Hochschule für Musik with Gerhardt Oppitz.

As a scholarship recipient, Ms. Wong has been invited to the masterclasses of György Sebök at the Banff School of Fine Arts, Richard Goode, as well as fortepiano masterclasses with Melvin Tan and Malcolm Bilson.

A recipient of the Izaak Walton Killam Pre-doctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia, her teachers have been Robert Silverman and Douglas Finch. Ms. Wong has had extensive involvement in chamber music performance and undergraduate teaching. As well, her performances have included solo and chamber music recitals in Canada, U.S.A., England, Germany, and Switzerland.

Hailed as one of North America’s “rising star” conductors by Vancouver Sun music critic David Gordon Duke, Kevin Zakresky has expanded his career in the last few seasons to include conducting, masterclasses and workshops, as well as vocal and piano performances in the United States and Canada.

In 2009/2010 season Zakresky was on the faculty of the innovative Vancouver International Song Institute, conducting the British Columbia Youth Alumni Chorus (alongside conductor Bruce Pullan and pianist Jane Coop), working with the 50-voice Kokopelli Youth Choir in Edmonton, Alberta, on faculty of UBC’s Young Artist Experience summer program, and served as Director of the Pride in Art Youth Choir. 

Born in Saskatchewan and raised in northern British Columbia, Zakresky finished his MMA degree in choral conducting at Yale University in 2008, winning the prestigious Aidan Cavanagh Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement. While at Yale he was director of the University Chapel Choir and assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata, and sang as a member of the famous Schola Cantorum. His major teachers were Marguerite Brooks and Simon Carrington, and he coached with Helmut Rilling and Stephen Layton. Zakresky was awarded Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of British Columbia, where he studied voice and conducting with Bruce Pullan.

Kevin has recently been appointed as Assistant Conductor of Chor Leoni Men's Choir  He also serves on the Faculty of Douglas College and directs the MYVoice Choral Initiative.  This season, he will be conducting the BC Youth Choir, adjudicating music festivals and giving clinics throughout the province as well as continuing his work with Musicians without Borders in Sarajevo, Bosnia.