Music Adjudicators – 2023
Special thank you to all for your devotion to young people!
The Kiwanis Music Festival reserves the right to substitute or appoint other adjudicators.
Peter Tombler
Bands & Brass
Peter Tombler holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Northern Colorado where he studied trombone with Buddy Baker and conducting with Eugene Corporon. He retired from teaching in 2015, after a thirty-five year career with the Toronto District School Board, conducting many award winning bands. He spent his last ten years as the Head of Performing Arts at Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute in southeast Scarborough.
Mr. Tombler continues a long career as a trombonist, performing regularly throughout the Toronto area. He was a member of the Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra for 28 years. Mr. Tombler enjoys work as a clinician and adjudicator throughout southern Ontario. He spends his time composing and arranging music and has a woodworking shop where he makes conducting batons.
Denis Mastromonaco
Chamber Groups & Orchestras
Maestro Mastromonaco is currently the Music Director for the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, Burlington Symphony Orchestra, York Symphony Orchestra, Opera York, and Mississauga Symphony Youth Orchestra. He is engaged in both symphonic and operatic conducting, having held posts with organizations including Royal Opera Canada, Opera Mississauga, the National Academy Orchestra and the State University of New York, where he taught conducting and worked with the College Symphony, the Hillman Opera, Sinfonia and the Chamber Orchestra. He has been a regular guest conductor for the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, Czech Republic and has had the pleasure to conduct various international ensembles which include the Camerata Strumentale di Prato, Orchestra dell’Accademia di San Giorgio, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Bethany College Choir.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Maestro Mastromonaco went on to obtain a Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the State University of New York, attaining summa cum laude honours. With extensive international training, he also holds diplomas in conducting from the Vienna Conservatory, the University of Salzburg Mozarteum and from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. His work with distinguished conductors and orchestras include Salvador mas Conde, Jorma Panula, Gustav Meier, Hans Zender, Lothar Zagrosek, the Vancouver Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Windsor Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony and the Vidin State Philharmonic.
As an advocate for music in the community, Maestro Mastromonaco has been Music Director for numerous ensembles and has taught, adjudicated and served as clinician for schools, arts festivals and competitions all while promoting the importance of music in local communities. He has been the recipient of prestigious awards including the Emme Contestabile Prize in Orchestral Conducting from Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the City of Vaughan Outstanding Citizen Award and the Ontario Service Medal for contribution to the arts.
Craig Pike
Choirs & Speech Arts
Craig Pike, a native Newfoundlander, has been living and working in Toronto since 2004. A Dora nominated actor, Craig has worked across Canada in over 30 Productions including 4 seasons at The Shaw Festival. In 2008 he founded the award winning That Choir, a professional SATB vocal ensemble, which has toured provincially and nationally.
In 2018 he opened Craig’s Cookies which has lead him to starting That Arts Group in 2022. TAG is an arts organization that celebrates both theatre and choral music while committing to making the arts accessible to all.
Rashaan Allwood
Composition
Rashaan Rori Allwood is a multitalented musician based out of Toronto, currently pursuing a PhD in Composition. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and a Master’s degree in Organ Performance. Rashaan is the recipient of the 2022 Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition from the American Guild of Organists, who commissioned him to compose a new piece for solo organ to be premiered in Washington in 2022. Rashaan was also one of the ICOT call for scores winners for short Piano works by Canadian composers in 2020. Rashaan is now the director of music at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Toronto where he regularly premieres his own new works, and organizes performances for choir and instrumentalists. As a soloist, he has toured across Europe, and performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, UK, St. Nikolai-Kirche in Leipzig, Germany and St. Pierre’s Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland.
For more information on Rashaan’s upcoming events and projects, visit his website at http://www.rashaanallwood.com/
Emma Rush
Guitar & Bandura
Emma Rush has established herself as one of Canada’s top classical guitarists. Her career has commanded world recognition. Recent touring highlights include a four-city tour in China, starting with the Altamira Shanghai International Guitar Festival, appearances at guitar festivals including Festival de Guitarras Lagos de Moreno (Mexico), the Nyköping Gitaarseminarium (Sweden), and a prestigious concert at the Internationales Gitarren Symposion, Iserlohn (Germany). In 2023 Rush performs throughout Canada with stops in Nova Scotia, Québec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, with international appearances including the Minnesota Guitar Society and the Swedish Guitar and Lute Festival.
In 2020 Rush released Wake the Sigh, a collection of rare music written for guitar by women in the 19thcentury. Her earlier recordings are Canadiana, which includes a suite dedicated to her by composer William Beauvais, and Folklórica. “Rush’s technique is flawless throughout…” The Whole Note . Emma Rush has received three City of Hamilton Arts Awards, and has had her work supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Hamilton City Enrichment Fund, and FACTOR.
Rush is a guest lecturer at colleges and universities throughout North America and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Fountain School of Performing Arts at Dalhousie University in the fall of 2016. She is active in presenting guitar events around the world and is Co-Director of GuitarFest West in Calgary and the Collegiate Peaks Guitar Retreat in Colorado.
Alyssa Michaelsky
Harp
Alyssa Michalsky is a seasoned professional in the harp industry. Having started her company, Divine Harp in 1997, her accolades and awards span 25 years in the business and she continues to teach, perform and adjudicate all over Ontario.
A graduate of the Bachelor’s and Master’s Harp Performance program at the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Education from OISE, Alyssa had the privilege of studying with one of the world’s most renowned harpists, Judy Loman.
After winning the prestigious US National Harp Scholarship Competition in 2001, Alyssa went on to record four CD’s: two classical harp and flute albums and two contemporary solo harp albums on her Lyon and Healy Concert Grand Electric Harp.
Ms. Michalsky has held several esteemed positions over her career including six years as the harp professor at the University of Western Ontario and 15 years as the head adjudicator of the harp examinations for The Royal Conservatory of Canada. She continues to be on panel for the Toronto Chapter of the American Harp Society competitions and adjudicates harp for the London, Guelph, and Ottawa and provincial Kiwanis Festivals.
Most recently, she was commissioned to write a manuscript for one of her original jazz arrangements which will be used as a Canadian requirement piece for competition this next coming year.
Ms Michalsky houses a large private music studio in Dundas where she has a full schedule of young as well as mature students. She is also well known for being one of the most active performing modern harpists, blending classical sounds and techniques on the electric harp with her uniquely stylized arrangements of contemporary music.
Andrea Stewart
Cello & Double Bass
Based in Montreal, Quebec, cellist and gambist Andrea Stewart is a versatile musician and artistic instigator whose explorations span from historical performance to the new sounds and techniques of contemporary music. A performer on both historical and modern instruments, Andrea is equally at home performing with electronics as she is playing basso continuo.
In 2006, Andrea made her solo debut with the University of Western Ontario Symphony Orchestra in her native London, Ontario. Since then, various solo recitals and ensemble collaborations have brought Andrea to venues across North America, Europe, and Asia, most recently as part of the Festival de Música de Morelia Miguel Bernal Jiménez (Morelia, Mexico), Sound Unbound (The Barbican Centre, London, UK), and La Folle Journée de Nantes (France).
Andrea is a founding member of the string ensemble collectif9, for which she is also the Associate Director, and with whom she has created and performed in numerous projects including multi-media works, album recordings, film-concerts, and the commissioning of new music. collectif9’s innovative programmes and educational productions have been toured worldwide. As a member of the early music ensemble Infusion Baroque, Andrea has performed across North America presenting the ensemble’s interactive and engaging programming, and has recorded several albums. The ensemble is dedicated to championing the music of historical women composers and performers with their multi-year project, Virtuosa.
While travelling with her principal ensembles, Andrea gives workshops and masterclasses to young musicians performing solo works or chamber music, with a focus on finding stability and flexibility in one’s technique and interpretation and allowing historical knowledge to inform one’s musical choices. When at home, Andrea also appears regularly with other ensembles in Montreal such as Arion Baroque Orchestra and Innovations en concert. Andrea was one of three finalists in the prestigious Golden Violin Competition at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, and was a finalist of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and the Prix d’Europe Competition.
Andrea holds the degrees of Doctor of Music (2015) and Master of Music (2009) from McGill University. Inspired by contemporary music, her research is devoted to the expansion of cello technique in relation to works in the contemporary repertoire. In the domain of early music, she has explored 18th century music for cello and viola da gamba from a multi-instrumentalist point of view. Support for Andrea’s research has been granted from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada (Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship) as well as from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, for which she is very grateful.
Renée Salewski
Musical Theatre
Renée is a vibrant performing arts professional with twenty-five years of diverse performing, teaching, writing, and directing experience from the stage to film and television. Creative opportunities as a performer, teacher, and director have taken Renée all over the UK, London’s West End and off West- End, Europe, Canada, Korea, Central Asia, and many other inspiring places.
As a dual citizen of UK and Canada, Renée spent most of her early years as a professional performer in the UK (D’Oyly Carte, English Touring Opera, Arcola Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Canterbury Cathedral) while also maintaining a position on the voice faculty at Canterbury Christ Church University; where she taught and coached on both the classical and musical theatre/CCM music degree programs.
Projects during the pandemic saw Renee remotely direct and coach singers situated across the globe in several remotely filmed operas (COSA Canada) and continue to teach her international roster of students online. In 2022, she became an RBC Artist Mentor with the Association for Opera in Canada, continued her work as a teaching artist with the Canadian Opera Company, was named Second VP of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Ontario Executive, was brought in as a Choral Clinician to the Durham Girls Choir, invited to guest coach/deliver masterclasses at the National Opera Studio (London, England), Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, University of Toronto, and Hart House Theatre, and she became a core faculty member on the Canadian Opera Company Summer Intensive (dramatic coaching).
Upcoming engagements include: Adjudicating at festivals across Ontario, several projects as a Teaching Artist with the Canadian Opera Company (librettist/dramaturg/director/ coaching and teaching dramatic integration), directing the junior and senior programmes for The Singer’s Theatre Intensive, and the launch of The Drop-In and The Audition Clinic, two exciting new training programs for singing actors.
Denis Mastromonaco
Orchestras
Maestro Mastromonaco is currently the Music Director for the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, Burlington Symphony Orchestra, York Symphony Orchestra, Opera York, and Mississauga Symphony Youth Orchestra. He is engaged in both symphonic and operatic conducting, having held posts with organizations including Royal Opera Canada, Opera Mississauga, the National Academy Orchestra and the State University of New York, where he taught conducting and worked with the College Symphony, the Hillman Opera, Sinfonia and the Chamber Orchestra. He has been a regular guest conductor for the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, Czech Republic and has had the pleasure to conduct various international ensembles which include the Camerata Strumentale di Prato, Orchestra dell’Accademia di San Giorgio, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Bethany College Choir.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Maestro Mastromonaco went on to obtain a Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the State University of New York, attaining summa cum laude honours. With extensive international training, he also holds diplomas in conducting from the Vienna Conservatory, the University of Salzburg Mozarteum and from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. His work with distinguished conductors and orchestras include Salvador mas Conde, Jorma Panula, Gustav Meier, Hans Zender, Lothar Zagrosek, the Vancouver Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Windsor Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony and the Vidin State Philharmonic.
As an advocate for music in the community, Maestro Mastromonaco has been Music Director for numerous ensembles and has taught, adjudicated and served as clinician for schools, arts festivals and competitions all while promoting the importance of music in local communities. He has been the recipient of prestigious awards including the Emme Contestabile Prize in Orchestral Conducting from Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the City of Vaughan Outstanding Citizen Award and the Ontario Service Medal for contribution to the arts
Pierre-André Doucet
Open & Advanced Piano
Renowned for his vivid soundscapes and inventive texts, pianist and writer Pierre-André Doucet is a leading voice among Canada’s newest generation of artists.
He has been hailed for “the emotion of his playing and his impeccable control” (Audiophilia), and is a former CBC Radio 2 “Hot Canadian Classical Musician Under 30”. In recent years, he has performed in Canada, Europe, South Africa, and the United States, as well as across Asia, Europe and the South Pacific as one of the inaugural Lincoln Center Stage artists aboard Holland America Line ships. Several of his performances have been broadcast on Radio-Canada, CBC Radio and NPR.
Winner of the Knigge Piano Competition, as well as the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (with soprano Alexandra Smither), Mr. Doucet has also been awarded top prizes for his performances of contemporary works, namely at the Prix d’Europe, and the Ibiza International Piano Competition. He is also the prize-winning author of two French-language books, both published by Éditions Prise de parole.
Mr. Doucet holds a doctoral degree from l’Université de Montréal, where he studied with Maneli Pirzadeh, and where he has also been a visiting professor. Further, he has benefited from masterclasses at the Franz-Schubert-Institut, the Gijón International Piano Festival, Songfest, the Music Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood Music Center with such luminaries as Elly Ameling, Julius Drake, Margo Garrett, Marilyn Horne, Graham Johnson, Warren Jones, Kiri Te Kanawa, Dawn Upshaw and Roger Vignoles. He is currently one of the inaugural fellows of the McGill-UdeM Piano-Vocal Arts Residency in Montréal, and alongside pianist Julien LeBlanc, he has been Co-Artistic Director of Barachois Summer Music since 2012.
Todd Yaniw
Concertos and Level 10 Piano
Todd Yaniw is a Canadian pianist praised for his “atmospheric contrast of poetry and power…a hair-raising performance”. Since his debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at age 13, Mr. Yaniw has performed across Canada; at festivals and venues including CBC Vancouver, the Banff Centre for Music, Edmonton’s Winspear Centre for Music, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, and Koerner Hall. Mr. Yaniw has performed concerti with several Canadian orchestras, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and has performed with the Afiara Quartet, Rolston String Quartet, Trio Arkel and the ARC Ensemble (Artists of the Royal Conservatory). Todd has been interviewed and broadcast on many occasions on CBC Radio, and was featured in CBC’s “30 under 30” list. He was recorded in Koerner Hall many times for the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Celebration Series. Internationally, Todd has performed in Bulgaria, China, Italy, Jamaica, Monaco, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Dr. Yaniw has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, and twice was a recipient of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Awards. He currently works as a pianist at The Glenn Gould School, and is on faculty at The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists.
Todd Yaniw was born in Edmonton, Alberta and his teachers include Michael Massey, Dr. James Parker, Professor James Anagnoson (The Glenn Gould School), and Dr. Jon Kimura Parker (Rice University). Dr. Yaniw completed his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked with Dr. Anton Nel.
Charles Lin
Intermediate Piano (Levels 7-9)
In demand as an educator, lecturer and adjudicator in the Greater Toronto Area, pianist Charles Lin’s commitment of excellence in the field of piano pedagogy has led to local and international recognitions through his students’ performances. In addition to giving workshops and masterclasses, he an instructor of applied lessons and piano pedagogy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, is an active member with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s College of Examiners, and serves as the Director of the University of Toronto Piano Pedagogy Program (UTPPP). In his position at the UTPPP, Charles oversees the creation of a well-rounded musical experience for young beginners and provides graduate students with the opportunity to teach both group and private lessons. He maintains a successful studio with students as young as four years old.
Charles holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Toronto, under the tutelage of Marietta Orlov and Midori Koga; further studies in children’s piano pedagogy with Irina Gorin through The Gorin Institute. His early years studies were with Alexandra Munn at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music, and Janet Scott-Hoyt at the University of Alberta. He is the recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant, the University of Toronto Fellowship, and the Winspear Fund for Advanced Classical Music Studies.
Performance highlights include appearances at the 14th World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Canadian Chopin Festival, and the Academy at Centre d’arts Orford. He has performed as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Concordia University College Orchestra.
Clark Schaufele
Junior Piano – Levels 1, 2 & 5
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.
Emily Seto-Hughes
Elementary & Junior Piano (Introductory, Levels 3, 4 & 6)
Emily Seto-Hughes is an accomplished Toronto-based classical pianist and educator on Faculty at the Royal Conservatory of Music. She received a fellowship from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music to complete her Master’s degree, and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Music Education.
Emily holds an ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and is certified in the Orff-Schulwerk method. Her teaching approach is rooted in providing students with a holistic music education that centres around student-directed learning.
Emily is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lloyd Bradshaw Prize, Nancy E. Hardy Music Education scholarship, Doreen Hall scholarship (2015 and 2017), Donna and Richard Holbrook scholarship, Arthur Edward Redsell scholarship, RCM Emerging Artists Award in Music Education, Gunild Keetman Fund Scholarship, C. Lloyd Dobson Scholarship, and Richard Iorweth Thorman Jazz scholarship.
Julia Redding
Visual Arts
Julia Redding is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and administrator who completed her BFA at OCADU in Drawing and Painting. Currently, Julia is the Director of Visual Arts at City as School Toronto, where she has developed Grade 8 – 12 visual arts curriculum and extracurricular programming. She has spent time studying and teaching in Florence, Italy where she developed a fondness for experiential learning and study abroad programs for high school students. Julia has strong connections to the Toronto arts community and has worked with a number of artist-run centres. In addition to teaching, Julia runs a small studio and project space centred on giving support to emerging artists and curators.
Jeremy Buzash
Upper Strings – Violin and Viola
Known for his enthusiastic love of music, classic approach, beautiful sound, and an encyclopedic knowledge of violins and bows, Jeremy’s musical path began at the age of 3 at the Conservatory of Performing Arts in Regina, Saskatchewan where he was soon recognized for remarkable aptitude. Already at the age of 4, Jeremy was playing violin with the Buzash family gypsy band, a Canadian Recording Industry Association Gold Record winning ensemble called Betty and Her Brothers Five.
Jeremy’s frequent appearances at local and international festivals during his formative years yielded a multitude of scholarships and awards, including commendations from both the Premier and Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, an Emerging Artist nomination from the mayor of Regina, representing Saskatchewan at the national level in both solo and chamber music categories, and the President’s Gold Medal from the Conservatory of Performing Arts. After graduating with a Masters of Music from the University of Manitoba, Jeremy joined the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra soon after, later becoming tenured as the WSO’s Principal Second Violin.
Jeremy is also a connoisseur of fine stringed instruments and is an enthusiastic supporter of contemporary violin and bow making. Jeremy plays on a special violin made by the Tres Amigos: Antoine Nedelec, Jeff Phillips, and Ryan Soltis. He plays on contemporary bows by Gilles Nehr and Pierre Nehr.
Besides the violin, Jeremy plays piano and guitar, and enjoys creative writing. He is also a passionate collector of retro video game items and is the treasurer of The Interactive Art Collection, a California-based non-profit organization that focuses on the discovery, preservation, education, and sharing of the original art and historical materials from the video game industry.
Michelyn Wright
Classical Voice
Michelyn Wright received her Honours Bachelor of Music Education, and an Artist’s Performance Diploma from the University of Western Ontario then her Master of Music in Voice Performance at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. Through these years she studied with such great teachers as Bernard Diamant, Lois Marshall, Dr. Darryl Edwards and Ruth Falcon. In 1997 she worked with Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge at the Britten Pears School. Michelyn has performed as a soloist with the Guelph Chamber Choir, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Operetta Theatre, and was a chorister with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus from 1998-2008.
Michelyn has been an active Voice Teacher in Markham since 1997. She has been a member of ORMTA since 2017, and is the Markham Stouffville Branch President. A member of the National Assoc. of Teachers of Singing since 1999, she was on the Ontario Chapter executive board for 15 years. In 2001 she was selected as one of 20 applicants to attend the NATS Intensive Program, a teacher training program for young voice teachers. Michelyn has been an Artist Educator with the Canadian Opera Company Education Department, Vocal Music Director for the Unionville Theatre Company and a Vocal Instructor for the Bach Children’s Chorus. Currently, Michelyn has a large private voice studio in Markham and is a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto, teaching Voice Education to undergraduate instrumental music education students.
Michelyn’s students have been finalists at the OMFA Provincials, NATS Regional Auditions, NATS Ontario Vocal Showcase, Pickering GTA Music Festival, Newmarket Lions, Toronto Kiwanis, and North York Music Festivals and recently the 1st Place winner of the 2021 and 2022 ORMTA Vocal Provincials. Her students have been Silver and Gold Medal Royal Conservatory of Music Winners, and many have continued in music after high school at the University level, attending such schools as, McGill University, University of Toronto, Western University and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Tenja Hagenberg
Popular Voice
Tenja Hagenberg is an actor-singer-dancer based out of St. Catharines, Ontario. A graduate of Sheridan College’s Music Theatre Performance program, Tenja had spent years working in theatres across Canada; playing leading roles in Tommy, The Little Mermaid, Baby, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and starred in the Dora Award-winning Evil Dead: The Musical play in Toronto’s Diesel Playhouse.
Through her many adventures upon the stage; she has had the opportunity to create her own one woman show ‘Around The World And Home Again (A Benefit for the Canadian Mental Health Association)’, headline a jazz big band, perform in the St. George’s Music Festival in Bermuda and sing back ups for headliner acts around the world.
Tenja performed as a Guest Entertainer for Princess Cruises where she worked with top Hollywood stage directors and choreographers in the creative process of building their new productions for their latest vessels. A highlight in her career as a lead vocalist and creative on these awesome projects, from its beginnings to performing the shows in incredible 2000 seat venues.
Tenja returned back home to her roots in St. Catharines, Ontario in 2016. She performs with different production companies in the GTA and Niagara area and in 2018 created Performance
On Point; a one-on-one coaching program in singing, acting and performance. She is also the head agent with POP Talent Management. She is passionate about sharing her expertise with students and clients beginning their careers upon the stage and in the world of entertainment.
Sarah Yunji Moon
Woodwinds
Toronto-based Flutist Sarah Moon enjoys an active performance and teaching career all over Ontario. She balances her schedule between teaching at Queen’s University in Kingston, and performances in Toronto.
Currently, Sarah is a member of Blythwood Winds, a prestigious professional woodwind quintet in the GTA. She’s also the principal flute of the Ontario Philharmonic. From 2016 to 2018, Sarah held the principal flute position with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and taught at the University of Saskatchewan during her time there. In 2019, she was invited back to perform Christos Hatzis’ Concerto for Flute ‘Departure’ with the SSO.
Sarah’s previous orchestra engagements include Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax from 2008-2010, and Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2014. As an active recitalist, Sarah recently performed at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Arts in Kingston as part of the Faculty Artists Series, and at the Arts and Letter’s Club in Toronto.
Sarah started playing the piano at age 5, and Flute at age 11. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, and a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, NY.
Wenying Chen
Non-Western Strings
Ms. Wenying Chen is currently the Music Director at Canada YC Music Academy. Ms. Chen is a well-known guzheng performer and educator in Canada and China. Ms Chen has been invited as adjudicator for multiple organizations and festivals, including but not limited to Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival, Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, Chinese Musicians Association, Chinese Orchestra Association. Ms. Chen graduated from Tianjin Conservatory of Music in China,
Ms Chen won the first prize of the Professional guzheng group in the Chinese National Instrumental Music Competition. Her guzheng solo, “Reveries on the East of the River”, was highly praised at the National Guzheng Seminar and was recorded and broadcasted on China Radio.
She was a disciple of Cao Zheng, the famous guzheng educator Zhou Yanjia, Sun Wenyan and Song Guosheng, the famous Erhu educator. She has won the title of “Heroine Pacesetter” and “Cross-century Literary Star”.
In 2012, she served as master tutor of Tzar’s Village Music Festival in Canada and judge of Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival in Canada. In 2015, she was awarded the “Educational Achievement Award” by the 5th Golden Bell Music Competition for Children in China. In 2016, she won the title of “Canadian Woman of the Year”. In 2017, she was invited to be a professional guzheng judge for Shengshihua Zheng and participated in the Guinness World Records for Guzheng. In the same year, she was invited to participate in the 4th Guzheng Conference in Japan and Osaka. In 2017 and 2018, she won the Excellent Education Guide Award.