2023 Festival Adjudicators

BOWED STRINGS

Alexander Cheung, cello, is gaining a reputation as a compassionate, innovative, and inspiring musician of his generation. Alexander graduated from the University of Michigan with a double major in Cello Performance and Movement Science (Kinesiology). He is also a certified personal trainer under the American Council on Exercise.

Principal cello teachers include Wayne Smith, Anthony Elliott, and Eric Wilson. Alexander has been awarded numerous accolades throughout his musical journey, competing at the national and international level. While a student at the University of Michigan, Alexander was a recipient of the Martin Luther King Spirit Award, given “in recognition of individuals whose leadership and service exemplify the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” His work has been broadcast by NPR, CBC Radio One and Two, and on television.

Alexander is one of the founding members of the dynamic string trio, Infinitus. Along with his other colleagues, he arranges, composes, and performs original works, as well as fresh takes on classic compositions. Prior administrative experience includes co-directorship of the Vancouver Chamber Players, an organization that presents lesser-known classical works to general audiences and care centres for seniors.

On the teaching side, Alexander integrates his kinesiology training into musical concepts that provide a holistic perspective to learning a string instrument. Utilizing the approach that music is a sport, lessons keep the student engaged while building skills that extend beyond the classroom. Current and former students have competed and are prizewinners in local and provincial events. In addition to adjudication duties throughout the year, Alexander holds a faculty position at the Vancouver Academy of Music.

CHOIR & VOICE

Fabiana Katz is an accomplished mezzo-soprano and has performed with choirs and orchestras all over the country. She has taught singing for over 27 years and is an expert technician and pedagogue, with a strong instinct for diagnosing vocal problems and finding solutions from a physiological perspective. Her intuitive and empathic nature is of great value when teaching.

Ms. Katz’s approach to vocal pedagogy is holistic and organic, based on the natural and proper structure of the singing apparatus and efficiency of the mechanism, and is tailored to the individual and his or her particular issues at the time. Her first priority is always to reveal and ease tension in the body, thereby releasing trapped sound energy and achieving greater physical relaxation to allow for a free, resonant voice.

Ms. Katz’s solo performance experience include engagements with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Berkshire Choral Festival, Symphony Nova Scotia, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, and the CBC Radio Orchestra, among others. Ms. Katz is equally comfortable performing in the classical style as in contemporary commercial idioms, such musical theatre, pop and folk, especially the music of Latin America.

As a conductor, Ms. Katz’s knowledge of the vocal mechanism imbues and informs her choral rehearsal and methods. Her focus is on the instinctive, somatic and relaxed functioning of the singing apparatus and all its systems, and her solutions to choral problems are always based on sound vocal technique.

Ms. Katz’s philosophy of sound production is based on the embodied voice, the relationship between body and expression of sound and emotion, the connection between the intuitive, natural speaking voice and the physiology of our bodies, and its extension to singing.

Ms. Katz has Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

DANCE

Born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, Canada, Lauren Overholt has been performing since the age of 2 in various styles of dance. She has trained at NYU Tisch and has performed all over Canada, Spain, and a 22 city touring show in China, with the Dragonfly Orchestra. Lauren runs her own boutique entertainment company Enfuse Entertainment, which specializes in mashing up different styles to create amazing performances for any audience. Lauren also has a passion for TV & Film as well, starring in shows such as Supernatural, Bates Motel, and dancing on a feature film with Steve Carall. She is also an owner and Artistic Director of Seymour Dance where she produces two large-scale ballet productions a season, and sends over 100 students to multiple competitions each season. Her dedication and love for the arts, keeps her constantly creating and learning. She looks forward to upcoming opportunities and believes the only limitations that exist are in our minds.

Cassie Douglas has carved out space for herself in the industry with her innovative choreography. Her passion for growth and story-telling is undeniable, it bleeds into each of her classes. She can most frequently be found in the studio workshopping movement, connecting to breath and collaborating. Cassie has trained throughout North America attending numerous conventions, intensives and programs. She holds certifications in AA, PBT, Sugar Foot Therapy and RYT. Her mission as an educator is to provide a sacred environment for development of artistry and self-confidence. She believes each of us are innately and infinitely creative, she strives to unlock each of her students’ unique artistic expression while facilitating a space to break through their personal blocks. Cassie is incredibly humbled by all the opportunities she has been given over the last ten years to influence the next generation of creatives.

FOLK INSTRUMENTAL

Fiddler, singer, actor, composer, educator Jennie Bice is at home in many musical genres. From frenzied boot-stomping Irish craic, country & eastern, roots and rhythm styles, to world fusion, rock, jazz and blues, Jennie shines on every stage she meets. Bice began playing fiddle at the age of four around the family piano, and never stopped. Currently recording and performing on the west coast of Canada with Roads Unknown, Strong Bow & Wry, Ari Neufeld, Boris Sichon, John Welsh, The Doolins and many others. Jennie also loves taking time out every once in a while to teach workshops at a few of BC’s fantastic music and theatre camps. A producer, engineer, and teacher at Annwyn Studios, Bice is devoted to musical exploration and artistic inspiration. An absolute delight to watch perform.

PIANO

Listeners, critics, and audience members alike know Stephen Smith as “a sensitive and dynamic performer” with a “highly poetic touch” and “superb musicianship which illuminates everything he plays.” Renowned pianist Jane Coop called her former student “an extremely intelligent and perceptive musician who has great facility and strength in his technique.” And Simon Carrington (one of the founding members of the Kings Singers) has called Smith “a magnificent pianist,” saying, “It’s a privilege to hear such beautiful playing!”

Smith grew up in rural Nova Scotia, where he sang and played the piano from an early age. After initial studies in his home province in both piano and organ, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, obtaining the degree of Master of Music and the college’s Professional Performers’ diploma. While a student there, he gave recitals throughout England and participated in national and international piano competitions, winning numerous awards and distinctions.

In 1990, Smith came to Vancouver to study at the University of British Columbia. After obtaining a doctoral degree in piano performance, he embarked on what has become a decades-long career in the city of Vancouver, encompassing solo and chamber music performance, choral accompanying, conducting, teaching, adjudicating, writing and lecturing about music, composing, and arranging. His work as both pianist and composer is well represented in commercial recordings, many of which are available on Spotify, Apple Music, and similar platforms.

PLUCKED STRINGS

Virtuoso Brazilian guitarist and composer, Celso Machado has been performing on concert stages internationally for over 40 years.

Brazilian music has arisen out of various blends of Classical European, African, Portuguese and Indigenous influences. There is less division in Brazilian music between classical and jazz, jazz and folk. While Celso’s music is rooted in Brazilian rhythmic and melodic styles, it also reflects his incurable fascination with other world music traditions. Celso incorporates these influences into his own sound; his own unique contribution to the ongoing evolution of Brazilian music.

Celso’s innovative compositions for guitar and ensemble, are infused with a rich knowledge of the traditional music of Brazil: samba, chôro, baião, frêvo, etc. Musicians worldwide have recorded his compositions.

SPEECH & DRAMA

Mike Stack is a professional theatre artist, educator and adjudicator who lives in Vancouver, BC, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. As an adjudicator for speech arts he has worked with many of the BC regional festivals, most recently in Powell River and the Lakes District, as well as the 2017 BC and 2019 Alberta provincials. He will once again be adjudicating at the upcoming 2023 Alberta Provincial festival. His extensive work with young people includes being a teaching artist with Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, guest director at both Templeton Secondary in east Vancouver and Smithers Secondary in Northern BC, and Director and Youth Engagement Coordinator with Mortal Coil Performance Society. For over twenty years he has been leading ongoing Shakespeare and theatre workshops throughout the Lower Mainland Homelearning community. Mike is a multiple Jessie Award nominee and recipient, and a graduate of the Studio 58 Professional Theatre Training Program at Langara College.

WOODWINDS & BRASS

Remaining active as a performer in 2020-2021, Julia Nolan premiered Luminous Blue, an unaccompanied piece for alto saxophone by Jeffrey Ryan, performed with the Vancouver Symphony (Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris), Weill (Three Penny Opera), and Milhaud (Creation of the World), in addition to a concert called “Tango, Klezmer, and Jazz” for the Vetta Chamber Music Series (Joan Blackman, violin; Jane Hayes, piano; and Jodi Proznick, bass) that featured premiered works by Fred Stride and Jodi Proznick.

Days before lockdown in March 2020, Julia Nolan was the featured soloist with Sinfonia Orchestra performing Stefan Hintersteininger’s Saxophone Concerto. In October 2019, Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet presented the Canadian premiere performance of Nicolas Scherzinger’s “Cross Court” with the Acadia University Wind Ensemble.

As soloist with the West Coast Symphony, Julia performed Hintersteininger’s concerto in Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Macedonia. In 2018, she released a cd with Jane Hayes and Joan Blackman (Chromaticity) and another cd with the Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet. Julia performed Jeffrey Ryan’s concerto Brazen with the Lubbock Symphony in 2016 (previously premiered with the Vancouver Symphony and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra) and premiered Cool Cut by John Oliver with the Turning Point Ensemble. She recorded with Denis Bedard (2014), and with the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy (2015) performing Robert Buckley’s Prestidigitation. She recorded with Alan Matheson’s jazz groups on the cd “Intrada” and with the CBC Orchestra as soloist (Tableaux de Provence/Paule Maurice, and commissioned concertos by Fred Stride, and Ian McDougall).

SCHOOL BANDS

Energetic, passionate, and driven, Tak Maeda believes that embracing every moment at rehearsals and on stage is the key to a successful performance. A graduate of the Osaka College of Music and an overseas student of Frank Kaderabek (former principal trumpet, Philadelphia Orchestra), Tak played his trumpet with The Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, a full time professional orchestra in Japan, from 1979 to 1989. In addition, he was a Band Clinician for Yamaha Music Foundation Japan for years, where he conducted mass bands and honour bands at Yamaha sponsored clinics and festivals in Western Japan. It was here that he began to mentor younger band instructors.

In search of more musical challenges, Tak moved to Canada in 1990. He played trumpet with the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and was the choir director of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church Choir in North Vancouver, as well as the bandmaster of the North Vancouver Youth Band.

Tak is now enjoying his busy life as the music director of The Sea to Sky Wind Ensemble (in North Vancouver), The West Vancouver Concert Band, The West Vancouver Pops Band, and The Suncoast Concert Band here on the Sunshine Coast. He also occasionally takes on the role of guest conductor at public and private high schools in the Greater Vancouver area.