VAYA Online INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL: Spring 2025

Adjudicators

Brad Mahon, Swift Current, SK, Canada (Classical Guitar)

Brad Mahon regularly appears nationally and internationally as an award-winning and acclaimed adjudicator, panelist, clinician, and guitarist.

He is President and CEO of Great Plains College and a senior member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s College of Examiners.

In his spare time, Brad serves on the Board of Directors of Colleges and Institutes Canada and as Vice President of the Kiwanis Club of Swift Current.

His formal education includes a PhD (musicology) from the University of Calgary, an MBA (executive management) from Royal Roads University, and an ARCT (guitar) from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

In 2022, Brad received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, recognizing his service to the education sector.
Dominique Bernath, Vancouver, Canada (Percussion)

•     "Dominique Bernath's handling of the complex timpani part was spectacular." (Kelowna Daily Courier)
•     “Her ebullient personality and percussive flair never failed to delight and this unique exploration of the lyrical potential of the timpani was no exception." (Vernon Morning Star)
•     “Kudos to Dominique Bernath for her superb and acrobatic timpani playing." (Kelowna Capital News)

Dominique Bernath has been the Principal Timpanist of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra since 1997 after attending the University of British Columbia where she studied Orchestral Percussion. She began performing with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1995, and also performs with the Surrey City Orchestra, Vancouver Island Symphony, Fraser Valley Wind Ensembles, and numerous orchestras throughout the province. Dominique has shared the stage with such Canadian talents as Jann Arden, Natalie MacMaster, Anne Murray, Dee Daniels, The Rankins and Holly Cole.

Dominique performed three auditioned sessions with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and has also been featured as a concerto soloist on timpani. She frequently teaches percussion clinics and masterclasses and has been a pianist since 1981. Dominique has been the stage manager/percussion coach for the Kiwanis Concert Band Festival since 2004 and proudly works as an Educational Representative for Tapestry Music.

Ms. Bernath is a Yamaha and Zildjian Artist.

Fiona Jane Watson, Toronto, Canada (Senior Piano)

Originally from Ottawa, Fiona Jane Watson is a Toronto based pianist who is in demand both as a solo and collaborative artist. Ms. Watson champions both the standard and contemporary repertoire and has premiered several solo and chamber works across Canada. She holds an ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music and was awarded several scholarships in her post -secondary education. Ms. Watson holds a Bachelor in Piano Performance from McGill University, the Advanced certificate in Performance from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Performance and Pedagogy from the Glenn Gould School (through Thompson Rivers University). Ms. Watson has studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Orford Arts Centre and the Adamant School. Principal teachers include Sandra Webster, Tom Plaunt and Marietta Orlov.

Ms. Watson has performed in master classes for celebrated musicians that include André Laplante, Angela Hewitt, Jane Coop, John Perry and Marc Durand. She has recently given recitals at the McMichael Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 345, The Canadian Music Centre, the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Canadian Opera Company, the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, and the Arts and Letters club of Toronto. She was recently a contributor and advisor to the 2022 piano syllabus for the Celebration Series of the Royal Conservatory of Music and was on the Jury for the Music Lights the Way Festival.

Ms. Watson combines her love of performing with teaching and is a member of the college of examiners for the Royal Conservatory of Music. She is also a frequent adjudicator across North America in all levels of piano and is on faculty at the Oscar Peter School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as well as the Saint Michaels Choir School in Toronto.

Hilary Sturt, London, UK (Solo Strings, String and Mixed Ensembles & Chamber Groups)

Hilary Sturt studied the violin with Shiela Nelson, David Takeno, and Felix Andrievsky, graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music with solo, chamber and contemporary music prizes. As a violinist and violist, she performed and recorded worldwide with Ensemble Modern for 20 years, including notable projects with Frank Zappa, Peter Eotvos and Pierre Boulez. She has been guest leader of many British ensembles and chamber orchestras, a member of the Rasumovsky Quartet and Apartment House, winners of the Philharmonic Society Award for the Most Outstanding Chamber Music in 2011.

Hilary is much in demand as a teacher, adjudicator, conductor and sits on many audition and interview panels throughout the UK. She is Head of Strings at St Paul's Girls' School, Head of Chamber Music at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, Instrumental Teaching Tutor at the Senior RCM, a Diploma examiner for the Associated Board and an examiner for AQA exam board. Hilary recorded the violin syllabus Grades 1-4 for the ABRSM in 2015 and was involved in choosing repertoire for the forthcoming ABRSM violin syllabus in 2019. Most recently, she was awarded an MA from the Institute of Education. A delightfully misbehaved rescue dog and her husband’s home- made bread keep her grounded.

Gabi Epstein, Toronto, Canada (Musical Theatre/Contemporary Voice)

Hailed “Canada’s Queen of Cabaret” by CTV, Gabi is a DORA award winner and one of Canada's leading stage/cabaret performers best known for playing Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Stratford Festival and Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" at the Segal Centre and in concert for the Harold Green Jewish Theatre.

Some other favourite stage credits include: "Billy Elliot” (Stratford), “Once” (Mirvish - DORA AWARD Best Ensemble/Musical), The Beggar Woman in “Sweeney Todd” (TIFT - DORA AWARD Best Musical), “Tell Me On a Sunday” (Cnd premiere- Magnus), The Baker’s Wife in “Into the Woods” and Charlotte in “A Little Night Music” (Koerner Hall), “Rock of Ages” (Elgin Theatre), Yitzhak in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (TIFT), “9 to 5: The Musical”, “Fiddler on the Roof” (Capitol), “Blood Brothers”, “Perfect Wedding” (Drayton), and “To Life” (HGJT - DORA AWARD Nomination Outstanding Performance in a Musical).

Gabi is perhaps most praised for her own cabarets having captured the hearts of audiences around the world with her signature storytelling concerts (“Best Cabaret of the Year” by the Times Square Chronicles in NYC). Gabi's solo show and love letter to Barbra Streisand Gabs Sings Babs debuted in 2022 and has subsequently been performed all over Canada to sold out audiences. Her latest studio album also called Gabs Sings Babs was produced by Mark Camilleri and features original reimagined arrangements of the Streisand songs featured in her solo show.

Follow Gabi on Instagram @gabifayepstein to stay in touch!
Lorraine Augustine, Bedford, UK (Junior, Advanced Junior and & Intermediate Piano)

Guildhall School alumni Lorraine is the granddaughter of a Professional Pianist and grew up surrounded by music, beginning formal piano lessons at a young age and knowing from the very first lesson that playing the piano was the only thing she really wanted to do.

Lorraine went on to achieve Diplomas in Performance and Teaching and to study with Pianists such as Graham Fitch, Noriko Ogawa, Artur Pizarro and Leslie Howard and has a Post Graduate Certificate in Performance Teaching from Guildhall School and a Coaching and Mentoring qualification from Guildhall School and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. Lorraine is a regular Adjudicator for Piano Festivals and competitions including the annual Junior Clementi Competition.

As a solo performer Lorraine has performed extensively across the UK including a World Premier of S. G Pott’s Raymond Variations in London in 2015, and has appeared on television, radio and International Piano Magazine. Lorraine continues to perform regularly with upcoming recitals at venues and music societies across the UK.

Lorraine has been teaching piano at GSMD since 2014, joining the permanent staff in 2017. She also runs a busy private teaching practice in her studio in Bedford where she lives.
Nancy Allen, New York City, NY, USA (Harp)

Principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic since 1999, Nancy Allen was born in New York City and was a first-prize winner of the 1973 International Harp Competition in Israel. She has toured the U.S. as harp soloist and in duos with flutist Ransom Wilson and has also performed with the English Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Mostly Mozart Festival.

Allen has recorded on the Angel, EMI, RCA, and CRI labels and received a Grammy Award nomination for her recording of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro. Other recordings include a Bach album, Rodrigo’s Harp Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and contemporary works by Takemitsu, Rochberg, Widdoes, and Richard Wilson. She was awarded the National Endowment Solo Recitalist Grant and has received sponsorship from the Pro Musicis Foundation.

Allen holds a BM and MM from Juilliard where she studied with Marcel Grandjany. Formerly on the faculties of the Yale School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Allen has been on the harp faculty at the Aspen Music Festival since 1978. She has been a member of the Juilliard faculty since 1985.



Peter Stoll, Toronto, ON, Canada (Reeds)

Known for his virtuoso energy on stage, creative musical arrangements and an entertaining way of speaking with the audience, Peter Stoll is one of Canada’s most innovative and versatile clarinetists. He was a prizewinner in the International Clarinet Society Competition, and also Solo Clarinetist with the World Orchestra of Jeunesses Musicales in Berlin and Vienna, which was broadcast on live television across Europe. Peter won First Prize in Chamber Music at the National Competitive Music Festival, for whose 50th Anniversary edition he was invited back as Woodwind Adjudicator, and as soloist in the Gala Celebration Concert in Winnipeg.

Peter has been guest soloist with orchestras in Canada and the United States and was invited to Russia for solo performances with the Saratov Philharmonic's “Volga Wind Ensemble” and to present masterclasses at the State Conservatory. International performances have also included twice at the ADeVantGarde Festival in Munich, Germany, as well as Finland, Great Britain, Holland and Belgium. In October 2013 he was flown to Japan to take part in the Yamaha Music Foundation’s “Junior Original Concert” at Bunkamura Hall in Tokyo. In October of 2014 Peter travelled to three cities in China on a new music exchange with conservatories there, organized by the University of Toronto.

Principal Clarinetist of the former Toronto Philharmonia for 10 years, Peter has continued to perform with many regional ensembles, including the Hamilton Philharmonic, Kitchener- Waterloo Symphony, Niagara Symphony, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Toronto Masque Theatre, Opera York, Tapestry Opera, and the Talisker Players. In 2019 he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award as part of Best Ensemble-Opera, with Against the Grain Opera Theatre.

Summer festival performances have included a tour with the Swiss Piano Trio, the Ottawa and Vancouver Chamber Music Festivals, the Festival of the Sound, Manitoba's Clear Lake Festival, the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Ottawa Valley Festival, the Toronto Summer Music Festival and the Music Garden, and as a Mentor with the Boris Brott Music Festival's National Academy Orchestra for many years.

Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Peter teaches clarinet, chamber music, performance and education studies, including the very popular “Business of Music” course. He is also a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music's National College of Examiners, and is much sought after as an adjudicator at music festivals across the country. In 2014 Peter was the chief compiler of the new Clarinet Syllabus for RCM Examinations. He continues to serve as the Winds Area Specialist for RCME.

Other performance highlights have included concerts with the Gryphon Trio, pre-eminent Canadian percussionist Beverley Johnston, accordion virtuoso Joseph Macerollo, solo and chamber music for visits by world-renowned composers Kryzstof Penderecki, Chen Yi, André Mehmari and Anders Hillborg, as well as serving as Artist-In-Residence for the Silverthorn Symphonic Winds. Peter recently performed the Canadian premiere of noted American wind ensemble composer Brian
Rita Ueda, Vancouver, Canada (Composition)

Rita Ueda is a Canadian composer based in Vancouver, the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Applauded as a composer whose ‘poetic is often very delicate and introspective…’ (Guido Barbieri, Warner Classics), her works inspire contemplation and dialogue between cultures in flux. Notable works include as the first spring blossoms awaken through the snow (2021), let us not be the reason why someone out there is praying for peace (2020), forty years of snowfall will not heal an ancient forest (2010), and Hummingbird in Winter (2021). Her most recent work, Birds Calling… From the Canada in You (2022) for sho (Japanese mouth organ, sheng (Chinese mouth organ) / suona (Chinese shawm), and orchestra has been praised as “… fresh, thoroughly Canadian, and breathtakingly original.” (James Imam, Musical America Worldwide).

Winner of the 2022 Jules Léger Prize in New Chamber Music, 2022 Azrieli Prize in Canadian Music and the 2014 Penderecki International Composers’ Competition, Ms Ueda has premiered orchestral works with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Budapest MAV Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s (New York), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra (London). Her works have been presented by the Carinthian Music Festival (Austria), Tongyeong International Music Festival (South Korea), Prague Contempuls Festival, Uitmarkt Festival (Netherlands), Kyushu Okinawa Composers’ Association (Japan), and the Antal Dorati International Conducting Competition (Hungary).

For over 10 years, Ms Ueda has been actively creating intercultural works that feature various underrepresented communities in the Canadian music scene. Recent collaborations include as the first spring blossoms awaken through the snow (2021) for intercultural ensemble and Fly Away Phoenix, Into the Sky (2021) for sanxian (Chinese 3-string banjo) and intercultural strings, both with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra. Il Viaggio di Dante (2021) her concerto for guzheng (Chinese zither, Geling Jiang) and chamber orchestra was premiered by Ensemble Bios at Teatro Niccolini in Florence, Italy as a part of the city-wide celebration of the 700th anniversary of Dante Alghieri’s death.

For over 10 years, Ms Ueda has been actively creating intercultural works that feature various underrepresented communities in the Canadian music scene. Recent collaborations include as the first spring blossoms awaken through the snow (2021) for intercultural ensemble and Fly Away Phoenix, Into the Sky (2021) for sanxian (Chinese 3-string banjo) and intercultural strings, both with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra. Il Viaggio di Dante (2021) her concerto for guzheng (Chinese zither, Geling Jiang) and chamber orchestra was premiered by Ensemble Bios at Teatro Niccolini in Florence, Italy as a part of the city-wide celebration of the 700th anniversary of Dante Alghieri’s death.

As a choral/vocal composer, Ms Ueda has composed over 20 works that span from children’s repertoire to a 90-voice SATB choir. Her intercultural chamber opera, One Thousand White Paper Cranes for Japan (2012) has been performed in 6 countries over Europe, North America, and Asia. She has composed new works for the SYC Ensemble Singers (Singapore), Esoterics (Seattle), Amadeus Choir of Toronto, and the Boston Choral Ensemble. Her latest chamber opera, I Have My Mother’s Eyes: a Holocaust Memoir Across Generations featuring musicians from Japan and Canada was one of the most sought after ticket at the Vancouver Chutzpah! Festival in 2023.

Ms Ueda holds degrees from Simon Fraser University, California Institute for the Arts, and University of Durham (UK). Principal teachers include Rudolf Komorous, Rodney Sharman, David Rosenboom, Wadada Leo Smith, Morton Subotnick, Richard Rijnvos, and James Weeks. Other short-term teachers include Earle Brown, James Tenney, and Lou Harrison.

Her latest recordings are I Solisti Della Scalla – Octets (Warner Classics), even if the sky fades into the dark (Stingray Classica), and Il Viaggio di Dante (Stingray Classica). Her selected orchestral works are published by Vienna Doblinger.

Dr. Carla Rees, London, UK (Flutes & Piccolos)

Carla Rees is a British low flutes specialist who has developed an international reputation for her innovative work. Her multi-faceted career encompasses solo and chamber music performance, collaboration, recording, composing, arranging, editing and teaching. She performs on Kingma System flutes (made by Eva Kingma, Bickford Brannen and Lev Levit), as well as both baroque and contemporary repertoire on baroque flutes.

Her performing work encompasses chamber music and solo recitals, appearing frequently at international festivals, including flute festivals in France, Germany, Poland, USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Japan and the UK, as well as at BEAST Feast, Bangor New Music Festival, ICMC, HCMF, Cheltenham Music Festival, Kulturforum Pax Christi, Krefeld (Germany), Open Spaces Festival Nuremburg (Germany), Tirol Easter Festival, (Austria), Lunalia Festival (Belgium) Eglise Saint-Merri, Paris (France) and La Cote Festival (Switzerland), Sonic Circuits (USA), Spark Festival (USA) and others. Recent UK performances include at Iklectik, The Forge and Café Oto (London), MTIDMU Concert Series (Leicester), Fairfield Halls (Croydon), Handel House (London) and York Spring Music Festival. Recent performances include events in the UK, Italy, Poland, Costa Rica, Japan and Brazil.

She is Artistic Director of rarescale, a contemporary chamber ensemble with whom she works to create and promote new repertoire for her instruments. She is also a member of the Goldfield Ensemble, Edison Ensemble, and plays in a trio focussing on Feldman’s music with pianist John Tilbury and percussionist Simon Allen.

An active collaborator, Carla’s projects include improvised interdisciplinary work with ecosystemic electronic composer Scott L Miller, and artist Caroline Wright. Other collaborations include the International Superflutes Collective and Hønk, the first European Contrabass Flute Ensemble.

Carla’s passion for the development of recital repertoire has resulted in the development of several hundred new works written for her by a wide range of composers. Premieres include works by Claes Biehl, Simon Emmerson, Robert Fokkens, Alexander Goehr, Sungji Hong, Daniel Kessner, Nicola LeFanu, Adam Melvin, Scott L Miller, Patrick Nunn, Michael Oliva, David Bennett Thomas, Ian Wilson, Scott Wilson and Elizabeth Winters. Her most recent project sees the creation of new contemporary works for baroque flute, which she has combined with studies in early music performance with Serge Saitta.

Carla leads rarescale Flute Academy, an acclaimed flute ensemble for university level players, for whom she arranges numerous works. The ensemble has performed in Greece, Poland and the United States, and is currently collaborating with a number of composers to create new repertoire.

An experienced recording artist, she appears on more than 30 CDs (including for rarescale records, NMC, Metier, Delphian, Heritage records and Edition Troy), including concerto recordings with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Ensemble Neumusik im Ostseeraum (Germany). She also appears on incidental music for film, TV and radio, including the 2018 release Mary Magdalene (music by Jóhann Jóhannsson and Hildur Guðnadóttir), and the BBC Radio 4 series Dear Professor Hawking. She has over 80 published compositions and arrangements (available through Tetractys), with recent performances of her works in the UK, USA, Canada, Japan, France, Poland and Belgium.

Carla has enjoyed a long involvement with international flute societies. She was Programme Director for two British Flute Society International Conventions, and served a four-year term as International Liaison Chair for the National Flute Association of America (NFA) and since November 2021 she has been Chair of the NFA's New Music Advisory Committee. She currently Editor of PAN, the Journal of the British Flute Society.

She completed her PhD at the Royal College of Music in London in 2014, researching extended techniques for Kingma System alto and bass flute with the support of scholarships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the RCM. She is Programme Leader for an innovative online Music degree at the Open College of the Arts and has taught the flute at Royal Holloway University of London since 2006. In 2021 she was appointed the first Professor of Low Flutes and Contemporary Flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London.