2014 Adjudicators
Catherine Abele - Classical Voice
Soprano Catherine Abele received her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Manitoba, under the tutelage of Canadian soprano, Tracy Dahl. She went on to receive her Master of Music degree in Voice from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, the same institution where she is now a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice and Vocal Pedagogy. Ms. Abele was a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and took the top vocal prize at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition.
Ms. Abele pursues a keen interest in art song and chamber music. Performance highlights include Argento’s Six Elizabethan Songs and Arnold Cooke’s Nocturnes with the Grandin Chamber Music Festival, John Greer’s Liebesleid-Lieder with the composer at the piano during the Department of Music’s Vocal Arts Week, and Lori Laitman’s I Never Saw Another Butterfly as part of the University of Alberta’s ‘Music at Convocation Hall’ Series.
Recent engagements include La Belle Époque, a shared 2013/14 Department of Music Mainstage Concert featuring mélodies by Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, in collaboration with The Aldeburgh Connection’s Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata in a performance of A Country House Weekend, as guest soloist with the Richard Eaton Singers in Handel’s Israel in Egypt and with the University of Alberta Symphony Orchestra, Madrigal Singers and Concert Choir in Britten’s The Company of Heaven, and as a member of the world’s foremost school of German Lieder, the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden, Austria. Upcoming performances include Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 with The Enterprise String Quartet and Vier Lieder, Op. 2 by the same composer at the University of Alberta’s Convocation Hall.
Ms. Abele is an active vocal adjudicator in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and currently serves as Instructor of Voice, Lyric Diction and Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Alberta's Department of Music.
Aaron Au - Strings
A native of Lethbridge, Alberta, Aaron Au was a first violinist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and is currently a Sessional Lecturer of Viola at the University of Alberta. A frequent guest of CBC Radio, Aaron has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician on both violin and viola in concerts across Canada, the U.S., Cuba and Europe. Aaron completed his Doctor of Music degree in 2007 at the University of Alberta, where he was a Killam Scholar and was also awarded the University of Alberta Ph.D. Scholarship. He is currently pursuing another passion, with studies at Taylor Seminary where he is enrolled in the Master of Divinity degree. Aaron is privileged to be the founding President and former Artistic Director of the Edmonton Recital Society.
John Brough - Junior Piano and Composition
John Brough hold a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ottawa, and a Masters and Doctorate from the University of Alberta, where he has taught as a sessional instructor since 1997. He studied piano in Ottawa with Edith Orton and Douglas Voice, Organ with Frances Macdonnell and Karen Holmes in Ottawa and Marnie Giesbrecht in Edmonton. He also studied piano pedagogy with Cynthia Floyd at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Brough also holds Associate diplomas with the Royal Conservatory of Music, as well as the Royal Canadian College of Organists.An award-winning teacher, Dr. Brough is an adjunct professor at Concordia University College in Edmonton where he teaches conducting and musicology courses. He is Artistic Director of Da Camera Singers, Edmonton’s longest standing chamber choir, and Director of Music at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, He is also well known around the Edmonton area as a freelance accompanist, and also as an organ, piano and voice teacher, as well as a choral clinician. Dr. Brough is comfortable teaching music from all eras, but considers early music, especially the music of the English Tudor school his specialty, and is often sought after as continuo keyboard player and conductor for music of the early baroque.His adjudicating travels have taken him as far east as New Brunswick and as far north as Whitehorse Yukon, where he has adjudicated in the disciplines of piano, organ, voice and choral music. Dr. Brough sits on the board of examiners for Conservatory Canada, examining all levels of piano and voice.
Will Cramer - Guitar
William Cramer has been a professional musician for thirty two years. He has enjoyed a wide ranging career playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, baglama saz, oud, steel guitar, ukulele and viola. He has toured extensively throughout Canada, the U.S.A, Brazil and Taiwan. Will has worked in jazz, traditional jazz, country and western, rock and pop, new age, electronic experimental and multi ethnic folk music. He has done extensive work as a studio musician and studio owner and has two albums of original music out on compact disc. William studied music in Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton and finally at Edmonton's Grant MacEwan college. He has been teaching guitar and banjo for thirty years both privately and in music schools in the Edmonton area and now teaches out of his west Edmonton home.
Sarah Schaub - Popular Voice and Musical Theatre
Sarah Schaub has completed an Artist's Diploma from the Randolph Academy of Performing Arts, a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Alberta, and a Bachelor of Education at the University of Alberta. As a conductor, Sarah is involved with the Archbishop Jordan High School Choirs, both as an assistant director, as well as director and founder of the Jazz Choir. This is in addition to her position as a teacher on staff, teaching Musical Theatre, Drama, English and Religion. Sarah has also worked as a section lead for the Festival Singers, a vocal coach for Archbishop Jordan's Drama Department and the Cantando Festival, a voice instructor, and has been hired to perform musical theatre workshops. As a performer, Sarah has sung with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, The Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Pro Coro Canada, Mercury Opera, the Da Camera Singers, the Scona Chamber Singers and the U of A Madrigal Singers. Sarah's favourite musical theatre credit was working with Alberta Opera in their school tour of Rapunzel, in which she played the Witch.
Angela Schroeder - Band
A native of Alberta, Dr. Angela Schroeder completed undergraduate studies in Music at University of Calgary, majoring in Secondary Education, with performance studies in piano and trumpet. She also completed the Diploma of Fine Arts in Wind Band Conducting at University of Calgary under the supervision of Glenn Price. After years of teaching at various secondary schools in the Calgary area, she entered the Long Term Residency program at The Banff Centre, where she studied and performed on piano, trumpet and as a conductor. Angela entered the Master's program in Wind Conducting at Northwestern University in 2002, where she studied with Mallory Thompson and earned the Master of Music in Conducting. In 2007, she completed the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Band Conducting at the University of North Texas, under the supervision of Eugene Corporon.Dr. Schroeder is currently Assistant Professor of Music in the Department of Music of the University of Alberta. She is the Director of Bands, the area coordinator for the Winds and Percussion, and conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Concert Band and academy Winds and Percussion. She teaches courses in conducting and wind band education, and works with Graduate students in Wind Band conducting. She previously taught conducting at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Angela is the conductor of the St. Albert Community Band, an ensemble that is currently in their 44th concert season.Angela Schroeder is well known in the Alberta music education community, not only through her teaching and conducting both in schools and in community music organizations, but through her involvement as an executive director of the Alberta Band Association for several years. Angela has performed on cornet with the Mill Creek Colliery Band and is the Principal Trumpet for the Concordia University Orchestra. Angela has guest conducted and adjudicated numerous school bands in festivals and clinics throughout Western Canada. She is a contributor in five volumes of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series, which profile wind literature for all levels of instrumental instruction, published by GIA. She is also joyfully married to husband Geoffrey and mother to her brilliant sons, Joshua and Jonah.
Janet Scott Hoyt - Senior Piano
Alberta-born Janet Scott Hoyt is a pianist with a wealth of experience on the concert stage and in the teaching studio. She joined the faculty of the University of Alberta in 1998. Now Associate Chair (Undergraduate) of the Department of Music, she also supervises a graduate program in piano pedagogy. She is in great demand as an adjudicator, coach and workshop clinician.
An alumna of the University of Alberta, she studied there with Robert Stangeland. This was followed by further studies in Europe with Cecile Genhart and at The Banff Centre with Gyorgy Sebok and Menahem Pressler.
A highly sought-after collaborative pianist, she enjoyed a long association with The Banff Centre where she was Head of the Collaborative Pianist Faculty. Over the course of her career, she performed with many internationally renowned artists, including Sydney Harth, Oskar Shumsky, Jeanne Baxtresser, Barry Tuckwell, David Hoyt, Tanya Prochazka, Zara Nelsova and Edgar Meyer. Among her performances are premieres by Violet Archer, Srul Irving Glick, Malcolm Forsyth and Oskar Morawetz.
A recent CD project (2012) teamed her with violinist Martin Riseley to record the three Brahms Sonatas for piano and violin. Previous recordings have featured collaborations with husband David Hoyt and violinist Erika Raum (Horn trios of Johannes Brahms and Canadian composer Elizabeth Raum); with cellist Tanya Prochazka (“The Passionate Englishman”) and oboist Lidia Khaner (“Inspiration”).
The past few seasons have seen her perform in a wide variety of settings. Always active in the Alberta music scene, her travels take her across the country and into the North. During the summer of 2005 she toured in Europe playing concerts in Paris, London and Prague.
Michael Zaugg - Choral
Since moving to Canada, Swiss-native Michael Zaugg has distinguished himself as an innovative and versatile conductor on the national choral scene. Active as Artistic Director, Guest Conductor, pedagogue and clinician, Michael Zaugg brings a wealth of experience and creativity to his work.
2012-2013 marked the start of Michael's tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor with Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton. The professional choir is a resident ensemble at the Winspear Centre producing 7- 9 season concerts and participating in many local and national choral events.
As Artistic Director of both the St. Lawrence Choir in Montreal (2007 - 2013) and the Cantata Singers of Ottawa (2005 - 2014), Michael is constantly exploring new ways of integrating art forms with choral music, featuring live paintings, poetry and light /multi-media to name a few. His concepts feature traditional orchestras as well as rarely-heard instruments such as the alphorn, accordion or the gamelan.
In 2009 Michael founded the Montreal Choral Institute, an umbrella organization dedicated to the advancement of choral education. The Institute’s main mission is to educate the choral leaders of tomorrow through master classes, workshops and performances.
The Institute’s in-house choir voces boreales (founded in 2006) showcases contemporary a cappella music of Scandinavia and the Baltics along with the classical works of choral history. Under his leadership, the 24-voice ensemble has been featured in the Montreal International Bach Festival, the NAC eXpressions Music Series as well as on CBC Radio 2.
As Guest Chorus Master of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Michael successfully prepared groups of up to 1500 singers for OSM Artistic Director Kent Nagano, including the award-winning performance of St. François d’Assise by Messiaen. Michael also prepares the Cantata Singers for their appearances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under conductors such as Franz-Paul Decker, David Lockington, Trevor Pinnock, Helmuth Rilling and Graeme Jenkins.
Active also as a Guest Conductor, Michael Zaugg has worked with Canadian groups including Halifax Camerata, musica intima, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Longueuil, the Ontario and the Nova Scotia Youth Choirs. As Guest Lecturer he has worked with students at Brandon University (MB), University of Alberta and McGill University (QC).
In Europe he has appeared with the Danish National Youth Choir and the Academic Chamber Choir of Ljubljana (Slovenia) at the Bramstrup Performing Arts Festival in Denmark, as well as with the International Choir of the Zimriya Festival in Israel. In Switzerland, he was Chorus Master of the Swiss Oratorio Choir Regiochor for five years before moving abroad.
Michael Zaugg was the first Swiss conductor to be accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden, in its prestigious post-graduate Diploma for Professional Choir Conducting. Throughout this two-year program, Michael worked weekly with singers of the world-renowned Swedish Radio Choir and also had the opportunity to work with Sweden’s gems- the Adolf Fredrick’s Girls Choir and the Mikaeli Chamber Choir.
Originally an accomplished tenor, Michael Zaugg toured Europe and Asia with professional groups including the Swiss Chamber Choir, the Chamber Choir of Europe, the World Chamber Choir and the Stockholm Chamber Choir.
A passionate pedagogue, Michael Zaugg is strongly committed to his work not only with choirs but also with other conductors. He teaches privately and has given numerous Master Classes on conducting and rehearsal technique. The Montreal Choral Masterclass attracts many conductors from Canada and abroad every year. Michael’s students, coming from diverse choral backgrounds, appreciate a hands-on approach when working with his ensembles.
