Meet the Adjudicators!
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Piano: Marlis Gunderson
Marlis loves music! She started playing piano by ear when she was 4. She took lessons and finished her RCM Grade 10 while in high school. After graduating she became an ICU nurse, which she has been now for over 35 years. Missing her music, she completed her ARCT with Jaquie Ryan after nursing graduation and has been teaching piano since. Marlis continues to learn new music by being involved in the Roubakine Piano Club, where she participates in master classes twice a year. She enjoys adjudicating across Alberta and is organist and accompanist for several choirs and vocal groups. She resides in St. Albert with her husband, close to her 2 grown children and 4 young granddaughters. Marlis is very excited to be invited to the Brooks Music Festival. |
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Vocal & Musical Theatre: Dr. Joy Berg
Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Concordia University of Edmonton. Receiving a piano performance degree, an education degree, and choral conducting degrees, Dr. Berg’s university career has been spent with conducting choirs at Concordia, as well as teaching courses in the music department. She directs the three Concordia choirs – the Concordia Concert Choir (auditioned student choir, with 45 singers), Bella Voce Women’s Choir (with 30 singers), and the Concordia Community Chorus (with 110 singers). For many years, Joy sang alto in Edmonton’s professional choir, Procoro Canada. A life-long learner, Dr. Berg has just completed her second doctorate, a Doctorate of Worship Studies, and often adjudicates and workshops in the area of choirs, speech, voice, junior piano, handbells, and church music. |
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Band: Karl Schwonik
Named one of Calgary’s ‘Top 40 Under 40’, YAMAHA Drum Artist and legally blind drummer Karl Schwonik grew up on a farm near Gwynne, Alberta. Early on, he was exposed to a wide range of musical from jazz to polka. Fresh out of high school, Schwonik embarked on a tour with Canadian Country Music Award Nominee Heather-Dawn. This was followed by an invitation to study at the Banff Centre where Schwonik was the youngest participant ever in the long-term career residency program. Schwonik has completed over thirty substantial tours throughout North America as a leader. In his travels, he has performed in country barns, world-class jazz clubs and concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center. Schwonik’s five albums released on Chronograph Records have received much acclaim and have been nominated for several awards. His 1+4 album was #1 on Canadian jazz radio charts for nearly two months. Both 1+4 and Visions From the Farm, were nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for ‘Jazz Recording of the Year’. Additionally, Schwonik has worked with several leading jazz artists throughout Canada, the US and UK, including the award winning Alberta-based Hutchinson Andrew Trio. In 2008, Schwonik founded the Wetaskiwin Jazz Society in Wetaskiwin, AB. Through its ten years of operation, nearly 20,000 rural students were involved in these programs. A Among the many honours, awards and distinctions Schwonik has received are winning the TD Grand Jazz Competition at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta’s Artist Award, the VSA Arts International Soloist Award, the AFM International Diversity Award and the Queen’s Jubilee Award. The list of supporters of his projects, research and initiatives includes the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Anne Burrows Music Foundation and numerous others. He has completed studies in music, business, and arts leadership at Cambridge University, the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of Calgary. |
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Band: Andrea Case
Calgarian cellist Andrea Case is co-founder of the Lily String Quartet, a group that has completed multiple tours across Canada, performed for CBC Radio and collaborated extensively with groups around Western Canada. Andrea performs regularly with Lily, The Kensington Sinfonia and String Theory Music Collective, while maintaining an active teaching studio. She is sought after as a teacher, chamber coach, adjudicator and studio musician. Andrea and her family have recently returned to her hometown of Calgary. |
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Alberta Music Camps
Piano:
Calgary Arts Summer School Association https://cassamusicalarts.com/
Vocal, musical theatre:
Southern Alberta Vocal Experience http://www.uleth.ca/music-conservatory/southern-alberta-vocal-experience-save
(the info on their home page is for 2018, but it will be updated soon to the 2019 info; the link will be the same)
Band, musical theatre:
MusiCamp Alberta http://www.musicampalberta.com/
Choral:
Singspiration https://concordia.ab.ca/arts/departments/fine-arts/school-of-music/singspiration/
Strings:
Amici Stringfest http://amicistringprogram.com/wp/calgary-stringfest/
Amici String Camp http://amicistringprogram.com/wp/amici-string-camp/
Piano:
Calgary Arts Summer School Association https://cassamusicalarts.com/
Vocal, musical theatre:
Southern Alberta Vocal Experience http://www.uleth.ca/music-conservatory/southern-alberta-vocal-experience-save
(the info on their home page is for 2018, but it will be updated soon to the 2019 info; the link will be the same)
Band, musical theatre:
MusiCamp Alberta http://www.musicampalberta.com/
Choral:
Singspiration https://concordia.ab.ca/arts/departments/fine-arts/school-of-music/singspiration/
Strings:
Amici Stringfest http://amicistringprogram.com/wp/calgary-stringfest/
Amici String Camp http://amicistringprogram.com/wp/amici-string-camp/