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Adjudicators

Speech Arts: Jim Dobbin

Jim is a full time instructor of Drama at the University of Lethbridge, Calgary Campus. He has a wealth of experience as a theatre practitioner, teacher, examiner and adjudicator. After graduating with an MFA in directing from the University of Calgary, Jim taught private lessons in Speech Arts and Drama at Mount Royal University in Calgary where he also co-founded the Young Shakespeare Company. As co-director for this company, he directed an ensemble of high school students in one-hour versions of Shakespeare plays. These productions are then toured to six local high schools and also performed publicly at MRU. His skills as writer, actor and director are exercised in a company he co-founded called Worthy Words Theatre. This company creates plays through an inventive fusion of poetry, music, and theatre. One of their productions, Rhyme Rustler, the Ballad of Robert Service has toured the Prairie Provinces and Ontario for years with over 85 performances. Jim also serves as an examiner of Speech Arts Theory with the Royal Conservatory of Music. His practical examining and adjudicating takes him as far afield as Argentina and Uruguay.

Vocal and Musical Theatre: Karen Charlton

Instead of listing education and performing and teaching experience in the traditional adjudicator's bio, I'd rather you just Google me at karencharlton.org to discover that kind of information.

It has been my privilege to adjudicate 18 years of big city festivals, small town festivals, and Provincials. I am happy to use this bio space to commit to applying all my knowledge and experience to the best of my ability while adjudicating your performers - treating each individual with respect and kindness while providing constructive opinions and suggestions that are supported by practical, technical, and artistic applications.

Festivals are intended to encourage, grow, and appreciate our performers. We can all strive for creating a festival environment that emboldens exciting performances as these artists strive for the highest level of their own personal achievements.

I’d also like to express my gratitude to all the volunteers that make this festival and its invaluable performing opportunities possible.

I can’t wait to celebrate this year's festival together!

Band: Bill Dimmer

Bill Dimmer has been described as a “cornerstone” of Edmonton’s music scene. The structural metaphor explains his selection as an Artist/Builder in Edmonton’s Arts and Culture Hall of Fame 2014. Between his arrival in 1971 and his retirement from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 2014, Bill served as a teacher, mentor, administrator, conductor, and performer, including a potential Canadian record 43 seasons as ESO assistant principal trumpet. Bill played a seminal role in creating the ESO’s educational concert series, which he was involved in for over 20 years and introduced a generation of Edmontonians to the orchestra. The ESO has been at the forefront of educational programming in North America and much of the credit is due to Bill’s talent for engaging young people – he‘s been known to don eye-popping theme costumes, from green cats to aliens, to win their attention. Bill has shared his musical knowledge with countless private students, teaching at post-secondary institutions such as the University of Alberta and Grant MacEwan University, acting as clinician and adjudicator at workshops and festivals in Western Canada, and, with students at the MusiCamrose summer music camp, where he served as managing director for several years. He has performed with several groups including the Tommy Banks Band and the Plumbers Union, and is currently music director of the Nova Musica Concert Orchestra and is active as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. A skilled pilot, he is an active air crew member and instructor with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association and ground school instructor at the Edmonton Flying Club. He has been known to fly colleagues to remote northern communities as part of the National Arts Centre’s music outreach clinics.

Choral: Danica Hoffart

Dr. Danica Hoffart is a singer, conductor, musical director, and educator. She is currently a voice instructor in Theatre Arts at MacEwan University and interim director of the Primary and Children's Choirs with Cantilon Choirs in Edmonton. From 2001-2018, she was on faculty at Red Deer College where she taught voice, singing for the stage, music history, ear training, and directed the RDC Chamber Choir. Danica holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Arts in Music from the University of Alberta, and a PhD in Music from the University of Calgary.

Strings: 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 released a jazz CD with HAT Trio. She plays with The Kensington Sinfonia, was recently principal cellist of the Cambridge Philharmonic (UK) and enjoys performing at folk festivals across Western Canada with folk musicians like duo 100 Mile House.
At home in a recording studio, Andrea has credits in the classical, pop, folk, jazz and film score genres. Andrea adjudicates regularly at festivals throughout Alberta and British Columbia and teaches at the Amici String Program, Mount Royal University and the Medicine Hat Music Mania Practice Club. Andrea currently resides in Medicine Hat with her husband, jazz drummer Karl Schwonik, and their sons.

Piano: Teresa Allred

Teresa Allred was born and raised in Cardston, Alberta.   In Cardston and Lethbridge, she won various awards and scholarships in music festivals from the time she was 6 years old. She would like to extend a special tribute to Beatrice Foster of Lethbridge who taught her from Grade VII through her Western Board Performer/Teacher Degree.

            She is a graduate of Brigham Young University (BA – piano / choral). Teresa studied music in Salzburg, Austria for 7 months and student taught one semester in the music department for BYU-Hawaii.

            She lived in Hinton, Alberta for 10 years teaching private piano, serving as Community Theatre Music Director, and teaching in the High School.

She has been involved in adjudicating piano at music festivals throughout Alberta for the last 20 years.

            Teresa has resided in Red Deer for 23 years where she maintains a 40+ private piano/vocal studio.   She co- conducted Red Deer Chamber Singers for 17 years, served as Provincial President for both the Alberta Registered Music Teachers Association and The Alberta Music Education Foundation and served on the Red Deer Performing Arts Festival Board for the past 4 years.    The Keyboards for Kids Program sponsored by AMEF has been in Red Deer for 10 years and Teresa has taught the program at Aspen Heights Elementary School for 8 of those years.   She has also been music director for several Hunting Hills High School Musical productions and Treehouse Theatre productions.

A milestone for Red Deer music teachers was reached when Teresa initiated the ground work for a new city by-law which allows private teachers to have business licenses for $55 a year without student limitations.

Her husband is a retired French immersion teacher.    Mother of 4 married sons and grandmother to 10 grandchildren….6 of them girls! Justice!
Hobbies: Music, tennis, pickle ball and hiking.

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/