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In 2012 we were pleased to have this team of respected adjudicators working with us
Concert Band Division
Jim Ferris
Jim Ferris retired in June of 2000 after 32 years of teaching. He earned his Master of Education degree from the University of Toronto where his study concentrated on accountable evaluation in the music classroom, and his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario. ? In 1999 he was awarded the Canadian Band Journal’s Outstanding Director’s ?Award and was inducted into MusicFest Canada’s Hall of Fame for his long outstanding contribution to Music Education . In 1997 he received the Prime Minister’s Award for teaching excellence and in 1989 he received an Honorary Diploma in Arts and Science from Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology for continued excellence in Education. For 30 years he taught and led the Music Department at Parry Sound High School whose performing groups were continually known for their achievement of excellence. Previous to his retirement, Jim was in demand as a guest conductor for Salvation Army Music camps across the country and since his retirement has conducted band clinics for school and community groups from Ontario to British Colombia. He has adjudicated bands at various music festivals across the country at both the regional and national level. He presently is Co-Chair in the Concert Band Division of MusicFest Canada and is responsible for the sight-reading for that division. He shares the conducting in the local community concert band and he is the conductor of the Orillia Silver Band. Jim enjoys singing and is a member of the newly formed Parry Sound Chamber Choir.? Jim and Marian have been married for 38 years and have three children, each of whom is involved in Education. Jim loves to sail from their home on an in-land lake in Parry Sound and loves to be out “on the Bay” taking in the beautiful surroundings of Georgian Bay Country. He enjoys wood working and building and working out at a local gym.
Cameron Walter
Dr. Cameron Walter teaches rehearsal techniques, trombone and instrumental pedagogy at the University of Toronto. He holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Toronto and the Doctor of Education degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He completed post-graduate performance studies at New York University and the Aspen Music School as a scholarship student. For more than a decade he conducted the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble and Concert Bands.
Active as a clinician and adjudicator, he teaches at the Durham Integrated Arts Camp, Trillium Lakelands Arts Camp and the U. of T. PowerMusic Camps. He also teaches performance and music business skills at Università Popolare di Roma, Italy. He has an extensive background as trombonist and bass trombonist with the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Hannaford Street Silver Band, Arraymusic, many Broadway shows, the Howard Cable Brass and as conductor on CD with the Canadian Brass.
Colin R. Clarke
Colin Clarke is the founder and Artistic Director of the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, a project he began as a student in high school. Now in its 19th season, the multi-award winning Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra has earned a reputation nationwide as one of the leading performance ensembles of its kind in Canada, specializing in music from the traditional through to the newest works for wind band. Premiere performances and new composition readings are an integral part of the Wind Orchestra’s continuing program.
Though he is best known for his work with the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, Colin’s popularity as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator and composer has captured the attention of instrumental and choral ensembles, schools and music festivals all across Canada. A recent recipient of the Clifford Evans Award for Conducting, Colin’s credits include collaboration with groups such as the United States Air Force Band of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Ballet Jörgen, jazz vibraphonist Peter Appleyard, the Canadian Brass, trumpet virtuoso Allan Vizzutti and the International Symphony Orchestra in Port Huron, Michigan.
Colin’s formal training stems from the University of Western Ontario in London, where he studied orchestral conducting with Jerome Summers and Jim McKay, and worked alongside such artists as Timothy Vernon and Susan Haig. He furthered his studies at the University of North Texas where he participated in workshops for wind band conducting and rehearsal techniques led by famed wind conductor Dr. Eugene Corporon and renowned composer Jack Stamp. He also studied briefly in New York at the Manhattan School of Music, participating in a special masterclass for orchestral conductors. The masterclass featured a session at Carnegie Hall with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Sibelius Orchestra of Findland. Colin recently returned from Sofia, Bulgaria where he conducted the symphonies of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as part of the International Conducting Workshop & Festival with the highly celebrated New Symphony Orchestra, and studied with Rossen Milanov of the Philadelphia Orchestra and renowned conducting pedagogue Gustav Meier. He made his Carnegie Hall debut last spring with his Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, and has been invited to return to Carnegie in 2011.
A closet composer, Colin is steadily gaining attention for his original music for wind band. His setting of A Little Music, commissioned by the Coalition for Music Education in Canada, was featured in a special concert in May, 2005 which culminated in a nation-wide broadcast via broadband technology. His latest work, commissioned by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, was recently recorded by the University of Manitoba Wind Ensemble. Colin also maintains an active schedule as a clinician and adjudicator and has sat on the adjudication table at both the regional and national levels of MusicFest Canada.
With a passion for music education and outreach, Colin maintains a commitment to working with young people and the community. He has conducted several all-city bands, orchestras and choirs across Ontario, and has lead the Provincial Honour Bands of Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. In the spring of 2008 he served as conductor of the prestigious National Youth Band of Canada.
Peter Stoll
Known for his virtuoso energy on stage as well as an easy and entertaining way of speaking with the audience, Peter Stoll 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. A graduate of the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, he received his Master's of Music degree in Performance from Indiana University.
Peter has been guest soloist with orchestras in Canada and the United States, and was invited to Saratov, Russia for solo performances with the Saratov Philharmonic's "Volga Wind Ensemble" and to present masterclasses at the State Conservatory.
Featured on several CD releases with Continuum, as well as with the Canadian Brass and composer John Gladwell, Peter's recording "Bits 'n Pieces" was broadcast on CJRT-FM and the English and French CBC, and he has been heard in solo performance on CBC-FM's "Arts National", "Music Around Us", "Music Alive" and "DiscDrive". Peter was featured in a showcase performance at the Ontario Arts Council's Contact conference, and now tours extensively throughout the province presenting solo and ensemble concerts. Summer festival performances have included the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Ottawa Valley Festival, the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, and as a Mentor at the Boris Brott Music Festival in Hamilton.
A frequent performer of new music, the Ontario Arts Council awarded Peter and composer Randall Smith a Commissioning Grant for a new solo bass clarinet piece "Borealis", premiered in Toronto. He twice travelled to Munich, Germany with the ERGO ensemble to take part in the AdeVant Garde festival. Other tours with ERGO have included New York City, Finland and Lithuania. Additional recent projects have been with Ensemble Noir and as a core member of the Talisker Players. Peter was also a member of the ensemble Continuum for ten years and toured with them to Europe, including broadcasts on the BBC and Radio Netherlands.
Orchestral performances have been as Principal Clarinetist of the Toronto Philharmonia, as well as with many other local and regional orchestras including the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, as well as with Opera York and the new Grand Salon Orchestra as Solo Clarinet and Saxophonist.
Peter teaches clarinet and chamber music privately and at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. 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.
Jazz Division
Rob Somerville
Rob Somerville is a graduate of the Mohawk College Music Program, and the Jazz program at the Banff Centre of the Arts. He has also studied with Dave McMurdo, Julian Priseter, Hal Crook, Bill Watrous and Conrad Herwig. Rob has toured the former Soviet Union and has performed with various bands at most Canadian Jazz Festivals, including Montreal,Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. He has performed with the Bernie Senensky Septet, Phil Nimmons+9+6, Peter Appleyard, Spitfire Band and his own Jazz Quartet. He has recorded 4 CDs, and has played on many CBC and CJRT radio broadcasts and CTV Holiday specials. His performing experience also includes playing back up for various music groups including Manhattan Transfer, The Temptations, Roger Daltry and the Cowboy Junkies. He has also played with many musical productions including Jump, Jive and Swing, Robin Hood, Cinderella, and Jacques Brel. He also performed Oscar Petersen's Canadiana Suite orchestrated by Ron Collier at Canadian Jazz festivals. He is the lead trombone player of the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra and is a member of Freeflight. His teaching experience includes the National Music Camp, Saskatchewan Jazz Xamp and the International Music Camp.
Colleen Allen
Alberta born Sax Player and multi-instrumentalist, Colleen Allen first launched her musical career in Toronto.
Colleen began her training with Pat LaBarbera at Humber College. While performing in a variety of musical bands she has continued to pursue her musical education, mentored by such venerable horn players as Vern Dorge, Ralph Bowen, Mike Murley and Kirk MacDonald. In later years, she picked up additional education in Jazz Piano with Frank Falco and Jazz Improvisation with Chase Sanborn and Kelly Jefferson. Despite the respect and accolades she garners from her performances with singer songwriters and bands she continues to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music rounding out her musical palette to include Clarinet and Flute with teachers, Harold Gomez and Dianne Aitken.
Colleen Allen is known as much for her charismatic stage presence as she is for her remarkable ease in fostering a collaborative spirit while playing with others. She has mesmerized audiences throughout Canada and Europe accompanying such notable performers as Alex Lifeson (Rush), Anne Lindsay, Oliver Schroer, Lorraine Segato, The Parachute Club, Colm Wilkinson and Anne Murray. She is currently involved as a soloist and singer in Molly Johnson's band and her improvisational magic can be heard on Johnson's self titled CD as well as her most recent release, “Messing Around.” Her musical path has led her to a wide range of cultural events. She has shared the stage with such diverse artists as: David Suzuki, Michael Ondaatje and David Clayton Thomas.
What makes Colleen so popular with other players and leaders is her "deep listening," She plays with a beautiful simplicity and lends a keen ear to collaboration with her fellow musicians.
Allen's experiences in pop, jazz, blues, worldbeat and other genres are enriched by skill as a composer and bandleader for theatrical events. She considers her projects with SoulPepper Theatre Company and Cirque de Soliel as some her most rewarding musical undertakings.
Pat Collins
Pat Collins was raised in Qualicum Beach, B.C. He attended Malaspina College in Nanaimo, B.C., and in 1986 received a grant from the Canada Council to attend the Berklee College of Music, in Boston, Ma., where he studied for two years. In 1988, Pat moved to Toronto, where he has been very active on the Canadian jazz scene, performing with great musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Henderson, Herb Ellis, Lee Konitz, Jimmy Cobb, Ed Bickert, Rob McConnell, Moe Koffman, Oliver Jones, Peter Appleyard, Diana Krall, Don Thompson, and many others. He has appeared as a sideman on approximately fifty recordings.
In January, 2005, Pat released his first CD as a leader, on Cornerstone Records, entitled “In The Moment” featuring some of Canada’s premier jazz musicians, Mike Murley, Reg Schwager and Barry Elmes. The CD has received rave reviews, including “In The Moment is a CD that’s very easy to like”, (Richard Bourcier, JazzReview.com), and “This is a classy contribution to the jazz canon”, (Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star). The Pat Collins Quartet was nominated for a 2005 National Jazz Award as “Acoustic Group of the Year”, “Album of the Year” in 2006, and Pat was nominated as “Acoustic Bassist of the Year” in 2005 and 2006.
In addition to his busy performing schedule, Pat is also in demand as an educator and clinician. Pat joined the full time music faculty of Mohawk College, in Hamilton, Ontario in September 2005, and is also very active as a clinician and adjudicator across Canada. He also teaches at the Kincardine Summer Music Festival, the Humber College Summer Jazz Workshop, and taught at “The” Jazz Camp, in Parry Sound, Ontario for fifteen years.
For more information about Pat, please visit his website, www.patcollinsbass.com.
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