Highwood Lions Music Festival

2023 Adjudicators

Janna Olson - Junior Piano

Originally from Three Hills, Alberta, Janna Olson holds degrees in church music, piano performance and piano pedagogy. Performing, adjudicating, and giving workshops have provided diverse opportunities for her to share her love of music in Canada, the United States and Europe. Janna currently resides in Edmonton teaching privately and as a sessional instructor at The King’s University. She is active as an examiner and clinician while maintaining a thriving private piano studio which includes students from ages 4-70+ years old. She is on the faculty of the Gordon Institute for Music Learning and is passionate about connecting piano pedagogy with research on how the musical mind works. She enjoys playing chamber music and performs piano duet and duo repertoire. An outdoors enthusiast, Janna spends time hiking, skiing and most recently learning to play disc golf.

Canadian pianist, Brad Parker, has performed extensively as a soloist and collaborative pianist in Canada, the United States, France, Italy, and Haiti. Recent performances include solo recitals in Canada and the United States, concertos with the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony and Lyra Vivace Chamber Orchestra, and collaborative concerts with the Musaeus String Quartet and piano quartet FOURtitude. An active promoter of new music, Brad has debuted several works for piano and various

chamber ensembles at the Banff Chamber Music Festival, Musique Maintenant in Paris, as well as the Women in Music Festival at the Eastman School of Music. Dr. Parker is an Assistant Professor at the University of Lethbridge where he teaches piano and other music courses. He taught previously in South Carolina at Charleston Southern University and Erskine College, and his passion for musical instruction led him to volunteer for several summers at the North Haiti Music Camp. Brad completed a Masters and DMA in Piano Performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, with further graduate studies in France at the Paris Conservatory. Previously he studied at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario where he earned a Bachelor of Music with Distinction. His principal teachers include Rebecca Penneys, Dr. Heather Dawn Taves, and Jean Koerner.

Without a doubt, Kathryn's contribution to choral music is quickly becoming recognized all over the world. She is known for being a major influence in Calgary's choral community because of her enthusiastic and passionate approach with her choirs. With a mission to inspire singers with quality music and vocal training, Kathryn aims to encourage self-awareness and confidence through performance opportunity, music education and literacy, and community involvement. Over the years Kathryn has trained hundreds of students who have subsequently become professional singers, performers, and educators in the areas of vocal pedagogy, musical theatre, music therapy, theory and composition, tv and film, and opera.

Currently, Kathryn (b. 1981) is the director for a large youth show and concert choir with the Youth Singers of Calgary as well as the director of the University of Calgary Chorus at the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Calgary, Alberta. Since March of 2020, Kathryn has been the Artistic Director for the Calgary Physician Choir- a choir of women physicians who sought music to cope with the stresses of being on the front lines during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In addition to teaching private music students, she is a frequent adjudicator and clinician for several schools and music festivals in and around Alberta. Several treble and mixed choir compositions are published by Cypress Music Publishing in Vancouver, B.C, Alliance Music Publications in Houston, Texas.

Cheryl Abma holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta and is an alumnus of the Speech Arts and Drama program at Mount Royal University’s Conservatory. She has taught for homeschool programs, led workshops for volunteer organizations that support vulnerable populations, and adjudicated for festivals throughout Alberta. Alongside teaching, acting and improvising, her scripts have been produced for the New Works Festival and the Collaborative Faculty Development Conference at the U of A, and in 2016 she was awarded the Frank Bueckert Prize for playwriting.

Returning as an instructor after her time spent in Edmonton, Cheryl now teaches a full roster of

private students and group classes at MRU’s Conservatory. As a speech and drama teacher, she believes in fostering imagination, developing finesse, and celebrating success at every milestone.

Kathryn Parrotta - Voice

Brad Parker - Intermediate Piano & Composition

Kathie Van Lare - Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion & Bands

Cheryl Abma - Speech

Kathie Van Lare, born and raised in Calgary, has been teaching music in the Calgary area for 35 years. Now retired from full-time teaching, Kathie continues to direct the Foothills Music Society Concert Band and the Westwinds Music Society Gold Jazz South Big Band. She is active as a guest conductor and adjudicator throughout much of Western Canada and has also served on faculty with MusiCamrose and the Calgary Regional Summer Band Workshop. Kathie is currently Co- President of Women Band Directors International – Alberta Chapter and is also Director of the newly formed Calgary Women’s Jazz Orchestra. Bands under Kathie’s direction have been the recipients of several awards and she has been the recipient of various personal awards: Alberta Band Association’s “Elkhorn Award” as the Band Director of the Year; Alberta Band Association’s “Vondis Miller Legacy Award”; Laureate in John Philip Sousa Legion of Honor at the MidWest Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago. Women Band Directors International, “Scroll of Excellence”; and an Honorary Lifetime Membership from the Alberta Band Association. Kathie continues to be active as a free-lance musician (trumpet) and has performed with many groups including among others, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, Prime Time Big Band, Calgary Jazz Orchestra, Alberta Winds and Altius Brass. Besides music, Kathie enjoys woodworking, horseback riding and is an avid baseball fan. Go Cardinals!

Ronelle Shaufele - Strings

Canadian violist Ronelle Schaufele is an active solo, chamber, and orchestral musician who performs frequently throughout Western Canada as well as performances in Cuba, Brazil, United States, New Zealand, and Europe. In 2018, Ms. Schaufele had the opportunity to perform throughout Colombia as a member of the ConCuerta String Quartet, which was part of a program that supports youth and children’s orchestras in Colombia with instrument repairs as well as training the young musicians, including masterclasses and coachings that the quartet provided. As an avid lover of new music Ms. Schaufele has been delighted to play works composed for her and looks forward to upcoming collaborations. In addition to performing music being created today, Ronelle greatly enjoys performing on period instruments and exploring the rich baroque tradition. She has recently performed with Early Music Alberta and is a member of the Baroque ensemble, Rosa Barocca. Other solo performances include concerts at the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, Euro Festival in Leipzig Germany, and the Music by the Sea Festival.

As a chamber musician Ms. Schaufele’s performances include the Musaeus String Quartet, the Fort Macleod International Festival, which was recorded for CBC. She performed with Neworks Calgary, Ensemble Resonance, Rubbing Stone Ensemble, the Millennium Music Foundation Series and was a founding member of the Sage String Quartet. In addition she has served as principal violist of the Urban Village Chamber Orchestra, and is currently assistant principal violist in the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra.

Her education includes a Music Performance Diploma from Mount Royal College with William van der Sloot, a Bachelor of Music with distinction from the University of Calgary, with Nicholas Pulos and an Artist Diploma at The Glenn Gould School studying with Steven Dann. Ms. Schaufele also completed an Artist in Residency program at The Banff Centre. An active instructor, Ronelle is currently on faculty at the Amici String Program. Ronelle also enjoys working with talented young chamber musicians and was recently the Artistic Advisor for the Youth Quartet Program in cooperation with the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In the Fall of 2012 Ms. Schaufele founded the Banff String Academy of Music which offers gifted young students in the Banff area advanced musical training and is on faculty at the Amici String Program.

Ronelle loves living in the mountains in Banff, Alberta with her husband Nigel, children Theodore and Frederica and dog Molly!

LaDona Ahenda - Senior Piano

LaDona Ahenda holds a B.Mus. from UBC and an ARCT Diploma in Piano Performance. She studied the piano with Dale Jackson and Kum-Sing Lee and the pipe organ with John Searchfield. She was the recipient of numerous scholarships and medals, including the Louise McKinney Scholarship and the Tom and Miggsie Lawson National Teachers’ Travel & Study Scholarship (Conservatory Canada, 2006).

LaDona moved back to Calgary after her studies in Vancouver and worked as an accompanist in the Academy for Gifted Youth program at Mount Royal Conservatory. This gave her the opportunity to learn from many world-class musicians in a masterclass setting. She also free-lanced as an accompanist for other instrumentalists, choirs, and vocalists, and built up a private piano teaching studio.

LaDona serves on the Executive of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (Calgary) and is active in the Alberta Piano Teachers’ Association and the Music Coterie in Calgary. She is a teacher, conservatory examiner, adjudicator, accompanist, writer, and page-turner for Honens.

Her primary focus is her private studio in Calgary where she teaches piano and theory at all levels to students of all ages. Her students have won numerous awards and scholarships over the years for excellence in piano performance and theory exams. Some students have continued to pursue a career in music. Most students end up pursuing other career options, but they continue to enjoy a life-long appreciation of good music and the ability to express themselves by making music.

LaDona lives in Calgary with her husband. They are the happy parents of three adult children. Outside the world of music, she likes birding, gardening, reading and biking.

Kim Mattice Wanat - Musical Theatre

Kim Mattice Wanat is a performer, teacher, author and director. In 2019 she received her Master of Fine Arts specializing in directing from the University of Alberta. She has been a private voice instructor for over 30 years. She specializes in training actors to sing, and has worked at the University of Alberta for the past 32 years in the Bachelor of Fine Arts professional acting program.

Ms Mattice Wanat is the founder of NUOVA Vocal Arts, a nationally acclaimed opera program dedicated to the advanced training of emerging Canadian artists, bridging the gap between the conservatory setting and the professional world of opera and music theatre. She has produced and directed several of Opera NUOVA’s productions including Fiddler on the Roof, (Boch & Harnick), The Secret Garden (Simons), The Magic Flute (Mozart), The Bartered Bride (Smetana), La Perichole (Offenbach), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), and several opera for school productions, most notably Naomi’s Road. In 2021 she directed and played Marmee in Little Women the Musical and directed Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) for Edmonton Opera. Presently she is directing Jonathan Dove’s Flight for NUOVA.

Her commitment to sharing her expertise with young singers, actors, teachers and choral directors has earned her extensive recognition including Global Television’s Woman of Vision Award, The City of Edmonton’s Salute to Excellence in the Arts Award, the YWCA’s Woman of Distinction in Arts and Culture Award. She has written and published a vocal pedagogy book entitled, Unleashing the Expressive Resonant Voice. Although busy, Kim is dedicated to making her family (a husband, son, daughter and two Havanese dogs (Oliver and Dodger)) a priority!

Catherine Glaser-Climie - Choir

Catherine Glaser-Climie has nurtured and inspired singers of all ages through her acclaimed work, earning national awards and performances with Calgary Opera, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Choirs under her direction perform at prestigious events and tour extensively throughout Canada, the US and Europe.

As Founder/Artistic Director of the Cantare Children’s Choir, she created a comprehensive curriculum of music instruction for children ages 6 to 18 and for preschool children through Kodaly Music Explorers.

In demand to share her expertise, and known for her captivating warmth and enthusiasm, invitations to appear as adjudicator, lecturer and clinician take Catherine across North America and Europe.

Catherine’s leadership has earned awards from Choral Canada, Choir Alberta, the Alberta Kodaly Association and the City of Calgary, including Choir Alberta’s Richard Eaton Award, given for exemplary service to the choral community.