Festival dates: March 21 - 25, 2022
live/in person




Elizabeth Raycroft
will adjudicate vocal and musical theatre
classes
Elizabeth Raycroft, soprano, trained in Edmonton, Houston and in Vienna. She has performed with Edmonton Opera and many local symphony orchestras. She has worked with world renowned conductors and directors. For three years, she performed the role of Mother with “edmonton coOPERAtive’ during their Christmas performances of Amahl and the Night Visitors. In 2014, Ms. Raycroft performed in the Edmonton Fringe megahit “Propylene Glycol, Maltodextrin, Retinol Palmitate and Other Words I don't Understand Like Love”, which also toured throughout Alberta in June and July 2015 and in 2019 performed the role of Signora Naccarelli in Walterdale Theatre’s “The Light in the Piazza”. She is an avid performer of new music and recently performed the World Premiere of “Four Songs, Op.15” by Joseph Lai. She regularly shares her experience and knowledge in masterclasses, workshops and through adjudicating festivals throughout Western Canada. Her students consistently excel at local, provincial and national festivals. Many of her students have performed with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, in local, provincial and national musical theatre productions, with the Edmonton Opera, Opera Pacific and in national and international opera houses. She maintains an active and full studio at MacEwan’s Alberta College Conservatory of Music and is also on the faculty of The King's University College where she teaches voice, diction and vocal pedagogy. During the pandemic, Ms. Raycroft wrote a novel and an on-line “Diction for Kids” course which will be coming out in January of 2022.

Adjudicator for bowed strings classes:
Naomi Delafield

Born and raised in Australia, Naomi began lessons at age 3 with the Suzuki method and has been performing and teaching the violin for over 25 years.  Naomi holds the Masters in Violin from the University of Calgary and has held the Concertmaster position of Red Deer Symphony Orchestra since 2006.
From 1994 to 2001, Naomi had the opportunity to travel the world as Concertmaster and soloist with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, Solo highlights including the Sydney Opera House, St. Martin in the Fields, Carnegie Hall, Cape Town City Hall and the Winspear. Her time spent playing with NEYE planted a seed in her heart for inspiring youth in an orchestral setting. 
After moving to Canada with her husband, Naomi founded a community string orchestra in 2002: 'Rosedale Valley String Orchestra'. Her concerts with RVSO have now raised $120,000 for humanitarian projects around the world, through a partnership with A Better World, Canada.
Naomi is often called upon to adjudicate at festivals and teach at workshops and clinics.

She has produced four CD's, one classical, one Celtic and two Orchestral with RVSO.

In 2010 Naomi made a long time dream come true and began dabbling in Baroque Violin.  Since then she has enjoyed collaborating with several organizations, including Rosa Barocca and Early Music Alberta, as interest in period instruments continues to blossom in Alberta. 
On the side, Naomi, her husband David and three children are developing a small farm, growing both Russian garlic and hascap berries.
Pianist Deanna Oye is an Associate Professor in the Department of Music at the University of Lethbridge where she teaches Studio Piano and Collaborative Piano, and also teaches for the U of L Conservatory of Music. She holds a doctorate in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY), and has given solo and collaborative performances throughout Canada, the U.S., Scotland, Germany, and Japan.

In addition, her work has been broadcast on CBC Radio Two and National Public Radio in the United States. Recent performances have taken place at the University of Toronto’s Walter Hall, Bemidji State University (Minnesota), Texas Tech University, New Mexico State University, Lakehead University, along with mixed solo and chamber music at the Watanabe Junichi Museum of Literature (Sapporo, Japan). As a performing member of the SoWeCa Chamber Music Festival, Deanna has shared the stage with internationally-renowned violist Rivka Golani, Israeli flutist Noam Buchman, and members of the Calgary Philharmonic and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.
A strong commitment to teaching and innovation led to the development of the unique Collaborative Piano/Guitar course series at the U of L, which gives undergraduate pianists and guitarists the opportunity to learn fundamentals of collaborative music-making, and develop skills of high-level musical partnership in preparation for intensive training at the graduate level.


Adjudicator for piano classes:
Deanna Oye

Deanna’s piano students have achieved success in a variety of endeavours, including performance and musicology studies at masters and doctoral levels, as well as staff pianist positions and competitions. In addition to frequent master class teaching and adjudicating, she is often invited to give career talks to aspiring young musicians.
As part of the wider music community, Deanna is an active member of the Canadian University Music Society, serving as its president from 2008-2010, the Alberta Registered Music Teachers Association, and the Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region. She is an enthusiastic advocate for new music and music in interdisciplinary contexts, with special interest in helping her students make connections between piano performance and their other passions.



Adjudicator for fretted strings classes: Brad Mahon
In January 2017, Brad Mahon returned to Calgary to assume the role of Director at Mount Royal University’s Conservatory. In January 2018, he accepted the additional position of Dean, Faculty of Continuing Education. Formerly, Brad was Manager of Visual and Performing Arts at Medicine Hat College, and before that, Head of the Conservatory of Performing Arts at the University of Regina. He also maintains his long-standing affiliation with the Royal Conservatory of Music as a senior member of its College of Examiners.
 
When not in committee meetings or studying spreadsheets, Brad regularly sneaks off campus to moonlight as a guitarist, adjudicator, clinician, and lecturer. He has released three commercial CDs, has appeared as a guest on several other recordings, and continues to perform live and via live-stream. He has been described as “an outstanding classical guitarist” (20th Century Guitar, New York) and “a very accomplished performer” (CBC Radio, Canada), while his concert performances have been reviewed as “a delightful musical night and great spectacle for the audience” (Baiao Noticia, Portugal).
 
Brad’s formal education is highlighted by a PhD (musicology) from the University of Calgary, an MBA (executive management – leadership) from Royal Roads University, and an ARCT (guitar) from the Royal Conservatory of Music.