Adjudication Team 2025:
John Kraus
William Rowson
Dr. Jane Saunders
Denine Williams
John Kraus
originally from North Bay, Ontario, is an active musician, having founded and or worked as the Music Director of the Durham Chamber Orchestra, the Lakeridge Youth Orchestra, the Clarington Concert Band, the Music Director and conductor of the Northumberland Orchestra & Choir, and is the current Music Director of the Parkdale Orchestra, Ottawa. He led the Kanata Symphony Orchestra. John has performed as a member of the Lavender Chamber Ensemble and the Electric City Swing Band, Peterborough. In the fall of 2017 John was nominated as one of five candidates for the Heinz Unger Award, a national honour administrated by the Ontario Arts Council, recognizing professional conductors.
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As an educator, John taught for over 30 years and is a member of the Ontario Music Educators' Association, promoting the value and need for Music education in schools. He has led workshops and clinics across the province as well as leading and conducting honour ensembles. John is a member of the Canadian Music Festivals Adjudicators Association, providing him the opportunity to hear student
performances across Canada. He has been a faculty member for the Lake Field Music Camp, an adult summer music camp located in Lakefield, Ontario. In addition, John hosts Maestro’s Picks, a weekly hour long radio show which can be heard on Northumberland 89.7 and Sudbury’s 96.7 CKLU-FM, featuring music of all styles.
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Dr. Jane Saunders
Dr. Jane Saunders retired from her position as Arts Chair and Head of Music at Hammarskjold High School in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where she taught band and strings. Over her 25 year teaching career, numerous bands, orchestras, and jazz bands under her direction have competed at the provincial and national level. In 2009, Jane was a nominee for MusiCounts’ Canadian Music Teacher of the Year award. Over her career, Jane has enjoyed a wide variety of musical activities with her students. Though the focus on her classroom teaching has been band and orchestra, Jane has directed Broadway musicals, choirs, jazz bands, and guitar classes, and has also instructed “music teacher students” at the University of Minnesota and Lakehead University.
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Jane completed her music education studies at The University of Western Ontario (H.B. Mus.Ed. 1988), The University of Windsor (B.Ed. 1989), The University of Minnesota (MA. 1994) and Lakehead University (Ph.D. 2004).
Jane serves as a director with the Ontario Music Educators’ Association and is a member of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators’ Association. Jane has adjudicated at festivals in Saskatoon, Kitchener-Waterloo and Kenora. In 2013, she was adjudicated the brass and woodwind soloists at Performing Arts British Columbia’s provincial competition.
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William Rowson
William Rowson is hailed as one of Canada’s most compelling and versatile young artists. He has worked with orchestras across Canada and currently serves as the Artistic and Executive Director of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra, as well as being the Music Director of the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. Recent guest conducting highlights include appearances with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guelph Symphony Orchestra, the London Classical Soloists (UK), the Regina Symphony, and the Victoria Symphony, as well as return engagements with both the Saskatoon and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras.
From 2016-2018 Bill was the Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, becoming the orchestra’s Associate Conductor in 2019. He has led the Grammy and Juno award-winning ensemble in over 160 performances.
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Bill is also an active composer, whose original works and orchestral arrangements have been performed by orchestras and ensembles throughout Canada, the US and Europe, and have been broadcast in over 20 countries. Upcoming projects include the 2023 premiere of a new children’s opera Frog Song, produced by Here for Now Theatre and the Stratford Symphony, as well as a new work for the Victoria Symphony.
Bill is also committed to music education of the highest calibre, having produced, and written several symphonic educational programs and by working with youth ensembles throughout BC’s lower mainland as well as working at the Glenn Gould Professional School, and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada. Bill is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Toronto.
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Denine Williams
Denine Williams is an esteemed, recently retired music educator with a remarkable 35-year tenure at Korah Collegiate, Sault Ste. Marie. She is the inaugural recipient of the Community Builders Award (2021) and has been recognized through nominations for both the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence and the Premier’s Teaching Award. Denine pioneered the musical theatre program at Korah Collegiate, transforming it into a bastion of high-calibre productions that have delighted thousands.
She has significantly impacted the local arts scene in Sault Ste. Marie, by conducting instrumental band and choir concerts, organizing cultural trips for students, and directing the renowned Korahsters choir.
Denine's commitment to fostering artistic talent continues as she brings her wealth of experience and passion to the Northern Ontario Music Festival.
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Adjudication Team 2024:
Jamie Dupuis
Brittany Goldsborough
Jack Gordon
David Lum
Ralph McIntosh
Nancy Promane
Jamie Dupuis
(born in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada), is a Canadian guitarist/composer and producer, best known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances, and his arrangements on the guitar and harp guitar. In 2016, Jamie's arrangement of Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd on the harp guitar has gotten over 19 million views on Facebook, gaining international recognition. Also winning 1st place at the Canadian Guitar Festival Competition (2016), one of the finest guitar competitions in the world (2016) Dupuis has successfully carved out his own style as a solo artist worldwide.
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Brittany Goldsborough
is a bassist and educator with 13 years of experience in high school music teaching. Holding a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Education from McGill University, she has achieved numerous awards and recognition for her leadership of concert bands, jazz bands, and string ensembles. Currently, Brittany is conducting the Northern Brass Choir and co-director of the Jazz Subury Youth Band.. With a passion for both upright and electric bass, Brittany regularly performs with symphony orchestras, YES Theatre, 2V+, chamber groups, and is also an active member of the jazz community, performing with various ensembles including the Sudbury Jazz Orchestra, and mentoring young musicians in the Jazz Sudbury Youth Band.
David Lum
David Lum retired from the Toronto District School Board, in February 2021 after a 30-year career with the TDSB. During his career, David taught at Bliss Carman Middle school and was the Curriculum Leader of Music at Agincourt Collegiate Institute. He served on the board of the Ontario Music Educators’ Association (OMEA) from 2000 to 2015 and is Founding Director of the Ontario Band Association (OBA). In 2009, David received an Honorary Life Membership from the Ontario Band Association and was awarded the Keith Mann Outstanding Band Director Award from MusicFest Canada. In December 2012, he was inducted as a Laureate of the Legion of Honor for the John Philip Sousa Society and in November 2022, was awarded an Honorary Life Membership to the Ontario Music Educators’ Association.
Currently, David is Conductor of the East York Concert Band. He is the Course Director of the Music Qualifications Course (J/I/S) for the Faculty of Education and teaches the Low Brass studio for the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University. David is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.
Jack Gordon
B.Mus. A (Music Education) B. ED, OCT
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has been a Music Educator for the past 36 years. He is an avid performer playing flute with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra for 17 Seasons as well as performing with the Sault Symphony Orchestra and the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces. He was a Member of the Board of Directors for the Ontario Music Educators Association from 2008 to 2017. He has presented many times at OMEA Conferences and was on the Conference Committee for Vibrations 2012.
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Mr. Gordon was a Director for the Northern Ontario Music Festival for 20 years. During this time, he adjudicated, and conducted the NOMF Honour Band on three occasions.
Ralph McIntosh
Ralph moved to Sudbury in 1982 when he began his career teaching music at Churchill Public School. In 1986 he joined the staff at Sudbury Secondary School as a Program Leader in the Board’s new Performing Arts Program. Over the next 20 years, Ralph developed new music courses, served as musical director for the school’s choirs, variety shows and musicals, and produced six student recordings. In 2005 he became the Rainbow District School Board’s Arts Education Coordinator, where he had a significant impact at the elementary, secondary, and provincial levels. After retiring from teaching in 2015, Ralph assumed his role as the Director of Education at the Sudbury Theatre Centre. He continues to share his talents in the community as a vocalist, accompanist, event producer and arts advocate, and volunteers in support of the Young Sudbury Singers and the Joan Mantle Music Trust.
Nancy Promane
has been teaching music for over 30 years and holds a Masters degree in Music from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Music from McMaster University and a Bachelor of Education from Nipissing University. Her vast experience includes teaching Primary Music, Beginning Band, Middle School and Senior-level music. In addition, she has directed many Junior, Middle and Senior School ensembles. Ms. Promane is well-known in the instrumental circle for her techniques and practices of delivering and cultivating successful wind band programs. The Ontario Band Association has recognized her for her outstanding conducting skills, and her school bands have been awarded “Gold” status at the Ontario Band Festival and Heritage Music Festival in the United States. Ms. Promane continues to impart her love and knowledge of instrumental music to her students, while motivating, supporting, and collaborating with her colleagues. She has taught in both public and independent schools, recently finishing a 13 year tenure as Head of Music at an independent school in southern Ontario. Currently, Nancy has been seconded by Nipissing University, working with in-service teachers in the Bachelor of Education program. In addition, she is working as a sessional instructor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Nancy is pleased and excited to be a part of this year’s Northern Ontario Music Festival.
