2027 ADJUDICATORS
Classical Vocal - SPENCER BRITTEN
Spencer Britten is a Chinese-Canadian artist “oozing with mirth and personality” (Opera Canada.) His accomplishments in Opera & Musical Theatre have led him to work internationally with companies including Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Hungarian State Opera, Royal Opera Versailles, Bregenzer Festspiele, and The Glimmerglass Festival. Spencer has sung with the likes of conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Antonio Pappano, and Simone Young. Concert work has been notably punctuated by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Metropolitain’s Messiah (2023,) streamed on Stage+ (Deutsche Grammophon) and again with a star-studded cast and The Philadelphia Orchestra (2024.)
The 2025-2026 season brought Spencer back to Montreal for performances of Carmina Burana & Turandot with Orchestre Philharmonique & Choeur des Mélomanes, to Boston for his house and role debut of Tonio in La fille du régiment with Boston Lyric Opera, and to Hungary to reprise Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri with the Hungarian State Opera. Spencer also performed at the inaugural event of the Freedom Mobile Arch in Vancouver, and his recital Memoirs of a Gaysian at the inaugural Philadelphia Pride Arts Festival, which he previously performed at the Canadian Opera Company.
Other acclaimed performances include Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri (Bregenzer Festspiele) and Janek in Claus Guth’s new production of The Makropulos Case (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) where he gave “great emotional spectrum” (Vorarlberg Nachrichten) and “[won] the sympathy of the audience” (Die Welt.)
Spencer also appeared in the critically acclaimed Messiah/Complex (Against the Grain Theatre,) representing the queer and Asian communities in this all-Canadian take on Handel’s Messiah. The digital production, including Spencer's "joyful Comfort Ye" (New York Times/The Globe & Mail) and "deliciously sly Ev’ry valley" (Opera Going Toronto) was Juno Nominated and won the Noteworthy Category of Opera America's Awards for Digital Excellence.
Spencer has been a finalist in the Edmonton Opera Rumbold Vocal Prize (3rd Prize,) as well as the Opera Crown Tbilisi International Voice Competition. He was a semi-finalist in the Paris Opera Competition and a final rounds contestant at Neue Stimmen.
He has served as an adjudicator for the Hnatyshyn Foundation and has been a winner/recipient of The Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers Grant, The Vancouver Opera Guild Career Development Grant, The Vancouver Opera Chorus Endowment Career Development Grant, The Joseph and Melitta Kandler Scholarship for the Advanced Music Study, and The Barbara Eves-Motomochi Memorial Fund.
CHORAL & COMPOSITION - KATHRYN PARROTTA
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 is the principal 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 and Chamber Choir at the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Calgary, Alberta. Her choirs consistently earn top rankings at competitions and festivals in North America. 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, and Alliance Music Publications in Houston, Texas. In March of 2020, Kathryn founded and was 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 which continues to operate today. In 2024, Kathryn was a nominee for the YYC Music Awards for Outstanding Music Educator and in 2025, was presented with a Con Spirito award from Choir Alberta for her outstanding contribution to the broader choral community.
Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance and a Master of Music degree in Music Education, specializing in Choral Conducting.
JUNIOR PIANO - KATHLEEN VAN MOURIK
Kathleen van Mourik, a native of Alberta, is in high demand as an art song coach, adjudicator and collaborative pianist, and is known for her interdisciplinary collaborations with artists, actors and dance.
Ms. van Mourik completed a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at the University of Calgary before moving to the Netherlands, where she studied lied and chamber music at the Hilversum Conservatory under Hans Broekman and received the Uitvoerend Musicus degree.
Upon returning to Canada, she completed the Master of Music degree in piano performance with Vladimir Levtov at the University of Calgary. Other important teachers include the late Greta Kraus and Rudolf Jansen. She has also studied with Martin Isepp at the Banff Centre and completed a residency there with her two piano partner, Charles Foreman. As a two piano team they commissioned several compositions by various composers and have a CD of French two-piano music available on the Arktos label.
In addition to her work as the artistic director of the Mountain View Festival, she maintains an active performing and teaching schedule, and has appeared across Canada, as well as in the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her work is regularly broadcast on national and regional CBC Radio, and she has appeared on radio and television in the Netherlands.
Kathleen is the founder and Artistic Director of the Calgary based International Festival of Song and Chamber Music Society (known as the Mountain View Festival) a master class series and concert festival combining art song and chamber music as well as the Mountain View Young Artist Concert Series, a series devoted to presenting emerging musicians in concert. In addition to her work with Mountain View, she maintains an active performing schedule. She is also in demand as an adjudicator and teacher and is currently an instructor with the Chinook School of Music in Calgary and teaches a small private class as well.
ACCORDION - TBA
PERCUSSION - ADAM MASON
Bio coming soon!
CONTEMPORARY COMMERCIAL VOICE - SONIA REID
Bio coming soon!
HANDBELLS - EMMY OKAZAWA-BORTOLIN
Bio coming soon!
BAND & INSTRUMENTAL - JONATHAN BELL
Bio coming soon!
MUSICAL THEATRE - DAWN SADOWAY
Dawn Sadoway is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the MacEwan Theatre Department. She has a background in music and theatre and brings an understanding of singing and voice/speech disciplines to her work with the students in the Music Theatre Performance Program. Before teaching at MacEwan, Dawn worked as a teacher, director and singer/actor across Canada and was managing artistic director at the King’s Playhouse in Prince Edward Island from 2009–2011. She has also previously taught at St. Thomas University, the University of Calgary, Rocky Mountain College and the University of Alberta.
Dawn was awarded a graduate teaching award from the University of Alberta and has also received the Dorothy Mennen Research Award from the International Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association.
Dawn is still an active performer, vocal coach and director. She is passionate about her craft, learning from others and giving what she can to assist in the success of her students, her colleagues and her profession.
Dawn’s research explores bridging the gap between an actor’s and singer’s vocal pedagogy. She is fascinated about the relationship between science and soma and has completed a qualitative research study that investigates whether metaphorical or literal language choices have a greater impact on student learning in the vocal studio. Her current research explores developing student resilience in performing arts programs, and she and her colleague Leigh Rivenbark are sought-after speakers and clinicians on this subject.
SENIOR PIANO - INNA LUZANAC
Bio coming soon!
STRINGS & CHAMBER MUSIC - TBA
SPEECH - SUSAN DUSKA
Susan Duska has wide experience in all areas of theatre, performance, vocal coaching, and teaching.
She is on faculty at the Conservatory at Mount Royal University and maintains a busy schedule teaching private and group lessons, as well as theory classes and adjudicating across the country. In addition, she coordinates Presentation MRU, a non-competitive speech festival for Calgary speech students.
She is an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, on the artist roster for the Calgary Board of Education and examines for the International Schools Association in Argentina and Uruguay.
She holds a B.F.A. in Drama from the University of Calgary, is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto as well as an Associate and Licentiate of the Mount Royal College Conservatory.
GUITAR - JEREMY DOODY
Jeremy Doody has been a staple on the Alberta music scene for over 25 years, playing all styles of guitar from jazz and classical to rock, blues, country, pop, and folk. He has an MMus degree in guitar performance from the University of Alberta and has over 15 years of post-secondary teaching experience at the University of Alberta and Red Deer Polytechnic.
His busy gig schedule finds him on stage over 150 times each year all around the province, and he is also in demand as private teacher, clinician, adjudicator, and session musician.