Canadian flutist Marsha Elliott-Edwards is an acclaimed soloist, chamber musician and educator. As a performer Marsha has toured throughout Canada and the US and has been seen and heard on national television and radio. Marsha holds a B.Mus. in Performance from the University of Toronto and a M.Mus. in Performance from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with soloists Susan Hoeppner and Carol Wincenc respectively. Marsha also spent a transformative year in the Professional Winter Residency Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her past teachers and mentors have included Julius Baker, Emmanuel Pahud and Jeanne Baxtresser among others.

Marsha is an alumna of the Conservatory and joined the Teaching Faculty in 2004. Marsha’s teaching includes private lessons, group instruction, building innovative masterclass series’ including the flute intensive September Savvy and January Jump-Start, adjudicating exams and recitals for post-secondary students in the Camosun Program and more.

In 2011 Marsha created the Island Flute Guild, a Facebook community with the idea of uniting and inspiring flutists from Victoria and beyond. The IFG allows for announcements of upcoming events, concerts, masterclasses and summer workshops and currently has about 800 local, domestic and international flutists in the group. Please check out the Group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/160879740641367/

Marsha also plays and performs with small ensembles made up of dear friends and colleagues in the Victoria area. Marsha is involved in groups actively serving the musical needs of some of Victoria’s more vulnerable populations. This includes her recent appointment to the innovative “From Breakfast to Beethoven” group: a brand new project spearheaded by people passionately engaged in meeting both the nutritional and musical needs of children in local public “urban” schools.

Douglas Hensley received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in guitar performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Mr. Hensley has significantly enriched the guitar’s repertoire by commissioning and premiering over 60 works by composers from many different countries, and he has recorded a wide variety of pieces on various instruments.

Mr. Hensley is on the faculty of the Victoria Conservatory of Music, where he teaches guitar, lute, ukulele, mandolin and banjo, as well as the classical Persian instruments tar, setar, santur, and oud, which he studied with several Iranian masters in California and Paris.

Jonathan Eng studied at University of Victoria, Humber College and the Banff Centre for the Arts. His versatility as a percussionist is shown through a wide range of work in multiple symphonies to musical theater orchestras. Other musical specialties include performing in big bands, rudimental drumming, and working with fife and drum groups.

He is an active Canadian Forces primary reservist performing for Royalty such as Queen Elizabeth II and recently for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Jonathan has previously led a primer Jazz Quintet to play for the Governor General and the US Ambassador to Canada.

Jonathan is an active educator in the community through teaching privately, instructing as a clinician for the percussion ensemble in BC Cadet Honour Bands, delivering master classes in many public and private schools throughout Greater Victoria, and also as an instructor at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

Mezzo Soprano, Erin Cunes is a gifted singer and a compelling actress. Her lustrous vocals, artistry and style have garnered praise on both the operatic and concert stage. Erin has performed with major opera companies across the country and has been a guest artist with Pacific Opera Victoria and the Victoria Symphony.

A native of Calgary, Ms. Cunes graduated from L’Universite de Montreal with a Bachelor in Vocal Performance. She continued her studies at the Victoria Conservatory of Music with Selena James where she also began her teaching career.

Erin recently spent two years living in Uttar Pradesh India completing an internship in Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness. As a result, Erin is gaining a reputation as a unique and specialized teaching artist. She systematically guides her students to find their voice through music, movement and mindfulness.

“The human voice is a powerful and authentic instrument. Unleashing it, freeing it, honoring and nurturing it is my favorite work in the world!”

Currently Ms. Cunes is collaborating on a recording project of experimental music using extended voice technique with Canadian Composer and Visual Artist Lance Austin Olsen.

Kelly Charlton is much in demand as an accompanist and chamber musician, having collaborated with an extensive variety of singers, instrumentalists and chamber ensembles in a career spanning more than thirty years.  He has performed in Canada, England, France and Germany and is known for his sensitive and supportive playing, especially in vocal repertoire.
 

For many years Mr. Charlton lived and worked in London, UK as conductor and harpsichordist for the Renaissance chamber choir, ‘The New Friends’ Musick’ which he founded in 1990, and as Musical Director for ‘Shakespeare Celebrations’. During this time there were many performances at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (in addition to the usual London classical venues).
 
Since his return to Canada in 2006 Kelly has played with the Victoria Symphony, the Aventa Ensemble and a variety of chamber ensembles with local professional musicians. He currently maintains a thriving piano studio in Victoria and is the Director of Music at St. Barnabas Church (Belmont and Begbie). Mr. Charlton is also active as voice coach, accompanist, adjudicator and clinician.
 
A thorough and dedicated teacher, Mr. Charlton believes in teaching excellence from the very earliest levels. His students perform consistently well in exam and concert situations and many of them have, over the years entered the music profession as teachers and/or performers.

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Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Karen studied French Horn with Richard Ely at the University of Victoria where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree. She then spent a year in the Orchestral Training Program at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. She went on to Yale University where she received her Master of Music Degree and was the first French Horn player ever to receive Yale’s prestigious Artist’s Diploma.
Karen was an “Artist in Residence” at the Banff Centre for the Arts for a year before embarking on a performance career in Toronto. She was principal Horn of the Toronto Sinfonietta as well as the North York Symphony. She also performed with many orchestras in and around the Toronto area including Orchestra London, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Windsor Symphony, the National Ballet of Canada, Phantom of the Opera, Toronto Operetta Theatre, the Niagara Symphony as well as the Mississigua Sinfonia.

Summer festivals Karen has attended have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Kent/Blossom Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Summer Festivaland the Boris Brott Summer Music Festival.

She has taught French Horn at St Andrews College in Ontario and has been on
faculty of the Kamloops Interior Summer School of Music and the Pacific Coast School of Music.

Karen relocated to the West Coast where she is a member of the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Vancouver Island Symphony. She also performs regularly with the Victoria Jazz Orchestra,(formerly the Monday Night Big Band), the Gilbert and Sullivan Society and various other shows.

Karen is an avid chamber musician and is a member of Ensemble Pacifica and the Vancouver Island Chamber Ensemble (VICE). She also
has a busy teaching studio and is currently on faculty at the Nanaimo Conservatory.

Dr. Jack Edwards is an active performer on saxophone and bassoon. He has performed with the Georgia State University Wind Ensemble, Georgia State University Symphony Orchestra, Cobb Symphony Orchestra, Greater Victoria Senior Concert Band, Meridiem Wind Orchestra, Raincoast Winds, and Springridge Quintet. He is on faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, teaching saxophone in the Classical School of Music and the Department of Postsecondary Studies. Dr. Edwards has also taught as part of the Senior Collegium Program at the Conservatory.

He has extensive experience as a conductor, conducting ensembles of varied ability levels–from beginner to advanced. During his tenure with the Greater Victoria Junior Concert Band, he created the Greater Victoria Community Marching Band. In 2019, the band’s third year of existence, they earned third place in the Canadian Band Category in the Victoria Day Parade. Dr. Edwards has also taught music theory, from basic to advanced levels, to both private students and classes as a faculty member in the BC Cadet Music Program.

Born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Georgia, Dr. Edwards was awarded a full-tuition, four-year scholarship to study saxophone at Jacksonville State University with Dr. Ronald Attinger. After completing his undergraduate degree, he went on to complete two graduate degrees at Georgia State University before moving to Victoria to complete a PhD in Sociology and Curriculum & Instruction.

Dr. Edwards’ students have consistently earned high marks and honours on the Trinity College and Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations, including the Royal Conservatory Gold Medal for the British Columbia and Yukon region. His students have also excelled in the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festivals, earning placement at the Provincial competition, awards, and performances on the GVPAF Woodwinds Honours Concert. With more than 34 years experience as a music educator and performer, Dr. Edwards continues to pass on his love of music to students of all ages and abilities.

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