Meet the adjudicators!
PIANO
Liz Parker has been a piano teacher for 38 years and loves working with her students so they can express themselves, learn discipline, meet deadlines, and feel proud of their work. Currently teaching from her home studio in downtown Toronto with FaceTime, Skype, and WhatsApp (students log in from all over!) she teaches occasionally in person and holds Zoom recitals through the academic year. Her ongoing objective is to find new and creative ways of saying “stop sassing your parents and go practise.”
A veteran of Vancouver piano competitions, Liz has served as an adjudicator of virtual music festivals since April of 2020. Liz has adjudicated music competitions such as the Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, the Norfolk Music Festival, the Vancouver Area Youth Arts Festival, and the Canada Children’s International Music Festival. She is excited to examine again for the prestigious Vancouver Academy of Music.
Liz graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music at 15 with a Gold Medal for the top mark in Canada. She holds her Licentiate from England’s Trinity College of London and her Bachelor of Music from UBC. She worked in public relations for the Vancouver and Toronto Symphonies, the Corporation of Roy Thomson & Massey Hall, and blogged for The New Classical FM. She side hustles as a stylist for musician photo shoots.
Hobbies and interests include Asian fusion cooking, trending topics on social media, and pop culture.
VIOLIN & VIOLA
Michael van der Sloot
Michael van der Sloot’s first twelve years of study on the violin and then on the viola were with his brother William at the Medicine Hat College. He then completed his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees on the viola at the University of British Columbia studying with Gerald Stanick. Other instructors include internationally renowned musicians such as Martha Katz, Karen Tuttle, Bernard Zaslav, Andrew Dawes and Donald McInnes.
Michael van der Sloot has had success at various solo and chamber competitions and toured throughout Western Canada as a soloist and chamber musician. In addition, van der Sloot was awarded the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship for study in Austria, where he pursued doctoral studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Thomas Riebl.
Michael van der Sloot played in various orchestras across Western Canada. While in Europe, he continued to perform with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists throughout Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France including a performance at the Theatre Rue Champs Ellysee in Paris and the Musikverein in Vienna.
In addition to his performing, van der Sloot is a passionate teacher. He taught on faculty at the Medicine Hat College as Academy Director for 11 years; instructing violin, viola, chamber music, and chamber orchestra. Under his guidance, the institution gained recognition through the success of its students at National and International competitions.
van der Sloot then moved to Victoria, BC to take become Professor of Viola at Camosun College and String Department Head at the Victoria Conservatory of Music from 2010-2017. He also became Artistic Director of the Collegium Program for gifted young musicians. This program progressed to a standard receiving national and international recognition.
Michael van der Sloot has had the pleasure of being a guest instructor at various institutions across Canada, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Central Conservatory in Beijing. He has instructed at summer camps and festivals and enjoys adjudicating festivals at various cities throughout Canada.
Michael is currently Associate Professor of viola, violin, and chamber music and at the University of Ottawa. He is also Director of Performance and Chamber Music Coordinator. Many of his former students can now be found in music schools, symphonies, and chamber groups throughout North America.
CELLO
Mina Rose Chung
Korean-American cellist Minna Rose Chung is Professor of Cello at the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Canada). In addition, she is co-author alongside Hans Jørgen Jensen of the internationally acclaimed CelloMind: Intonation and Technique, a discerning pedagogy method praised for its “dense and fascinating treatise focusing not just on the left hand, but almost exclusively on the aspects underpinning the most minute gradations of intonation…it takes written pedagogy to a new level” (Strings Magazine, April 2018).
Minna Rose is a returning guest artist, teacher, and chamber coach to several international music festivals which include the historic Meadowmount School of Music (New York), Rushmore Music Festival (South Dakota) the Heifetz International Music Institute (Virginia), the Aragats Music Festival (Armenia), the Canadian International Cello Festival (Winnipeg, Canada), Rio International Cello Encounter (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Piracicaba Music Festival (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Alaska Cello Intensive (Fairbanks, AK), Cincinnati Virtual Cello Academy (Ohio), and the Rosamunde Summer Music Academy (Winnipeg).
Dr. Chung is a recipient of multiple national awards in the creative field and featured in Strad Magazine “Teaching & Playing”, April 2018 issue. She has given masterclasses world-wide with presentations of CelloMind’s “You Aren’t Really Listening: Revealing the Mystery Behind Great Intonation”, an exclusive deep dive that aims to disseminate the three main string intonation systems through interactive videos, charts, and a good dose of humor. Her latest pedagogy initiative is devoted to the revised and expanded publication of Fun in Thumb Position with Hans J. Jensen.
HARP
Noel Wan
Lauded as “a huge talent [with] hidden power and amazing maturity” (Bart van Oort), Taiwanese-American harpist Noël Wan (1994) made her international debut with the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra in 2010. An acclaimed soloist, she has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia and has been featured at Carnegie Hall, het Muziekgebouw, Eslite Hall, and the Yellow Barn Summer Festival. Upcoming engagements include a Debut Atlantic Concert Tour and performances at the Virginia Harp Center Festival, Taiwan Harp Festival, and Montreal Music Conservatory’s Harpenning Festival.
Noël is the first Taiwanese harpist to win Gold Medal in the USA International Harp Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious harp competitions, and she is the youngest First Prize winner in the history of the World Harp Competition. Other distinctions include Grand Prize in the 2014 Carmel Music Society Competition; and Second Prize in the 2013 Nippon International Harp Competition, 2015 Korea International Harp Competition, and 2021 Prix Orford Musique. Additionally, she has been supported by the Chimei Arts Foundation, the Presser Foundation, and the Ontario Arts Council.
Active as a scholar, Noël has presented at the American Harp Society Summer Institute and the American String Teachers Association National Conference, and she has contributed to Harp Column, The Collective, The American Harp Journal, and VAN Magazine. Also highly sought as a teacher, Noël has been on faculty at the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Western University; she currently serves as Assistant Professor of Harp and Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. –
Born in the California Bay Area, Noël has since called many places “home.” She and her husband, Canadian choral conductor Patrick Murray, are now based between Toronto, Ontario and Tallahassee, Florida, where they live with their tuxedo cats Georgina and Simone.