2023 Adjudicators

Monica George Punké
Choral / School Choirs

Magdalena von Eccher
Piano

Betty Allison
Voice

Ken MacKay
Band & Instrumental

Patrick Maubert
Musical Theatre & Jazz/Blues

Monica George Punké- Choral / School Choirs

Monica George Punké was born and raised in New Glasgow, NS where choral music was a major part of her education. Her undergraduate degrees were obtained from the University of Kings College and Dalhousie University and her graduate studies were at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Always included in Monica Punké’s many and varied interests has been a special passion for choral work and a study of the voice and vocal technique.

All her life she has sung in choirs both amateur and professional, has led choirs, taught choristers from the very youngest to senior singers, offered professional workshops to choir groups and fellow choir/ music teachers and directors, and adjudicated at music festivals. For more than 25 years she directed the Pictou District Honour Choir program – a program that included many sub-choirs for different voicings and ages. When this program ran its course, she initiated a couple of smaller choir programs for school aged singers: Seinneadair and the Voicetime Music Studio Singers.

Over the years, Mrs. Punké’s choirs travelled a lot across Canada – from Whistler, BC to Corner Brook, Nfld. They had the distinct honour of being invited to sing at Carnegie Hall, New York, under the baton of Canadian conductor, Jean Ashworth Bartle. Over the years, these choirs won many awards at the local, provincial and national level. One program initiated by the Pictou District Honour Choir, a special gathering together of SATB youth choirs called JUVENATA! was adopted as an annual program of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation.

In addition to her work with young singers, Mrs. Punké has for the past 20 years directed the Trinitarians – a choir for “the young at heart.” This choir operates for two semesters each year giving a Christmas and a spring concert.

In addition to all the choir work, Monica George Punké has run a private voice studio for young singers interested in the serious study of voice and the vocal repertoire. Many of her graduates have gone on to study voice/music at an advanced level and are pursuing professional careers as musicians.

Magdalena von Eccher - Piano

Magdalena von Eccher is recognized as one of Canada’s finest musicians. Her performances as solo pianist, with orchestra, collaborating with singers, and in chamber music are earning the highest praise from fellow musicians and are loved by audiences. Magdalena’s musical communication is always personal, poetic, and of the highest artistic calibre. Along with her performing career she is sought after as an engaging and skilled teacher and adjudicator, having been on faculty at the University of Lethbridge Department of Music and at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. She is now based in Charlottetown, PEI as Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Her studies were completed at the University of Lethbridge (awarded the Faculty of Fine Arts Gold Medal), the University of British Columbia, and McGill University with distinguished Canadian pianists Glen Montgomery, Jane Coop, and Stéphane Lemelin. Her doctoral research, supported by the prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, focused upon the late Piano Sonatas of Viktor Ullmann. Having an affinity for vocal repertoire, Magdalena has studied with esteemed collaborative artists Michael McMahon (McGill University) and Rena Sharon (UBC). Participation in summer programs at Orford, Vienna, Salzburg, as well as a residency at the Banff Centre were generously supported through scholarships from her respective universities, the Strauss Foundation, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Magdalena’s performing career has taken her from Vienna and Salzburg to Toronto and Montréal. Recent engagements have included numerous appearances in her new surroundings in Atlantic Canada as well as performances at McGill’s Musical Chairs Chamber Music Festival with clarinetist, James Campbell and violist, Kim Kashkashian, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto with soprano, Anna-Sophie Neher, concerto performances with the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra, the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, and chamber performances with members of the PEI Symphony Orchestra. Since 2007, Magdalena has enjoyed invitations to the Festival of the Sound in solo performances as well as in collaboration with musicians such as Denis Brott, Cameron Crozman, Marion Newman, James Somerville, and visual artist, Alan Stein.
www.magdalenavoneccher.com

Betty Allison - Voice

Teaching artist and soprano, Dr. Betty Allison is the Head of Voice at Dalhousie University where she runs the DalOpera program. A graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, some major credits include the world premiere of Mary’s Wedding with Pacific Opera Victoria, the title role in Floyd’s Susannah with Florentine Opera, Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff with L’Opèra Thèâtre de Metz Mètropole, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Edmonton Opera.

Last year Betty completed her DMA at the University of Toronto. Her research focused on the connection between a singer’s voice and their overall wellness and resilience. Specifically, she examined the non-musical stressors and coping strategies that elite singers use to maintain their voices and careers.

Ken MacKay- Band & Instrumental

A native of Truro NS, Ken first started teaching in the Public School system in 1976 and has been active as an Educator, Clinician, Adjudicator and Soloist throughout his career. Ken retired from Astral Drive Junior High where he was Director of Bands for over 20 years. Ken is Past-President of the Atlantic Federation of Musicians and is currently on the board of Nova Scotia Honour Jazz.

Ken’s list of his professional credits is impressive. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Regis Philbin, Natalie Cole, jazz great Ernie Watts, Mary Wilson (The Supremes),Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd, daughter of the blues Shirley King, Rosemary Clooney, the Temptations, and Lionel Ritchie are just a few of the artists Ken has shared the stage with. He currently performs locally with The Back Alley Big Band, Asia NuGruv and The Aviators.

Patrick Maubert – Musical Theatre & Jazz/Blues

Patrick Maubert, from Fredericton, New Brunswick, has a Master’s Degree in Musical Theatre Creative Practice from ArtsEd: City University of London, where Andrew Lloyd Webber is a Patron and Mentor. He Studied Musical Theatre Performance at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy of New York City. He is currently in the last year of his Bachelor of Social Work Degree at Dalhousie University here in Kjipuktuk (Halifax)

As a performer, Maubert has been a member of the 12 Tenors, touring internationally over the span of seven years. He has worked with such companies as Musicals Tonight Off-Broadway NYC, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Tokyo Disneyland, Canada’s Wonderland, South Holland Centre UK, Halifax Fringe Festival, Eastern Front Theatre, Neptune Theatre Chrysalis Project and Theatre New Brunswick.

Patrick is the former staging director of the acclaimed London Gay Men’s Chorus and was the Associate Artistic Director of Toronto’s No Strings Theatre and London’s A Friend of a Friend Productions, where he directed such shows as Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Shop of Horrors and the world premiere of Liam: the musical.

Maubert is currently Head of the Voice Faculty at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts and has been a private singing, musical theatre & drama teacher at such institutions as the Fountain School of Performing arts at Dalhousie University, Stagecoach Academy International, Neptune Theatre School, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, No Strings Theatre School, Northwood, YouthNet, and Theatre New Brunswick Theatre School. He has been an adjudicator at music and drama festivals across Canada.

Patrick Maubert is THRILLED to be back adjudicating at the Truro Music Festival, which he considers to be one of the most dynamic, vibrant and outstanding music festivals in Canada!

Questions/ Comments?
Contact us at: info@TruroMusicFestival.ca

Truro Music Festival
605 Prince St
Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 1G2

Registrar:
registrar@TruroMusicFestival.ca