Our 2024 Adjudicators!

Fran Chilton-Mackay

Lieutenant-Colonel Fran Chilton-Mackay has recently retired from the Canadian Armed Forces, having served as the Senior Staff Officer Army Bands responsible to the Commander of the Army and as the Director of Music of the Governor General’s Foot Guards Band from 2005 - 2016. Prior to this she taught instrumental music for over twenty years in London, Brampton and Ottawa, Ontario. She was the 1999 recipient of the City of Nepean Distinguished Service Award for Arts & Culture, the City of Nepean 2000 Medal, and the 2000 Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s Director’s Citation. Her concurrent military career began in 1976 as a Reserve musician with the 7th Toronto Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery Band in Toronto. Upon moving to Ottawa in 1986, and subsequent commissioning as an officer in 1987, she held various positions with the Canadian Forces at National Defence Headquarters. For her lifetime commitment to music and the advancement of musical pursuits within the Canadian Forces, she was invested as an Officer in the Order of Military Merit in May 2007, and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in May 2010; both honours bestowed by the Governor General. Fran is a clarinettist and is currently the Director of the Centralaires Concert Band in Ottawa. 

Jonathan Dagenais

Jonathan Dagenais is the conductor of several renowned ensembles across Canada and is an internationally published composer and arranger. He is a highly in demand adjudicator/clinician for numerous music festivals and guest conductor for honor ensembles across North America. Well known educator and public speaker, he is a Yamaha Canada Master Artist Educator, a guest conductor and clinician for Twigg Musique and the Fédération des Harmonies and Quebec Symphony Orchestras (FHOSQ) in addition of being the artistic director of MusicFest Québec music festival.

Jonathan Dagenais est directeur musical et artistique de plusieurs ensembles de grande réputation au Canada en plus d'être un compositeur et arrangeur publié internationalement. Jonathan siège annuellement sur plusieurs jurys d'évaluation de prestigieux concours et est invité comme chef d’orchestre d’ensembles honorifiques partout en Amérique du Nord. Pédagogue et communicateur reconnu, il est également le directeur artistique et organisationnel du MusicFest Québec, chef partenaire et formateur en direction et pédagogie musicale pour Twigg Musique et pour la Fédération des Harmonies et Orchestres Symphoniques du Québec (FHOSQ) ainsi qu'Artiste Maître Éducateur Yamaha Canada.
Site Web officiel de Jonathan Dagenais

Claire Devlin

Claire Devlin is a saxophonist and composer based in Montreal. She leads the Claire Devlin Quartet and released her debut album, “Anyone,” in 2020. Claire is also a member of the collective Bellbird, which released its debut album “Root in Tandem” in 2023. Claire performs regularly with various ensembles including the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra, the Plastic Waste Band, the Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal, Rommel Ribeiro, Thus Owls, Christine Jensen’s “Equal=Orchestra”, Unessential Oils, and Tommy Crane.

Claire grew up in Ottawa and started playing saxophone at the age of 12. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Rising Young Star award at the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival. Soon after, she moved to Montreal to study music at McGill University. Claire attended the Banff Jazz & Creative Music Workshop in 2017 where she met and studied with several renowned musicians including Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, Jen Shyu, and Stephan Crump. In 2020, Claire received a master’s degree in Jazz Performance and Composition at McGill University. In the 11 years since moving to Montreal, Claire has performed with  musicians such as John Hollenbeck, Christine Jensen, Linda Oh, Jean-Michel Pilc, Okkyung Lee, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, P.J. Perry, Anna Webber, and Matt Mitchell.

Robert Filion

Robert Filion has spent the past 20 years bringing choirs to the pinnacle of choral excellence. Recognized across Canada, his choirs earn top awards at local, provincial and national levels. His vocal ensembles from École secondaire De La Salle have won 6 national championships. Robert Filion's choirs are heard and seen regularly on the airwaves of CBC and Radio-Canada. The voice programme he heads in the performing arts stream at De La Salle was designated Best Music Programme in the National Capital by the Kiwanis Music Festival and CBC three times (2008, 2012 and 2017).

A talented musician and artistic director, in 2011 Robert Filion was appointed Artistic Director of Unisong, the annual Canada Day festival of Canadian choirs at the National Arts Centre. He works with the National Arts Centre Orchestra on concerts involving youth choirs. 

Robert Filion directed the Choeur classique de l'Outaouais from 1997 to 2011, when it earned the prestigious Liette Turner award. Under his direction between 2002 and 2007, the Ottawa Children's Choir won the international Angel Network prize for the Radio-Canada/CBC broadcast "Evergreen Wishes". In 2013 he was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence. Robert Filion holds an Ontario Teaching Certificate and is a member of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, the American Choral Directors Association, and is a member of the Board of Choirs Ontario. 

Nicole Joy-Fraser

Nicole Joy-Fraser (Settler, Dene Zaa, Nehiyaw and Métis) is an award-winning performing artist who has been storytelling for stage and screen across Turtle Island and beyond. She has collaborated with many celebrated companies such as as Mirvish Productions (Mamma Mia! Original Cast/ US Tour), Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Native Earth, Theatre Passe Muraille, Soundstreams, Unsettled Scores, Red Sky, Carousel Players, Essential Collective Theatre, The Blyth Festival, The Charlottetown Festival, Nightwood Theatre, Talk is Free Theatre, Eclipse Theatre, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad, CBC, CBS, BBC and Telefilm.  

She also enjoyed living across the Atlantic for a few years where she sang and danced in the multi-award-winning musical “Jerry Springer-The Opera” in the West End and in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” which toured the UK.  Being a part of the 60’s scoop, she knew little of her Indigenous background and since returning home is grateful to have premiered and explored many roles within Indigenous Theatre and Opera, all of which have helped her reclaim her Indigenous Identity and launch her journey into personal decolonization.  

Nicole currently lives in Niagara and as a proud Bear clan member and oshkabewis, supporting each other through healing and the arts continues to be a passion of hers. She recently played  “Annie Cook” in the outdoor production of The Rez Sisters at The Stratford Festival this past summer and is excited to view TOKA (Theatre Passe Muraille/ LemonTree Creations) and Müsik Das Für Ende (Crows Theatre/ Soundstreams) which she filmed this past fall.

Antonio Llaca

Cuban born, Antonio Llaca is an active conductor, teacher, and clinician.  He studied conducting and classical guitar both in Canada and in South America. Mr. Llaca holds a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Université de Sherbrooke (Montreal) and has studied with world renowned masters. 

In 2019 Mr. Llaca was appointed Director of Choral Activities at Carleton University where he conducts the choirs and teaches choral and instrumental conducting. He is also a professor at the Conservatoire de Musique de Gatineauwhere he conducts the choirs and orchestra. Since 2009, Mr. Llaca has conducted Coro Vivo Ottawa (CVO).  In addition to this, he often collaborates with numerous ensembles and prepares choruses for Canadian orchestras and artists such as The Tenors and touring international orchestras such as the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra. 

Mr. Llaca is sought-after choral clinician, having had a chance to present workshops at various Canadian and international institutions and festivals including with the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) in Beijing 2018. As an instrumentalist, he is often called to perform at several festivals and instrumental ensembles across Canada including the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. 

Mr. Llaca is an advocate for Canadian choral music, incorporating prominent Canadian content in his programming, as well as commissioning choral pieces for his concerts from local composers. He has been known for his innovative programming of new works as well as seldom-performed works of music. In addition, Mr. Llaca has brought to the Ottawa music scene seldom performed works by New World early music composers such as William Billings, Esteban Salas, José Angel Lamas, and Manuel de Zumaya, among others. 

Dan Tremblay

Dan Tremblay is an active freelance musician, clinician, conductor, and trumpet teacher in Quebec, the Maritime Provinces, the State of New York, and Ontario. He teaches at the Dan School of Drama and Music at Queen’s University since 2001 and was an adjunct professor at the Crane School of Music, State University of New York in Potsdam from 2006 until 2020. Dan is often guest conducting orchestras and wind ensembles across the country. In addition to his position as Principal Trumpet with L’Orchestre Symphonique de l’Estuaire (Rimouski) since 2005, Dan plays regularly with other orchestras such as the Kingston Symphony and with various chamber ensembles. He has been Principal Trumpet with Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne, National Academy Orchestra in Hamilton, and with McGill Symphony Orchestra. Dan was also a member of Alliage Brass Trio with Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. 

Mr. Tremblay is a faculty member of the Queen’s University Dan School of Drama and Music, where he teaches trumpet and education classes such as Instrumental Conducting and Brass Techniques and Methods and is coordinator of the brass and percussion area. Dan currently leads the Queen’s University Wind Ensemble, Brass Choir, Trumpet Ensemble and was former director of the Symphony Orchestra. Since 2015, Mr. Tremblay is Music Director of the Quinte Symphony in Belleville, Ontario. In 2019, he served as Managing Director and Host of the World Trumpet Society Seminar.  Dan holds a Master of Music degree in Performance from McGill University and a Bachelor of Music from Université de Montréal.