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Rolling River Festival soon returns to Minnedosa

Details

Published on Friday, February 26, 2016

By Sheila Thiessen

Publicity

The annual Rolling River Festival of the Arts is less than a month away! Sessions will be held in Minnedosa March 14-18 and the committee has secured the services of Elizabeth Rotoff, Caron Whitlaw-Hiebert and Wendy Bobby as adjudicators. You may be interested to know their credentials and expertise in offering suggestions to our participants.

Elizabeth has performed across Canada and England in opera, musical theatre and recitals. Along with leading roles in several operas, she has performed as a soloist with Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and Women of Note. She teaches voice from her home studio in Winnipeg, and many of her students have gone on to study voice at university in the disciplines of classical music, musical theatre and jazz. As well as being an active adjudicator and clinician, Elizabeth is vice-president of the Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing and of Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ Registered Music Teachers’ Association. She shares her passion for music and movement in her role as a certified zumba instructor, PiYo live instructor and personal trainer. In her spare time, she enjoys training for triathlons and blogging as The Fit Singer. She will adjudicate speech arts/choirs and vocal solos/groups on Monday and Tuesday.

Caron holds both a teacher’s and performer’s diploma from Associate of The Royal Conservatory the highest academic standings awarded by the conservatory. She has been teaching for the Division of Preparatory Studies at University of Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ for more than 20 years, where she is in demand as a master class clinician. She examines for Conservatory Canada and has been adjudicating festivals throughout Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ and Ontario for more than 20 years; Caron also trains new adjudicators and examiners. Having studied with many prestigious teachers, she currently enjoys teaching a large and diverse class of piano students ranging from beginner to diploma level. Her students excel in Winnipeg Music Festival and at provincials; many go on to compete in national competitions and yearly win silver medals for the highest mark in Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ for both Conservatory Canada and Royal Conservatory of Music examinations. Teaching pedagogy is one of Caron’s greatest passions and many of her students become prominent teachers in Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ. Her comments will be made following piano sessions on Wednesday and Thursday; Wednesday afternoon also features flute, violin, guitar, family music and a chamber group.

Wendy began her passion for dance at a young age in northwestern Ontario. She graduated from Confederation College in Thunder Bay in the field of recreation. As she pursued her dance education, she travelled throughout Canada and United States attending workshops and conventions. This education, combined with a passion to share the love of dance and the performing arts, led Wendy to teach in Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Steinbach and various rural communities in southeastern Ë®¹ûÊÓƵ before settling in RM of Springfield where, for the past 24 years, she has dedicated herself to the development of Sunrise Performing Arts Centre of Excellence Inc. (SPACE) and its subsidiaries — Cooks Creek Dance Academy, Springfield Theatre Company and Springfield Community Performing Programs. Wendy will work at Minnedosa Community Conference Centre with the dancers all day Friday.