VOCAL

Elizabeth McDonald is empowering the next generation of operatic artists through bold teaching, creative mentorship, and entrepreneurial vision.

As a faculty member of the University of Toronto, Elizabeth teaches applied voice to undergraduate and graduate-level singers. Her students have won major awards, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition, the Canadian Opera Company Competition, the Concours Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition.

Her students have been young artists at the Canadian Opera Company, the Metropolitan Opera Lindeman Program, the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera, and Vancouver and Calgary Opera, and have been accepted to prestigious summer programs including the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS Program, The Franz Schubert Institute, and the Mark and Eva Stern Fellowship Program at SongFest.

Elizabeth's students are regularly accepted to major graduate programs across North America and the United Kingdom and have received Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation Grants, the Tecumseh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award (UofT), and the Metcalf Foundation Performing Arts Internship. They have been featured on CBC's annual "Hot 30 Under 30 Classical Musicians" list in 2016 and 2017.

As principal and co-founder of em2CONNECT (now closed), Elizabeth provided consulting, grant writing, e vent production, and career development mentorship for arts organizations and individual artists. She continues this work independently, supporting sustainable and strategically sound artistic careers.

A young artist with both the Santa Fe Opera and the Canadian Opera Company, Elizabeth understudied and performed several major roles, including Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo, The Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung, Miss Jessel in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, and Jenufa in Janecek’s Jenufa. She was a founding member of Women on the Verge, a trio that explored women's experiences through music and championed Canadian female composers by commissioning and premiering new works.

Elizabeth holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Toronto. She resides full-time in Prince Edward County, Ontario, with her husband and standard schnauzer Oscar and texts regularly with her two university-bound children.

INSTRUMENTAL

Andrew Dicker is an active musician and teacher in Kingston. He is a member of The Kingston Symphony, The Kingston Baroque Consort, The Melos Baroque Orchestra, concertmaster of Orchestra Kingston, and violinist of The Kingston Piano Trio.  He has performed as a guest principal with The Quinte Symphony, and as a section violinist with The Niagara Gallery Players, The New Bedford Symphony, The Atlantic Symphony, and The Toronto Lyric Opera.

In addition to his performing career, Andrew is a passionate educator. He offers private violin and viola lessons at his home studio. Through his teaching, Andrew shares his expertise to students of all ages and proficiency levels. Additionally he leads string sectionals with the Kingston Youth Orchestra, Orchestra Kingston, and coaches several string chamber groups. His dedication to teaching has earned him a large and active studio in Kingston.

He received his Master of Music degree from Boston University and his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Toronto. During his studies he had the privilege of learning from esteemed professors Bayla Keyes, Timothy Ying, and Jacques Israelievitch.

SPEECH ARTS

Kai Evoy is a local composer and music teacher who instructs his students within a school system and at his home studio. He is a certified Music for Young Children Teacher, and has won many awards both locally and provincially in Piano, Voice, Ensemble, and Speech Arts.

Since his youth, Kai has performed in many lead roles at the Stirling Festival Theatre and has had the opportunity to direct both his peers and younger youth in stage performances. Needless to say, he feels at home on stage!

Kai has participated in local festivals that have led to provincial competitions where he has earned first place standings. Further, he has received medals of excellence from Conservatory Canada for achieving the top mark in the province on his music theory and performance examinations.

Kai also has volunteered his talents for the last three years with the Quinte Youth Unlimited Music/Drama team as a leader and vocal coach. Additionally, after winning Kid's Got Talent in 2020, Kai was recruited and trained in acting by the Mode Elle agency. Kai has returned each year to the Empire Theatre Kid's Got Talent event to do live tv interviews with the contestants and to be a spokesperson for the wonderful community fundraiser.

After taking home many top awards in the Speech Arts competitions through the Stirling Festival of Sacred Praise, and being recommended each year for Provincial competition, Kai is thrilled to have the opportunity to give back to the festival by adjudicating in the Speech Arts category.

PIANO

A passionate advocate of musical arts, Ms. Bach’s experience spans the spectrum of a professional pianist: junior to advanced pedagogy; concerto appearances, recitalist; chamber music; touring soloist; instrumental, choral, vocal accompanying and coaching. Since 1995 Ms. Bach has been affiliated with the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, as a faculty instructor and collaborative pianist in both the piano and voice divisions. The breadth of her experience as instructor and collaborative performer has been shared with decades of students in a broad range of course topics including Oratorio, Piano-Vocal, and Accompanying. In the Fall of 2022, she also joined the faculty at the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School as German lieder and German diction instructor. As an educator, she is comprehensive in her approach to performance artistry, and esteemed for her effective nurturing and development of young performing artists.

Her Ukrainian heritage has figured prominently in her career: song recordings with Russell Braun; performance pianist for Larysa Kuzmenko’s oratorio “Golden Harvest”; guest lecturer at the Kiev Conservatory.

Recent highlights include performances at Barcelona’s Song Festival (2024) and working with The Glenn Gould Opera School cast of “Die Zauberflöte” in the winter of 2025.

Being a passionate advocate of music education, Ms. Bach believes that artistic development and quality music education begin early, at the community level. She is excited to support and contribute to local community festivals that offer invaluable opportunities to all levels of musicians.