Adjudicators
Meet the 2025 Adjudicators
Bill Dimmer
Band Adjudicator
Bill Dimmer has been described as a “cornerstone” of Edmonton’s music scene. The structural metaphor explains his selection as an Artist/Builder in Edmonton’s Arts and Culture Hall of Fame 2014. Between his arrival in 1971 and his retirement from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 2014, Bill served as a teacher, mentor, administrator, conductor, and performer, including a potential Canadian record 43 seasons as ESO assistant principal trumpet. Bill played a seminal role in creating the ESO’s educational concert series, which he was involved in for over 20 years and introduced a generation of Edmontonians to the orchestra. The ESO has been at the forefront of educational programming in North America and much of the credit is due to Bill’s talent for engaging young people – he‘s been known to don eye-popping theme costumes, from green cats to aliens, to win their attention. Bill has shared his musical knowledge with countless private students, teaching at post-secondary institutions such as the University of Alberta and Grant MacEwan University, acting as clinician and adjudicator at workshops and festivals in Western Canada, and, with students at the MusiCamrose summer music camp, where he served as managing director for several years. He has performed with several groups including the Tommy Banks Band and the Plumbers Union, and is currently music director of the Nova Musica Concert Orchestra and is active as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. A skilled pilot, he is an active air crew member and Provincial Training Officer with the Civil Air Search and Rescue and ground school instructor at the Edmonton Flying Club. He has been known to fly colleagues to remote northern communities as part of the National Arts Centre’s music outreach clinics.
Liz Paynter
Choral Adjudicator
Elizabeth Paynter has been a music specialist with the Calgary Board of Education for over 35 years, and from early in her teaching career began directing choirs in the Calgary choral community. Currently, she is the Artistic Director of the Children’s and Youth Choir Program at Mount Royal University, founder and director of EnChor Chamber Choir, an auditioned vocal ensemble, and she is the Director of Music at Scarboro United Church. Elizabeth is passionate about making music accessible to all, and her extensive teaching experience allows her to guide and motivate musicians of all ages to the highest level of achievement, with much joy and laughter along the way.
John Tessier
Classical Vocal Adjudicator
The Juno Award-winning Tenor, John Tessier, has worked with many of the most notable conductors and stage directors of our day. Appearances of the recent past and near future include performances at the Teatro alla Scala Milano, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colon, Oper Frankfurt, Grand Théâtre de Genève, English National Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, New Zealand Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Taiwan Philharmonic, Wiener Musikverein, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Seattle Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, L.A. Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony. Equally comfortable in the genres of opera, oratorio and recital, Mr. Tessier is also a full professor at the University of Alberta. His discography includes recordings on the Decca, Naxos, Telarc, BIS, Challenge Records and Dorian labels.
Janna Olson
Composition Adjudicator
Performing and teaching have provided Edmonton pianist Janna Olson with diverse opportunities to share her love of music in Canada, Europe and the United States. She has studied music with many different musicians in Canada and the US and her degrees include a Master of Music from the University of Alberta.
Janna is a versatile and sensitive pianist with extensive collaborative experience. She frequently performs piano duet and duo repertoire as part of the Venn Duo with her colleague Dr. Leanne Regehr. She loves teaching as a sessional instructor at The King’s University while also maintaining a thriving private piano studio with students ranging from 5 to 75 years old. She is on the faculty of the Gordon Institute for Music Learning and is passionate about connecting piano pedagogy with research on how the musical mind works.
Janna is in demand as a festival adjudicator and enjoys travelling and meeting teachers and young pianists in many communities in Canada. She presents workshops and clinics for piano teachers and specializes in audiation based learning and rhythm development.
When she is not at the piano, Janna spends time outside hiking, skiing and playing disc golf.
Kim Mattice Wanat
Contemporary Vocal Adjudicator
KIM MATTICE WANAT is a performer, teacher, author and director. In 2019 she received her Master of Fine Arts specializing in directing from the University of Alberta. She has been a private voice instructor for over 30 years. She specializes in training actors to sing, and has worked at the University of Alberta for the past 32 years in the Bachelor of Fine Arts professional acting program.
Ms Mattice Wanat is the founder of NUOVA Vocal Arts, a nationally acclaimed opera program dedicated to the advanced training of emerging Canadian artists, bridging the gap between the conservatory setting and the professional world of opera and music theatre. In Fall 2023, she created a new training and performance initiative “CLASS ACT” for young artists 9-15 years of age, the inaugural production was Dear Edwina.
She has produced and directed 100 productions for NUOVA Vocal Arts including Flight (Jonathan Dove), Fiddler On The Roof, (Boch & Harnick), The Secret Garden (Simons), The Magic Flute (Mozart), The Bartered Bride (Smetana), La Perichole (Offenbach), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), and several opera for school productions, most notably Naomi’s Road.
In 2021, she directed and played Marmee in Little Women the Musical, and directed Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) for Edmonton Opera. This past fall she was delighted to direct Legally Blonde for MacEwan University.
She has written and published a vocal pedagogy book entitled, Unleashing the Expressive Resonant Voice. Although busy, Kim is dedicated to making her family a priority: a husband, son, daughter and two Havanese dogs (Oliver & Dodger)!
Guillaume Tardif
Fiddle Adjudicator
Guillaume Tardif is Professor of Violin at the Department of Music, University of Alberta. He holds the DMA from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. He has performed and taught extensively here and abroad. CD recordings and articles can be found online. He was named Top 40 under 40 in 2012 and received the SALUTE award for excellence in teaching.
Tyson Oatway
Guitar Adjudicator
Tyson Oatway has been teaching and performing for over 25 years, playing everything from rock concerts, musicals, and solo and duo classical guitar recitals. He has a Masters of Music with Honours with distinction from the University of Alberta. He is accredited by both the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Suzuki Association of the Americas as a teacher, and is also a member of the Alberta Registered Teacher’s Association. He has won numerous awards as a music arranger.
Tyson runs the guitar program at Suzuki Charter School while also maintaining a full music studio, teaching individuals and groups. Tyson has been busy performing in musicals, solo and ensemble recitals. Currently he is performing as soloist with Marek Orszulik in the Double O guitar duo, and with Flautist Dorie Gold in the Northern Lights duo.
Diana Wiens
Junior/Preparatory Piano Adjudicator
Diana Wiens was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Music studies, which began at the age of seven, included piano instruction with Dr. Lyell Gustin of Saskatoon. Upon completing her Associate Degree in Piano Performance with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and graduating from the University of Saskatchewan, she taught elementary and junior high for three years before pursuing further music studies in Europe. During her five years in Germany, she studied, performed widely, and for the last two years instructed piano at the Nordwestdeutsche Musik -Akademie and at the University of Bielefeld. In 1974, she returned to Canada to accept a position on Music Faculty at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Here, she and her husband initiated the first applied music courses in piano and voice, both of which continue to be offered today. Since 1975 they have lived in Edmonton.
From 1988 – 2009, Diana Wiens was Adjunct Professor in the Music Department at Taylor University College in Edmonton; for 8 of those years she co-chaired the Department. She is in demand as an adjudicator and workshop clinician across Canada; festivals include the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto, Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival, and Provincial Music Festival final competitions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Currently, Diana Wiens is artistic director and conductor of the Te Deum Singers, a community choir in Edmonton, Alberta. She was invited to conduct this choir in a performance of Mozart’s “Vesperae Solennes de Confessore” at Carnegie Hall, New York in April of 2020; unfortunately, Covid-19 cancelled those plans.
Kim Mattice Wanat
Musical Theatre Adjudicator
KIM MATTICE WANAT is a performer, teacher, author and director. In 2019 she received her Master of Fine Arts specializing in directing from the University of Alberta. She has been a private voice instructor for over 30 years. She specializes in training actors to sing, and has worked at the University of Alberta for the past 32 years in the Bachelor of Fine Arts professional acting program.
Ms Mattice Wanat is the founder of NUOVA Vocal Arts, a nationally acclaimed opera program dedicated to the advanced training of emerging Canadian artists, bridging the gap between the conservatory setting and the professional world of opera and music theatre. In Fall 2023, she created a new training and performance initiative “CLASS ACT” for young artists 9-15 years of age, the inaugural production was Dear Edwina.
She has produced and directed 100 productions for NUOVA Vocal Arts including Flight (Jonathan Dove), Fiddler On The Roof, (Boch & Harnick), The Secret Garden (Simons), The Magic Flute (Mozart), The Bartered Bride (Smetana), La Perichole (Offenbach), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), and several opera for school productions, most notably Naomi’s Road.
In 2021, she directed and played Marmee in Little Women the Musical, and directed Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) for Edmonton Opera. This past fall she was delighted to direct Legally Blonde for MacEwan University.
She has written and published a vocal pedagogy book entitled, Unleashing the Expressive Resonant Voice. Although busy, Kim is dedicated to making her family a priority: a husband, son, daughter and two Havanese dogs (Oliver & Dodger)!
Jamie Syer
Senior Piano Adjudicator
Though he finds it hard to believe, JAMIE SYER is marking more than 50 years as a professional pianist, having debuted at Calgary’s Pleiades Theatre in 1971. Dr. Syer completed his graduate degrees at the Yale University School of Music as a student of Claude Frank and Ward Davenny. He has taught at universities and colleges in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and New Brunswick. Jamie maintains a website jamiesyer.ca where he shares what he knows—and what he’s still learning—about teaching and playing piano.
Jamie Syer was Dean of the Victoria Conservatory of Music until 2012. He also served as Head of the Conservatory’s Keyboard Department, and taught at the School of Music, University of Victoria. As a lecturer for UVic’s Faculty of Continuing Education, he led two arts related travel tours to France. Jamie is the founder of the Victoria Conservatory’s Young Artists Collegium program, which offers an enriched curriculum for talented young pianists and instrumentalists. He has performed many times in Europe: in Scotland, Ireland, Hungary, France, and England; as well as closer to home in recital venues across Canada.
Dr. Syer is a popular adjudicator and workshop clinician, who enjoys working with teachers’ groups and with students of all ages. He teaches every year at the University of Victoria’s summer piano immersion program for young people and adults.
Jamie is a keen aficionado of musical theatre. His has been Music Director for productions of Mary Poppins, Anne of Green Gables, Matilda, and many others; and he has composed an original musical, Camp Spartan, which premiered in February 2023. Beyond music, Jamie was Manager of his local public library for six years, and he enjoys the art and craft of letterpress printing.
Guillaume Tardif
Strings Adjudicator
Guillaume Tardif is Professor of Violin at the Department of Music, University of Alberta. He holds the DMA from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. He has performed and taught extensively here and abroad. CD recordings and articles can be found online. He was named Top 40 under 40 in 2012 and received the SALUTE award for excellence in teaching.
