Lisa Simmermon is the Principal Timpanist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed on percussion and timpani with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa Symphony, Kingston Symphony, National Ballet Orchestra and the Thunder Bay Symphony. Her conducting work has included Assistant Conductor of the Ottawa Youth Orchestra, Director of the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra, the Regina Conservatory Junior Orchestra, and the Regina Community Orchestra. As a percussion instructor, Lisa has worked for the Ottawa Board of Education, University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and Lakehead University. As well, she has provided percussion workshops for the South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra, the 2012 RCMP children's summer camps and at the RSO's Symphony Under the Sky. Lisa and her husband, Brian Johnson, own Ambiance Music in Regina, and for a number of years, traveled to communities across Saskatchewan providing music education presentations to elementary schools as Teaching Musicians for the Music Alive Program of the National Arts Centre of Canada.
Dr. Pauline Minevich has had a long and successful performing career as an orchestral, solo, and chamber musician, and as a teacher. Currently assistant principal clarinet with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, she has performed with Orchestra London Canada and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and has toured in Europe, Canada, and South and Central America with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble. She has also toured in Russia and in Central America with her trio Contrasts, which includes her husband, violinist Eduard Minevich, and pianist/composer David McIntyre. Contrasts has released several CDs, including Contrasts At Play; Bushwakker Six-Pack; and When Bodies Leave Ecstatic Marks. The trio specializes in contemporary classical music, and has commissioned works from several well-known Canadian composers, including David McIntyre, Elizabeth Raum, and Peter Paul Koprowski. A long-time member of the Council of Woodwind Examiners of the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music, Dr. Minevich has travelled across Canada as an adjudicator. She is currently on faculty at the Department of Music, University of Regina, where she is Associate Professor of clarinet and musicology.
Karen Frandsen
Miss Frandsen is a graduate of the University of Regina music program and holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Vocal performance. She has also studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts and with such notable teachers and coaches as Martin Isepp, Bill and Dixie Neill, the Canadian tenor, Mark Dubois, and opera coach, Stuart Hamilton.
Her performing career has included opera/operetta roles, musical theatre and recital work. She was a frequent performer with the Ottawa Valley Festival Recital series and has performed roles with Opera Hamilton and Toronto Operetta Theatre. For 9 years she was Artistic Director of the Saskatchewan Express Musical Theatre Studio and the Musical Director for two young performing groups from that studio, the Mini Express and The Expressions.
In Regina she maintains a private voice studio and is also actively involved with the Executive of the Saskatchewan Registered Music Teachers' Association. She currently holds a lay position on the University of Regina Senate. Over the years her students have won numerous awards at the Regina Music Festival and have been chosen to sing with the Provincial Honour Choir and the University of Regina Chamber Singers. Her students have also performed at Globe Theatre, Regina Lyric Musical Theatre, and the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon.
Peter England is a former teacher with the Saskatoon Catholic Board of Education. During his tenure at Holy Cross High School, he was responsible for the growth of the instrumental music program to include four curricular concert bands with an enrolment of 150 students.
Peter has served on the Board of the Canadian Band Association, President of the Saskatchewan Band Association, Coordinator of the Provincial Honour Band, Coordinator of the Saskatoon Summer Band Camp, director of the Saskatoon Lions Youth All-Star Band, a bassoonist with the Saskatoon Symphony and the Saskatoon Concert Band, and for the past 25 years has been program director of the Saskatoon Community Bands, a program consisting of 4 levels of band for adults in Saskatoon and area. He continues to perform as bassoonist with the Prairie Winds Woodwind Quintet.
He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Saskatchewan Band Association Distinguished Band Director Award and the Canadian Band Association Distinguished Band Director of the Year. He remains active as an adjudicator and clinician. He is a Past President of SaskCulture, the organization responsible for distribution of Lottery proceeds to the volunteer culture sector in the Province of Saskatchewan.
Cherith Alexander is a well-known Saskatchewan pianist. After completing her A.R.C.T. at the age of 15, Cherith began studying with William Moore of the University of Regina. She went on to win numerous provincial competitions including the SMFA Concerto Competition after which she performed as a guest soloist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra. In 1991 she represented Saskatchewan at the National Music Festival. She has studied in Toronto, at the Banff School of the Arts with Jane Coop, and the University of British Columbia where she was a pupil of Lee Kum Sing and a winner of the UBC Concerto Competition.
An experienced accompanist and chamber musician, Cherith has performed with many renowned musicians including The Adaskin String Trio, Henri Loiselle, Roland Szentpali, Ondrej Vrabec and Steven Patterson. Another musical highlight for Cherith has been travelling seven times to the National Music Festival as an accompanist for the Saskatchewan competitors.
Cherith lives on a farm near Weyburn, Saskatchewan with her husband and four children. She is in demand as a piano and theory teacher, adjudicator, clinician and performer. Her piano students have received acclaim at both the provincial and national level. In 2011 her pupil Meagan Milatz was the grand prize winner in the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' Association piano competition. She has also become a frequent piano adjudicator at major festivals throughout Western Canada including Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Port Coquitlam, and the Calgary and Edmonton Kiwanis Festivals.
Band Section: March 24, 25, 26
Yorkton Regional High School
Bands and Ensembles: March 24, 25, 26
Woodwind Solos: March 25, 26
String Solos: March 25
Brass and Percussion Solos : March 25, 26
Choir: March 27 Anne Portnuff Theater
Vocal: March 28, 29, 30 Westview United Church
Primary Piano: March 31, April 1 - St. Andrew's United Church
Junior Piano: April 2, 3 - St. Andrew's United Church
Senior Piano: April 3, 4 - St. Andrew's United Church
Prices are: Adults, $2/day
Students, $1/day; Children 12 and Under, Free
Season Tickets are $7; Programs are $7
The Hi-Lites Concert is April 13, 2:00 p.m.
Anne Portnuff Theatre
Adults/Student $5, Children 6-12 $2, Under 6 is Free
