2026 Festival Adjudicators
Strings - Dr. Jennifer Martyn
Jennifer Martyn enjoys a busy career as performer, teacher, and researcher. She holds degrees in violin performance from the University of Toronto (BMus, DMA), and Mannes College (MMus) in New York City. Dr. Martyn’s performance career has taken her across Canada, as well as to Europe and Asia. She has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kingston, Ottawa, Niagara, and Windsor Symphonies, l’Ensemble Prisme, Duo Felice, and the Talisker Players, including two programs in their acclaimed Journeys in Words and Music chamber music series, and in 2024 joined the violin section of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. She has served as guest concertmaster with several orchestras, including the North York Concert Orchestra, the Talisker Players, and the Arcady Ensemble orchestra.
A sought-after teacher and adjudicator, Martyn especially loves to work with children, both as a violin teacher and a children’s choir director. She is currently teaching with the North York Suzuki School of Music in Toronto as well as at her private studio in Thunder Bay, and directs the youth choir at Trinity United Church in Thunder Bay.
In her research at the University of Toronto, Dr. Martyn focused on the life and career of the nineteenth-century Swedish violinist and composer Amanda Maier and received numerous awards for her work, including the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the Palmeson Graduate Fellowship in Violin. She has presented lecture-recitals about her research in Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary, and in 2017 performed the Canadian premiere of Amanda Maier’s 1891 piano quartet. Dr. Martyn has contributed to the Library of Congress Performing Arts blog “In the Muse” and in 2024 she was interviewed about Amanda Maier on the BBC Radio 3 programme “Composer of the Week.”
Outside of music, Jennifer enjoys good food, game nights, getting out in nature, and spending time with her husband and daughter.
Photo by: Jaka Vinsek
Stephen Tam – Instrumental
First-Prize Winner of the 32nd CBC/Radio-Canada National Competition for Young Performers, versatile Canadian flautist Stephen Tam is in demand as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player, performing repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary.
Tam has appeared as concerto soloist in recent seasons with the Canadian Sinfonietta and the Ontario Philharmonic. Past concerto engagements included collaborations with the Calgary Philharmonic, the Banff Festival Orchestra, the Toronto Senior Strings and Mooredale Festival Orchestra. His solo performances have been broadcast on multiple occasions nationwide on CBC Radio and on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).
As chamber musician, Tam has performed at The White House, the Hong Kong Government House, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Ottawa Chamberfest, Stratford Summer Music and Confluence Concerts. He also appears frequently in chamber concerts at the University of Toronto’s Thursday Noon Series, Western University’s Faculty Concert Series and the Canadian Sinfonietta’s Wine and Cheese Series.
Highly regarded as interpreter of contemporary music, Tam is a regular guest of the Array Ensemble, Soundstreams, New Music Concerts, Contact Contemporary Music, Toca Loca, the Toronto New Music Projects and 5-Penny New Music Concerts (Sudbury). Recently, he has recorded two digital EPs featuring the new flute music of Canadian composer Robert Lemay for the Centretracks label.
Tam regularly serves as principal flute with many orchestras around Ontario, including the Canadian Sinfonietta, the Ontario Pops Orchestra and the Toronto Mozart Players. He has also appeared as guest principal flute with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the London Symphonia, the Kingston Symphony, the Niagara Symphony, the Brantford Symphony, the Toronto Concert Orchestra, the Toronto Operetta Theatre and the Theatre of Early Music.
A dedicated and passionate educator, Tam is a flute faculty member at both the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music and at Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music. In the summer, he serves on the faculty at Interprovincial Music Camp (IMC). He maintains a year-round private studio in Thornhill, Ontario. Also active as adjudicator, he has been on the judging panel in competitions and festivals at the national, provincial and local levels.
Tam received his Master of Music in Orchestral Performance degree and the Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music, where he was a student of Jeanne Baxtresser and Michael Parloff. He also studied with Douglas Stewart at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where he obtained his Bachelor of Music in Performance with Honours.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgfl83SXMOcN_OH1IO
Dr. Christine Tithecott – Piano
Christine Tithecott holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa, as well as a MMus in Performance and a BMus (Honours) in Music Education from the University of Western Ontario. She has worked previously at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.
In high demand as an adjudicator, Dr. Tithecott has worked with young pianists across Asia and North America. As a clinician, she has presented workshops on pedagogical topics both nationally and internationally at notable conferences including the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Associations (CFMTA). Christine is a member of the College of Examiners for the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators Association (CMFAA), and a clinician for the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association (ORMTA). Additionally, Dr. Tithecott has served as en editor for Conservatory Canada’s New Millennium Series.
An avid performer, Dr. Tithecott has had the opportunity to perform as a solo and collaborative artist throughout Canada, USA, and Europe. Christine has a strong passion for performing and promoting contemporary Canadian repertoire, and has performed with numerous new music ensembles including Ensemble 319, and The CNM Ensemble (Iowa City, IA).
Christine currently resides in London, Ontario and is an Assistant Professor at Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music, where she teaches Piano Pedagogy and Accompanying for Credit. She is the Past President of London ORMTA, and she also works as a collaborative artist, and maintains a full studio of private piano students.
Maghan McPhee – Vocal
Maghan McPhee is a lyric coloratura soprano celebrated for her masterful interpretation, meticulous musicianship, and a voice of striking warmth and depth. Equally at home in traditional repertoire and contemporary works, she is highly sought after for her nuanced performances and for premiering new music by composers such as Daniel Mehdizadeh, David Jaeger, and Margaret Maria. Her radiant soprano is especially suited to the intricate demands and high tessitura of Mozart’s roles, shining in his concert arias and signature operatic characters. She is also acclaimed for her portrayals of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen and Berta in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, with one critic noting she “immediately had the public holding their breath during her brief but remarkable solo” (Le Droit).
A dynamic concert artist, Maghan has appeared at Carnegie Hall and performed with leading ensembles including Thirteen Strings, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has appeared in Italy’s Colpi di Colore series in Moniga del Garda, performing a program intertwining Italian and Canadian works.
Her debut album Portrait (available on Spotify and Apple music) recorded with pianist Parvaneh Eshghi, earned praise for her “full command of her instrument, precise attacks, and stylistic sensitivity.”
Originally from Timmins, Maghan is deeply committed to vocal expression and education. Through her online program Release Your Inner Voice, she works with singers worldwide, from beginners to professionals. She is also the founding Executive Director of the Breno Italy International Music Academy (BIIMA), now in its 12th season, fostering a nurturing environment for aspiring vocalists, amateur choral singers and composers. Learn more at biimaperformance.com.
Maghan lives in Ottawa with her husband Dan and their two children, Madeleine and Ewan.