Dr. Wendy Zander

Concert Band Adjudicator

Work as a solo and ensemble adjudicator and clinician for concert and jazz ensembles has taken Wendy across Canada and the United States.  She serves as a guest conductor for school, university, community, and military ensembles, as a conductor at the International and Rushmore Music Camps, and as facilitator of conducting symposia.  She has conducted junior high and high school regional, provincial, and state honor bands as well as the National Youth Band of Canada.

Zander (McCallum) was the Lead Writer of the Manitoba Grade 9-12 Music Curriculum Framework, publishes in the journal Canadian Winds, and is a regular contributor to the publication and recording series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band and Teaching Music Through Performance in Beginning Band.   A former President of the Manitoba Band Association (MBA) and Canadian Band Association (CBA), she is both an Educational Clinician with the Conn-Selmer Division of Education and a Teaching Affiliate with Brandon University’s Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. She has presented to school districts and provincial music education conferences, College Band Directors National Association regional conference, and The Midwest Clinic. Zander is Faculty Advisor for the Brandon University Student Music Educators Association (BUSMEA), an organization that designs and delivers the annual Da Capo professional development conference, and she hosts “Avenues: Exploring Band and Jazz Methods,” a summer professional development event for teachers.

Zander investigates areas related to rehearsing and learning, conducting, and the rehearsal of instrumental literature as a meaningful source of doing, knowing, and understanding in the music classroom.  She is presently engaged in research related to the Wind Recording projects of her mentor, Eugene Migliaro Corporon. Wendy lives in Brandon, Manitoba with her baseball-playing and music-making sons, Rory and Anders.

Scott Leithead

Concert Choir Adjudicator

His engagements have included invitations to adjudicate the Tampere International Festival in Finland, the Choral Canada National Competition for Amateur Canadian Choirs, and the Kathaumixw International Choral Festival (2014, 2016, 2023 and 2025). He has conducted the Ellison Canadian Honour Choir on nine occasions since its inception and continues to be active in youth and community choral initiatives across the country.

Under his direction, the Korora Choir Association has been recognized at the national level, receiving first place in the 2015 CBC National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs and the Canadian National Music Competition in both 2015 and 2016. In 2019, Korora represented Canada at the IFCM World Choral Expo in Portugal and was featured in an episode of The Amazing Race Canada.

Mr. Leithead has a long-standing interest in choral music from southern Africa. During a sabbatical year in 2008–2009, he worked extensively with choirs in Namibia, including the Mascato Youth Choir, and has returned on several occasions to collaborate with ensembles in the region. In 2023, he conducted the ISSEA Mass Choir in Johannesburg, South Africa, featuring students from international schools across the continent.

Recent engagements include conducting the Eastman Honour Choir and serving as guest conductor and adjudicator for the U Sing U Sask Festival, presented by the University of Saskatchewan. In 2025, he will conduct the Ellison Canadian Honour Choir in Toronto and the Nova Scotia Youth Choir and will adjudicate the Ontario Vocal Festival and the Kathaumixw International Choral Festival.

In addition to his conducting and adjudication work, Mr. Leithead serves on the advisory committees for the Canadian Rocky Mountain Music Festival and the Edmonton and Whistler Cantando Festivals. He is the recipient of several honours, including the Richard S. Eaton Award from Choir Alberta, the Salute to Excellence Award from the City of Edmonton, and the Syncrude Award for Innovation

Kathie Van Lare

Concert Band Adjudicator

Kathie has participated on various committees for the Alberta Band Association, the Alberta International Band Festival, and JazzYYC. She is currently Vice President of the Band Masters Fraternity, Phi Beta Mu and is the Past – (Co) President of Women Band Director’s International – Alberta Chapter. She has presented at the Manitoba Music Educators Conference, Calgary Teacher’s Convention, JazzYYC’s Tune In, Tune Up, Conference as well as the “Women Led” Jazz Symposium in Winnipeg. She has also taught at the Calgary Regional Summer Band Workshop and the International Music Camp at the International Peace Gardens.

Through her affiliation with WBDI-Alberta Chapter, Kathie also serves as Co Organizer of “Girls in Jazz”, a program created in Calgary in 2023 to encourage and support women of ‘all ages and stages’ in furthering their study in jazz, with the ultimate goal of creating gender parity on professional jazz stages of the future.

Kathie continues to be active as a free-lance musician (trumpet) and has performed with many groups including among others, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, Prime Time Big Band, Alberta Winds, and most-recently with the Calgary Jazz Orchestra and Altius Brass.

Besides music, Kathie enjoys woodworking, horseback riding and is an avid baseball fan. Go Cardinals!