2025 Adjudicators
MusicFest Fanfare prides itself in working with first-class musicians, professors, and composers to provide adjudication and workshops for each performing group.
Josh Kynoch
Josh Kynoch serves as the Head of Arts Education at Alberni District Secondary School, as well as the lead Director of Music. Having received his Bachelor of Music at the University of Victoria, Josh has had the pleasure of studying Wind Ensemble conducting directly under the guidance of Dr. Gerald King and Dr. Steven Capaldo and made his conducting debut with the University of Victoria Wind Ensemble early on in his career. Josh also holds a Master’s degree in Education Leadership from Vancouver Island University, with a focus in Educational Technology and Wind Ensemble Literature.
Josh also serves as the conductor for the Alberni Valley Community Concert Band and is heavily involved in the Alberni Valley Chorus and Orchestra Society for community-based musicians. In his spare time, he also is the Chairman of the Vancouver Island Concert Band and Orchestra Festival, hosted in the Alberni Valley, as an affiliate festival of Musicfest Canada.
Josh currently serves as the 1st Vice-President of the BC Music Educators’ Association and is a strong advocate for inclusivity in music education and supporting young musicians, believing that music education is for everyone and there should be no barriers to prevent participating in the life changing experience that music provides.
Dr. Jane Saunders
Dr. Jane Saunders is retired from her role as Arts Chair and music teacher for the Lakehead Public School, where she taught in the elementary and secondary schools of Thunder Bay for 28 years. Most recently, Jane taught band and strings at Hammarskjold High School. Over her career, Jane taught thousands of students to play, sing, and celebrate the role of music in their lives. She currently instructs and supervises music teacher students at the Lakehead University, and is a board member of the Ontario Music Educators’ Association.
Jane was a 2010 nominee for MusiCounts Canadian Music Teacher of the Year. From 2000 to 2012, she conducted the Thunder Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra, and she now conducts the Thunder Bay Community Band (adult recreational group). Although the focus of her classroom teaching was band and strings, Jane enjoyed a great variety of music-making and teaching/learning with her classes, including guitar, choir, musicals, jazz, music festivals and performance tours.
Jane is the Editor of The Recorder, the journal of the Ontario Music Educators Association, and is a member of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators’ Association. In both of these roles, she works with music teachers and students, and delivers workshops and professional development sessions. She is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario – H.B. Music Education (1988), the University of Windsor – B. Ed. (1989), the University of Minnesota – Master of Arts (1994) and Lakehead University – Ph.D in Educational Studies (2004).
I am also comfortable with and experienced in adjudicating school orchestra (strings) and school guitar groups.