Maureen Volk
A Graduate of the Juilliard School, Dr. Volk has concertized and recorded across Canada, the United States, and Europe. She has performed +100 solo and chamber music performances locally, nationally, and internationally, recorded 3 professional albums, and received 26 scholarly grants. Additionally she has developed substantive work in pedagogical research. As much as Dr. Volk excels on concert, recording and conference stages, she is an equally lauded pedagogue, with an extraordinary dedication to teaching & learning. Highlights include the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching (2008) and 3M National Teaching Fellow (2014). The breadth of her teaching expertise is also worthy of note. Over her time at the School of Music, Dr. Volk has mentored over 100 young pianists, delivered courses in musicology, supervised musicology graduating essays, taught aural skills, and has been the champion of music pedagogy courses. An academic leader par excellence, Dr. Maureen Volk has held every leadership position within the School of Music including Acting Director (1990-1991), Director (1991-2000), Acting Associate Director (Graduate Studies and Research) (2009) and Dean pro tempore (2015-2016), just to name a few! Dr. Volk’s leadership was critical to the School’s success and eminent status, her history intimately entwined with the School’s ascendancy.

Christine Carter
Canadian clarinetist Christine Carter has performed at venues across the globe, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. Highlights have included performances at the Mozarthaus in Vienna, German Consulate in New York City, and Palffy Palace in Prague. She has completed artist residencies at the Mozart Festival Würzburg (Germany), Málaga Clásica Festival (Spain), Shenzhen International Woodwind Festival (China), and six seasons with the Dark by Five inter-arts ensemble at Gros Morne Summer Music in Newfoundland. Christine frequently collaborates with Duo Concertante and is the clarinetist of the critically acclaimed Iris Trio. She has been praised for her “striking expression” (Bremen Weser Kurier), “seductive tone and effortless fluidity” (The Clarinet), and “golden legato” (Fanfare Magazine).

Christine has also performed extensively as an orchestral musician, including engagements with the New World Symphony, Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, YouTube Symphony Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Castleton Festival Orchestra, and as a substitute with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She has appeared under the batons of some of the world’s finest conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, and Pablo Heras-Casado, as well as in concert with Academy Award winners, Dame Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons.

Christine is actively involved in performance psychology research, focusing on how musicians can be more effective on stage and in the practice room. Her research has led to a variety of article publications and invitations to give workshops at institutions around the world. She currently holds a SSHRC Insight Development Grant with co-researchers Dr. Jessica Grahn and Dr. Jonathan De Souza to investigate music practice strategies. She is a Visiting Scholar at Jessica Grahn’s Music and Neuroscience Lab.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Music from Western University, a Master of Music from McGill University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Manhattan School of Music, where she taught the Woodwind Lab for four years. She is now Associate Professor of Single Reeds at Memorial University in St. John’s, Canada.

Michelle Cheramy
With playing described as a “...fine blend of artistry and bravura” (Edmonton Journal), flutist Michelle Cheramy is an artist recognized for the beauty of her sound, the fluidity of her playing and her interpretive skills in repertoire from the 18th to the 21st centuries. One of the few flutists in Canada to hold a full-time university appointment, Cheramy is currently associate professor of music at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. From her maritime base Cheramy has appeared in recitals and as soloist with orchestras in Canada, the United States and Russia; she has also been featured in numerous radio broadcasts, including nationally on CBC Radio’s Symphony Hall, In Performance, Two New Hours and The Signal. Additionally, invitations to present masterclasses and clinics have taken Cheramy across Canada and to many corners of the US. A rare combination of outstanding scholar and performer, Cheramy is past winner of the Canadian Concerto Competition, prize-winner in the Montreal Symphony competition, and winner of the National Flute Association’s annual research competition for her dissertation on the late work of André Jolivet. While her performance work now focuses primarily on solo and chamber projects, past orchestral appointments include second flute/piccolo positions with both the Thunder Bay and Augusta Symphony orchestras.

A proud former student of Camille Churchfield, Peter Lloyd, Kate Lukas and Leone Buyse, Cheramy holds degrees from the University of British Columbia (B.Mus.), Indiana University (M.M) and Rice University (D.M.A.). She has also enjoyed the mentorship of Trevor Wye, Samuel Baron, Damian Bursill-Hall and Carol Wincenc at the Sarasota, Banff and Domaine Forget summer festivals. A committed teacher herself, Cheramy maintains a diverse studio at Memorial that includes undergraduate and graduate students in a broad variety of degree programs. An active contributor to flute culture in North America, Cheramy has served the National Flute Association as competition coordinator and committee chair, and is a current member of the Flutist Quarterly editorial board.

Beverly Diamond
(Professor of Music and the Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland) established and directs the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place (MMaP) at MU. The MMaP Centre works as an intermediary between university researchers and communities, often undertaking collaborative research production projects. The Centre runs an annual lecture series as well as symposia and conferences, and produces the Back on Track archival recording series as well as other print and AV material on relevant cultural issues in the province and beyond. Diamond is known for her research on gender issues, Canadian historiography, and indigenous music cultures. Her research on indigenous music has ranged from studies of traditional Inuit and First Nations song traditions and Saami joik, to indigenous audio recording, traditional protocols for access and ownership, and, most recently, expressive culture in relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools in Canada. Most recently she co-edited Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada. Echoes and Exchanges (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2012) which received a Choice Academic Book award.

Active in the development of ethnomusicology in Canada at Queen’s University, York University as well as Memorial University, she has been recognized for moving Canadian music studies in new directions and mentoring a generation of scholars who have greatly expanded the histories of cultural diversity. Diamond currently serves as the President of the Society for Ethnomusicology (2013–15). She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2008, named a Trudeau Fellow (2009–12), and a Member of the Order of Canada (2013).