TO WINKLER FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

Meet the vocal adjudicator!

Loretta Thorleifson loves to hear, see, and encourage people of all ages to sing! She attained a B. Ed. in Music at the University of Manitoba under the mentorship of Henry Engbrecht, and has been privileged to be involved in choral music ever since. She has taught choral music extensively at the Junior and Senior High Levels, and her choral experience has spanned everything from directing a children’s choir in Botswana, to a vocal jazz ensemble on Parliament Hill.

Loretta directed the choral program at Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler for many years, where she became the founding director of the “Inversions”, whose experiences have included representing Manitoba at the National Unisong Festival held in Ottawa on Canada Day.

Loretta has enjoyed acting as a guest conductor and adjudicator at numerous choral events and festivals throughout Manitoba, and was pleased to have conducted the Intermediate Provincial Honour Choir several years ago. She was also privileged to conduct the adult chamber choir Prairie Singers for many years.

Loretta has studied voice with Henriette Schellenberg of Winnipeg, and enjoys teaching voice privately and singing in choirs, including the CMU Festival Chorus which regularly performs together with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Loretta has been privileged to act as president of the Manitoba Choral Association, and continues to support and celebrate the Manitoba artistic community as a board member of Associated Manitoba Arts Festivals, through her work with the Central Manitoba Choral Association, and as president of her local festival committee. She and her husband Al perform with a Celtic/folk quartet called On the Edge and she loves to sing with her four sisters, as she has been doing ever since she can remember.

Meet the piano adjudicator!

Anneli Loepp Thiessen is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Music Research program at the University of Ottawa, where her studies promote an interdisciplinary musicological approach to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in music industries and music education. Prior to beginning her PhD, Anneli completed a Bachelor of Music at Canadian Mennonite University where she studied with Shirley Elias, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance at the University of Ottawa, where she studied with David Jalbert and primarily performed solo piano works by women. One of Anneli's last performances before COVID-19 was a recital at St. John’s Kanata Anglican Church, featuring an all-women program. She teaches piano in Ottawa, ON, and has been trained as both a Suzuki teacher and a Music for Young Children teacher.

Anneli’s research has been published both as blogs and in several academic journals, and she as presented her work in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia. Her first picture book, The ABCs of Women in Music was published in early 2022. You can access supplementary resources online, and pre-order from any major book retailer. She is a past recipient of funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and a current holder of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. In 2021, Anneli won the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association doctoral essay competition.