Your stepping stone to national and international competitions!
2025 Jury
Ann Elliott-Goldschmid
Violinist Ann Elliott-Goldschmid has spent almost her entire career as the first violinist of the Lafayette String Quartet performing in the great concert halls of the world. Praised for her “breathtaking changes of colour and character” and her ability to play with an “aching sweetness and sense of fulfillment that carries us universes beyond the printed notes” (Globe and Mail), Ann’s passion has turned to teaching and coaching. She is an Associate Professor of violin and chamber music at the University of Victoria where she has a full class of violin students.
She has had an active career as a recitalist performing with pianists Bruce Vogt, Arthur Rowe, and Stephen Runge and has performed as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, West Coast Symphony, Victoria Chamber Orchestra and the Sooke Philharmonic. She was the concertmaster of the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria and was the assistant concertmaster of the New American Chamber Orchestra before joining the LSQ. Every summer, she, along with her colleagues in the LSQ, hosts Quartet Fest West at the University of Victoria, a two-week intensive music festival for talented students passionate about chamber music. Ann is a committed adjudicator. She serves on local, provincial, national and international juries.
Joseph Fridman (M.Mus., Piano Performance and Opera Directing)
Joseph Fridman has earned two Master's Degrees - as a pianist and opera director - both from the world-renowned St. Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia. He is a concert pianist, teacher, vocal coach and accompanist. Her performs in solo and chamber recitals and has been broadcast frequently on CBC Radio.
Joseph taught at the Schools for Musically Gifted Children of St. Petersburg and Kiev and the Pskov Music College, and performed with the St. Petersurg and Pskov Philharmonics and Orchestras. Mr. Fridman served on the faculty of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music and the University of Alberta. He also worked as a repetiteur and diction coach at the Opera Nuova and Edmonton Opera.
He and his wife Tanya were producers, performers, and stage directors for "Musical Encounters", a series of concerts for children combining instrumental and vocal music, theatre, puppetry, and fine art.
Joseph lectures and gives masterclasses and workshops throughout Canada, Ukraine, Russia and the USA. He has taught at various summer schools such as: "Strings and Keys" (Bergen), Alberta College International Music Academy (Edmonton), "Vivo!" (Edmonton) and was a clinician at the CASSA (Calgary) Summer School. He has adjudicated a number of festivals and competitions, including the prestigious Canadian Music Competition (CMC), and SEattle Young Artists Music Festival (SYAMFA).
Mr. Fridman currently teaches at the Alberta Music Academy, which he and Tanya founded in 2002. Joseph's piano students have received first class honors and medals in RCM and Conservatory Canada Exams, first and second prizes in the Kiwanis Festival, Fall Festival, and Northern Alberta Concerto Competition. Many of his students have continued their studies at prestigious institutions such as McGill University, University of Toronto, and Juilliard School.
Rolf Bertsch
Hailed for his passion and natural musicianship, Rolf Bertsch has quickly become one of Canada’s leading conductors. Appointed Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal by Charles Dutoit in January 2000 and named Conductor in Residence for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons. He has built an impressive reputation as a conductor, pianist, communicator, teacher and adjudicator. His career spans a broad spectrum of musical experience and styles. Accordingly, it has taken him to Europe, Asia, and throughout North and South America. Mr. Bertsch began his musical studies on the violin and went on to study piano, cello, composition, jazz, and conducting. He also holds diplomas from many prestigious institutions including McGill University, the Mozarteum (Salzburg), the Conservatoire de musique du Québec (Montréal), the Folkwang Hochschule (Essen, Germany), and Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts).