An accomplished guitar and music instructor, Chad completed Selkirk College’s Contemporary Music program in 2003; Yamaha International Guitar Pedagogy courses in 2004, at the Yamaha Music Centre in Toronto; and, in 2009, graduated from UPEI with a Bachelor of Music majoring in classical guitar performance and musicology, first class standing. During his studies he was the recipient of several scholarships and university prizes. He has also studied and performed in master classes with esteemed players such as Dr. Jim Dickson and Eugene Cormier (Acadia University).
Chad completed a year of studies with Chilean virtuoso Dani Vargas via Hollywood, California. He has also studied with Canada’s own Nick Johnston. Chad has extensive and diverse performing experiences on stages from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island, performing numerous styles from R & B, rock and metal, to classical, country, bluegrass, jazz and folk. While in university, he performed early Renaissance music with the UPEI Wind Symphony. Chad has been the lead guitarist in some of PEI’s hottest rock acts and has done studio session work, appearing on recordings all across Canada. Recent theatre credits include occupying the guitar chair for the international hit Mama Mia! The Musical with the Charlottetown Festival, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Chad has been a guitar instructor for over 15 years, with teaching experience in all styles, levels and age groups. He has been teaching guitar on P.E.I. since 2003 and he runs the P.E.I. School of Guitar in Charlottetown.
Chad is a member of the Contemporary Music & Technology Program Advisory Committee for Selkirk College. Recently, he became a member of the Tanna Custom Guitar family.
An award-winning audio designer and film, television, and video game composer, Craig graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Prince Edward Island with a Major in Classical Guitar and Musicology, as well as a Specialist Certificate in Orchestrating and Producing Music for Film and Video Games from the Berklee College of Music.
As a film and television composer, his music is currently heard in over 150 films and television shows airing daily in over 110 countries worldwide. He has also composed music for more than 45 video games, also acting as the lead audio designer for the projects.
Craig has performed in many genres of music including classical, Latin, blues, rock and country. He was one of the original members of the Latin group Esté Mundo, and has played with many local and regional touring bands, including his own blues band, Dodge and the Pushbutton Automatics.
Just a few of the companies that he has worked with include National Geographic, A&E Television, History Television, BBC, Barclay’s Premier League, New York Knicks/MSG Basketball, National Football League, National Hockey League, CTV/Bell Media, Fox Sports 1, NBC, CNN, Six Flags, MTV, Discovery Channel, and Disney.
A dedicated music educator, Craig teaches Music Performance students how to create multiple revenue streams with their music and how to properly manage their music careers. Craig is founder and co-owner of Taris Studios and IGNITE Your Music Career. IGNITE’s weekly lessons help musicians learn how to use the tools and techniques they need to maximize their earning potential. Check out Craig's IMDb page.
Sean studied music education at the University of Prince Edward Island and composition, avant-garde, experimental, and electronic music at McGill University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Music Composition in 1982. For the past 40 years, he has worked as a professional music educator, instructing privately in piano, music theory, and composition, and has worked as an instructor with Holland College’s School of Performing Arts since 2011, where he has taught arranging, improvisation, keyboard harmony, ear-training, music technology, and piano.
As a performance musician, Sean has long been a mainstay of the Island’s music scene, bringing over half a century of experience to the stage and a fluency that allows him to play across a broad spectrum of genres. He has appeared alongside the likes of Stompin’ Tom Connors, Gene MacLellan, and Lenny Gallant, as well as Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones and most recently as a member of Andrew Waite and the Firm. Sean has also performed regularly throughout the past four decades with the Charlottetown Summer Festival as a pianist and keyboard player and associate musical director for a number of theatrical productions including Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, Disco Cirque, and British Invasion: America Strikes Back.
Sean has garnered wide recognition as a composer with a slate of compositions to his name, notably Encircling, which was commissioned by the Government of Prince Edward Island for the province’s pavilion at Expo86 in Vancouver and subsequently released on vinyl. As the owner and operator of Marram Productions, Sean has written music used in short and feature length films, documentaries, television, and radio for CBC, The Food Network, APTN, The Independent Film Channel, The Men’s Network, The National Film Board of Canada, The New York Independent Film Festival, and The Atlantic Film Festival.
A member of the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada and the Atlantic Federation of Musicians, Sean is also a founding member of the Canadian Electro-Acoustic Community, and from 2015 to 2021 served on the Board of Directors of the Screen Composer’s Guild of Canada.
Adam Hill is a composer and bassist from Cleveland, Ohio. He has received awards and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, FACTOR, SCI/ASCAP, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and the Elektra Women’s Choir have presented his music. Recently, he served as artist-in-residence at Prairie Wind and Silver Sage/Grasslands National Park. He has been commissioned by Erato Ensemble, the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, the Central Oregon Symphony, and the Singers’ Club of Cleveland.
Adam is fluent in several genres, and has appeared at the Sisters Jazz Festival, the River City Bluegrass Festival, and Electronic Music Midwest; and has performed with the Walla Walla Symphony and the Obsidian Opera Chamber Orchestra. He has released four albums of roots music that have received airplay across North America, and has appeared on more than a dozen recordings by rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass, and jazz groups. Adam holds degrees from the University of British Columbia, Western Washington University, and Whitman College. Before joining the faculty at Holland College, he taught at Mount Allison University, Quest University, and Western Washington University.
Mezzo soprano Hannah O’Donnell holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Prince Edward Island. Her recent opera credits include the title role in Menotti’s The Medium (St. John’s, NL), Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina (Lucca, Italy), Marcellina in Mozart’s The of Marriage Figaro (Charlottetown, PEI) and two seasons with Opera RoadShow (St. John’s, NL). Hannah recently performed the premiere of Cantata for Canada 150, a commission with the PEI Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mark Shapiro (Juilliard Opera) as well as her debut performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Confederation Centre of the Arts (Charlottetown, PEI). In March 2018, she made her debut with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra as a guest soloist for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
In addition to her work in opera and art song, O’Donnell is a passionate performer of many genres of music and a trained double bassist who has performed and recorded with a variety of ensembles and artists. Many of the albums to her credit have won Music PEI and East Coast Music Association awards. She has performed with Juno award-winning artists Rose Cousins and Tim Chaisson of The East Pointers, and has performed for HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Alan first started playing drums in junior high and high school jazz and concert bands. He enrolled in the Humber College Music program and studied drums with some of Canada’s top drummers, including Mark Kelso, Paul DeLong and Ted Warren. After graduating from Humber College with honours in 2007, Alan started playing drums professionally. Knowledgeable and functional in many different styles including jazz, Latin, Afro-Cuban, rock, funk, country, Celtic and pop music, he has performed alongside some of Canada’s finest musicians. His professional credits include several main stage productions with the Charlottetown Festival, including The Full Monty, Christmas Blaze, Christmas Rocks, and British Invasion: America Strikes Back. Internationally, Alan has entertained passengers on Celebrity Cruises of the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. Currently Alan performs with the Charlottetown Jazz Ensemble, Groove Company and More Soul.
Alan Dowling studied with drumset instructor Ed Kaspik at Berklee College of Music. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (Music) and a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) at UPEI. He has performed and/or recorded with KINLEY, Irish Mythen, Dylan Menzie, Meaghan Blanchard, Dennis Ellsworth, Jenni & The Hummingbird, Doug Riley, The Jive Kings, Measha Bruggergosman and many others.
Alan performed as the onstage drummer with the Charlottetown Festival for several years performing in hit shows such as Canada Rocks, British Invasion and Fire. He has recorded on several ECMA award-winning albums. Alan is endorsed by Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks and Anthology Gear Wear stickbags. His YouTube channel has videos of his many different projects ranging from drumline to concert band to jazz.
2017 SOCAN Songwriter of the Year, Kinley completed a Bachelor of Music with a Major in Viola Performance from Dalhousie University, studying under Philippe Djokic. She plays violin, percussion, and sings backup in the indie rock band Hey Rosetta! She has appeared on stage with Matt Mays, In Flight Safety, Jenn Grant, Rose Cousins, Broken Social Scene as well as being a regular player with Classic Albums Live.
She also completed a tour with Grammy-winning artist Anne Murray. Her album credits include: Hey Rosetta, Matt Mays, Jenn Grant, Two Hours Traffic, Molly Rankin, In Flight Safety, Buck 65, Classified, Christina Martin, Dennis Ellsworth, Rita MacNeil, and multiple others. She has a singer/songwriter project, The Express, with Liam Corcoran and the duo has released a self-titled album of their original compositions. Kinley enjoys performing lots of different genres of music. She has toured Australia, USA, Canada and Europe multiple times, appearing at festivals such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Ottawa Bluesfest, and Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road tour.
Mark holds a Master of Music Degree in Performance from McGill University and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Education from the University of Prince Edward Island. His principal instructors on trumpet were Russell DeVuyst and Charles Daval (McGill), Gregory Irvine (UPEI) and Don E. Johnson (Humber College). As a performer, Mark was an original member of the ECMA award winning group, The Jive Kings. He has also performed with the PEI Symphony, Charlottetown Jazz Ensemble, the R&B/Soul Band Dry Toast, Charlottetown Festival Orchestra, Northumberland Brass, and various other brass, jazz and R&B ensembles. Mark is the former conductor of the Holland College Welshmen Community Band, and has taught at UPEI, Acadia University summer music camp, Three Oaks Senior High School. He is currently the music director at Charlottetown Rural High School.
Nikki Waite has been teaching music in the public school system for the past eight years and one of her biggest passions is bridging the gap between genres in music education. Nikki co-founded Island Rock Camps in 2013 to support the increasing need for popular and contemporary music education. Along with being an educator, Nikki is also an active musician and saxophonist who regularly performs with groups such as Andrew Waite, Charlottetown Jazz Ensemble and jazz fusion quartet Salt Licks.
Liam holds a Masters in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University, along with a B.Ed. and B.Sc. from the University of Prince Edward Island. Liam was the co-founder of the Charlottetown indie rock band Two Hours Traffic. He continues to release solo material.
