Announcing Our Judges for Our 2017 National Awards . . .

Our judges for this year’s Mary Hildebrand and Mary Gardiner National Awards are Lisa Raposa and Rebekah Maxner.  Read more about our jurors below.


Lisa Raposa

Pianist Lisa Raposa leads an active career as a performer, adjudicator, and instructor in Toronto. Known for the clarity and precision of her playing, she has appeared as a collaborator in established venues including Koerner Hall, the Toronto Convention Centre, Gallery 345, the Gardiner Museum, and St. Andrew’s Church and regularly partners with soprano Zorana Sadiq in recital. In-demand as an adjudicator, Raposa judged the 2017 Ontario Music Festivals Association provincial competitions and in 2018 will adjudicate for the CCC (Chinese Cultural Centre) Music Festival Toronto Piano Competition and the SSC (South Shore Conservatory) Piano Solo Competition in Hingham, MA amongst others. Raposa has written advisory reviews of pedagogical repertoire for the Alliance of Canadian New Music Projects and is the founder of Lorne Park Piano Lessons in Mississauga, ON where she teaches students from the early through advanced Royal Conservatory of Music levels.

Prior to moving to Canada, Raposa completed B.A., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees at the University of New Hampshire, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and University of Rochester – Eastman School of Music respectively, where she earned top awards for her solo and collaborative performances. She enjoys running and creative writing in her spare time.

Rebekah Maxner

Rebekah Maxner has lived in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley her whole life. From the time she was a preschooler she has had an instinct for creating music. Some of her earliest compositions are in print: Kaleidoscope Colors from The Color Collection Junior (composed at around the age of eight), and Ghost Train from Making Tracks Volume One, CNCM (composed at age nine). Now that Rebekah has a family and piano studio, she continues to compose music for children. While at Acadia University (’95), she studied piano with John Hansen and composition with Owen Stephens. Her piano music is listed and published by every major Canadian Conservatory, as well as the London Conservatory of Music, London, England, and is heard in exams, festivals and recitals worldwide. Visit her website at www.notekidds.maxner.ca