Adjudicators bring national credentials and broad performance experience
The Rosetown and District Music Festival will run from Monday, March 16 to Friday, March 20, featuring a week of piano, vocal and instrumental performances by local and area musicians.
Festival sessions will take place at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and Trinity Lutheran Church throughout the week.
Anna Marie Bekolay
Jhena Dela Cruz
Speech Arts, school groups and musical theatre performances will be held Friday, March 20 at the Walter Aseltine School gymnasium, with sessions scheduled for 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
An all-sessions festival pass is available for $25. Admission to individual sessions is by donation.
The festival will conclude with the Music Competition Awards Concert on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the Rosetown Alliance Church. Admission to the concert is by donation.
Two experienced musicians and educators will serve as adjudicators for this year’s festival: Anna Marie Bekolay and Jhena Dela Cruz.
Bekolay, BMusEd, ARCT, is a multidisciplinary artist, performer and educator known for her collaborative approach to music and her work across multiple musical styles. She received the Royal Conservatory of Music Gold Medal in 2006 for earning the highest mark in Canada for her Voice Performance Associate diploma.
Along with teaching and adjudicating at music festivals, Bekolay maintains an active performing schedule with several musical projects. Her regular ensembles include the Celtic group Back of the Bus, folk and progressive rock band The Whiskey Jerks, Mac Talla Quartet and Skaravan.
She has also appeared as a guest performer with numerous choirs and ensembles. Recent collaborations include performances with the Saskatoon Men’s Chorus directed by Deborah Buck, the Prince Albert Concert Choir directed by Perry Acorn, and Eclipse Chorus directed by Roy Sydiaha. She has also performed with the string orchestra at the International Saito Conducting Workshop led by Wayne Toews.
Bekolay frequently collaborates with dancers and theatre artists. In 2024 she performed her composition A Song for Lost Time with Free Flow Dance Theatre during its Back Alley Antics production, using a giant double bowed psaltery crafted by luthier Weldon Gray. The piece later became part of a choreography titled Echoes by Jackie Latendresse.
Her creative work also includes recording projects. In 2025 she released an album titled Light on Bandcamp, built from a collection of improvised vocalises that form the starting point of her DanceSpace Concert Series. These performances combine music and movement to guide audiences through thematic artistic journeys. Recent DanceSpace productions have explored themes such as Music from the Golden Age of Piracy (1680–1720) and Witch and the Cycle of Feminine Archetypes.
Bekolay also contributed to the 2025 album Solid Gold by The Whiskey Jerks, which includes her original song Misdirection.
Alongside her performing career, Bekolay is passionate about music education. She designed a teaching program called Creative Piano, which helps students explore scales, patterns, chord progressions and practical theory before learning or composing music. The approach aims to help students understand musical structure and develop creativity in their playing.
Dela Cruz, who resides in Saskatoon, has been teaching piano since 2013 while maintaining an active performing schedule at weddings and community events.
She holds several advanced music qualifications, including ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music and ATCL and LTCL diplomas from Trinity College London. Her accomplishments include first place in the pedagogy class of the Gordon C. Wallis Piano Scholarship competition in 2016 and the Florence Bowes Piano Pedagogy category in 2017.
Dela Cruz credits mentorship from respected teacher Lynn Ewing as a key influence in shaping her teaching philosophy and approach to piano instruction.
She has been a member of the Saskatoon Registered Music Teachers’ Association since 2020 and has been involved with the Saskatoon Contemporary Showcase since 2022, serving as secretary and assisting with the organization of the event.
In her teaching studio, Dela Cruz focuses on building a positive and supportive learning environment that encourages students to develop both technical skill and musical expression. She continues to expand her professional knowledge through workshops and conferences at the local, provincial and national level.
She is also exploring the use of digital tools and modern teaching methods to enhance the way students learn and engage with music.