Program Staff
Anita McAlister – Hannaford Youth Program Director
Anita McAlister received a BMUS in Performance from the University of Toronto and a MMus in Solo Performance and Literature from the University of Western Ontario. An active freelancer in the Toronto area, Anita has an interesting and varied career performing with the Toronto Symphony, the National Ballet Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Anita is a member of the Esprit Orchestra, the ARRAYMUSIC Ensemble and the Hannaford Street Silver Band, and has been a contracted member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Stratford Festival. She has toured as Principal Trumpet of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra, and performed with a number of theatre productions such as Phantom of the Opera. As a student, Anita studied with the Canadian Brass in Banff and went on to be a member of the Great Lakes Brass Quintet, the Composers Brass, and for many years performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Brass Quintet. As a soloist, Anita won the National Competitive Festival of Music at age 18, and has since performed as a soloist with a number of orchestras and in recital. Anita has taught at Interprovincial Music Camp, the Scarborough Board of Education Music Camp, the Mount Allison Summer Music Program, and is on faculty at the National Music Camp of Canada. She is an active adjudicator and clinician, has taught for the Royal Conservatory, was on trumpet faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University for 11 years, and is presently on Faculty at the University of Toronto as Head of Brass, teaching trumpet and orchestral studies, coaching chamber music and teaching music education classes. Anita is a board member of NABBA (North American Brass Band Association) and a core member of the Canadian Women’s Brass Collective. Dedicated to the development of brass education, Anita is the Director of the Hannaford Youth Program and conducts the Junior, Community and Youth Bands as well as the Hannaford Youth Virtual Brass Camp which includes masterclasses from internationally renowned brass artists.
Carlene Brown - Program Assistant
Carlene Brown is a highly accomplished musician, passionate educator and advocate for the arts. Carlene received her Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance from the University of Toronto. She received an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School which she attended on the Michael and Sonja Koerner Scholarship. Carlene is currently completing a Master of Education at The University of Toronto’s OISE.
As an active freelance trumpeter in Toronto, Carlene has had the pleasure of performing with The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The Canadian Opera Company, The Hannaford Street Silver Band, The Esprit Orchestra, and The Toronto Pops Orchestra, among many other ensembles. She often has performed with ensembles across Ontario including The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent soloist at Kingsway-Lambton United Church, with The Tapestry Chamber Choir, and was a featured artist at Newmarket’s Young Artists Showcase in 2022.
Some of her finest musical memories include being broadcast live as Principal Trumpet on BBC Radio at the International Edinborough Festival, performing at the world-renowned Konzerthaus in Berlin, and performing as a guest soloist alongside her first trumpet teacher, Barton Woomert in 2018 for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Concert. Carlene has had the incredible opportunity to perform and learn from her many of her trumpet heroes, such as internationally acclaimed trumpet players Philip Smith, Gabör Tarkovi, and Håkan Hardenberger.
Her experiences as a performer reinforced her passion as a music educator and led her to take an active role in music education. Carlene has held several roles as a Music Teacher and Band Director of various Independent Schools across Ontario. She has also taught as a guest lecturer at several Ontario High Schools in the YRDSB and TDSB, and leads several summer camps at Crescent Camps.
Carlene’s joy and passion for music is largely due to the youth training ensembles that provided many opportunities and challenges that helped her to her successes. She is extremely proud and grateful to have been part of The Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, The Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, The University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, The Royal Conservatory Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute.
Olivia Callahan
Originally from Newfoundland, Olivia Callahan earned her BMus (Honours) in Trumpet Performance at Memorial University, followed by a MMus in Trumpet Literature and Performance at Western University. Recently, she completed a one-year Advanced Certificate in Performance program at the University of Toronto. Olivia’s most recent performances include playing with various brass ensembles and quintets in the Greater Toronto Area, such as the Weston Silver Band and Bloor Annex Brass Ensemble. Passionate about music education, equity, and inclusion, Olivia cherishes memorable experiences such as touring primary schools in London, Ontario with an all-female Western brass quartet, traveling across Newfoundland with the MUN Music Ten (engaging with students and performing for schools and the public), and playing with esteemed ensembles like the UofT Wind Ensemble, MUN Chamber Orchestra, Opera on the Avalon in their production of Phantom of the Opera, and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra in Masterworks II. Having grown up learning trumpet, violin, and piano, Olivia enjoys teaching on all three instruments. She has teaching experience both privately and as a teaching artist with organizations such as Project Grace in St. John’s, NL, and the pilot program Giocoso at MUN in St. John’s, NL—a music education program aimed at serving rural areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. A former member of the Hannaford Youth Band, Olivia has been serving as a program assistant with the Hanaford Youth Program since January 2023.
Charlotte Alexander - Youth Band Manager
Charlotte Alexander is an up and coming Toronto-based brass musician, specializing in French Horn. She performs across Ontario in genres from classical to jazz, hip hop to musicals, and brass band to klezmer. Her performances have taken her to the stages of many venues in Toronto, including The Opera House, Lee’s Palace, The Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar, and The Garrison. She has recorded on Bangerz Brass’s self-titled album, released in 2019, Dwayne Gretzky’s “A Night at the Opera House”, released in 2020, and Marie Goudy’s “The Bitter Suite”, released in 2018, in which her “contribution bolsters [Goudy’s] argument that there’s simply not enough French horn on modern jazz recordings” - Marie Goudy, The Republic of Jazz.
With a growing passion for equality in education, Charlotte designed a free two-day workshop in 2018 called “Boom-Bam Brass and Emcees” with the Rising Youth grant from Toronto Arts Council for women and non-binary folks to learn from female hip-hop artists. She also assisted with the organisation of a free four-day workshop in 2019 held at the Scarborough Museum with the Animating Historic Sites grant from Toronto Arts Council for youth in low-income households. She teaches private lessons on her own as well as group lessons at Branksome Hall and Rosedale Heights School of the Arts. She has also been on staff at the National Music Camp of Canada for 5 years, with the last year as senior staff.
In 2019, Charlotte completed a classical performance degree in French Horn from the University of Toronto. During her education there, she was often first chair in the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the University of Toronto Jazz Orchestra, and the Hannaford Youth Band (which she is still a part of today). She also played in many brass quintets, woodwind quintets, french horn quartets and contemporary music ensembles, and took every playing opportunity available to her.
Kevin Zhao
Kevin Zhao is currently a third year Music Education student at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Trumpet is Kevin’s major instrument but he has shown his versatility particularly with Hannaford, playing tenor horn in the Youth Band and helping with the Junior and Community Bands on percussion. Kevin is also a math whiz - if you have questions about your math homework you might run them by him!
Brooklynn Williams
Hi I'm Brooklynn Williams and I am a second year music education major at the University of Toronto. Tuba is my major instrument and is what I play in the faculties brass chamber course. I am originally from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and have been a part of many different ensembles back home. I have been part of ensembles ranging from community to honor bands. I am also an animal lover, specifically dogs and reptiles!!