Classic Bronze 2027 clinicians

BRONZE PATH - KEVIN MAZIMAS KO

Kevin graduated with a Masters of Arts in Music Composition from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2003 and a complete Masters in Church Music Degree  at Concordia University Wisconsin in 2004, and also obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in 2013. He was a handbell conducting student of Dr. William A. Payn. He also upgraded his handbells composing skill with Arnold Sherman and polished his handbells performance technique with Dr. John Behnke (AGEHR).

He has been invited to be a clinician at the events which were held in Singapore, Taiwan, Canada, United Kingdom, USA, Germany, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia. He founded the “Hong Kong International Handbell Olympics in 2001, which is an annual bench-marking competition event. He also founded the annual Christmas event “Ringing by the Candlelight” in  2015 with the Hong Kong Elite Youth Ringers. He has composed and arranged over 80 pieces of handbell music. Some of them are being published with publishers in the United States and are available at Jeffers Handbell Supply.

Kevin is currently the Artistic Director of Hong Kong Asia Institute of Handbells and Hong Kong Bronze. He is also a handbell soloist who performs international-wiseas well as the Malmark Handbells Inc. Hong Kong representative. He is the  Artistic director of The Embellishment Handbell Ensemble and founder of the Hong Kong Elite Youth Ringers.

Copper path - Dr Stuart Sladden

Dr. Stuart Sladden was born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto in vocal jazz performance, a Master of Music degree from the University of Manitoba, and a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Alberta, both in choral conducting. He is a freelance musician, appearing as a guest conductor, workshop leader, adjudicator, and clinician mainly throughout Canada. He has worked as a sessional instructor at both the University of Alberta and University of Manitoba teaching courses in aural skills, conducting, and choral literature, and is currently an instructor at the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) where he teaches courses in conducting and musical skill development, along with directing CMU’s handbell ensemble, and is a member of the handbell faculty at the International Music Camp.  

Over the past thirty years, Stuart has enjoyed working with a variety of traditional, jazz, and church choirs as both a singer and conductor. In Winnipeg, he conducts a number of ensembles, including the Joie de Vivre Community Choir and the Westminster Church Choir, and has been a regular singer with one of Winnipeg’s professional choral ensembles, the Winnipeg Singers.

Stuart began playing and conducting handbells in 2008, at Eden United Church, in Mississauga, Ontario, and since then has been involved with a number of handbell ensembles as both a ringer and conductor. Some of these ensembles include Eden Bells, Bells aPeel, the Bronze Foundation in Toronto, Westworth Chapel Bells, Rochester Ringers, the CMU Handbell Ensemble in Winnipeg, Jubiloso Bells of Concordia and the Robertson-Wesley Ringers in Edmonton. Stuart has been the guest conductor at provincial handbell festivals across Canada, has presented at, and been a guest conductor for, Canada’s former national symposium, the Ringing Link, was the Canadian representative conductor at the 17th International Handbell Symposium held in Vancouver during the summer of 2016, was an Honorary Adjudicator at the Asia International Handbell Festival in Hong Kong in 2018, and was the guest conductor at the Ontario Handbell Guild’s Peace by Piece festival held in London in 2019.

Along with his teaching and performing, Stuart is passionate about building relationship and community through music. He has been the chair of ChoralFest, one of the largest stand-alone, non-competitive choral festivals in Manitoba, has served on the Manitoba Music Educators Association board, is a former President of the Manitoba Choral Association, and currently serves on the board of the Foundation for Choral Music in Manitoba.

Tammy-jo Mortensen - accent path

Tammy-Jo Mortensen has been involved with handbell ringing for over 30 years as a ringer, conductor, soloist and adjudicator of handbell festivals and compositions, and as a workshop clinician.  She was the Music Director at Robertson-Wesley United Church in Edmonton for 16 years, where she worked with two five octave handbell groups - the Robertson-Wesley Ringers and Nova Bells as well as the choir, and she also volunteered with several elementary school handbell groups during that time.

Currently, she conducts the Cosmopolitan Music Society Reverberations handbell ensemble. She has performed, conducted and given workshops internationally at handbell, organ and choral events in Korea, Australia, England, and Denmark as well as all over Canada. She is thrilled to be returning to the Classic Bronze program as the Accent conductor!

Throughout her career, Tammy-Jo has sought out education and experiences which have advanced her skills to a higher level. She has a Bachelor of Music in Organ from the University of Alberta, a Master of Music in Organ from McGill University in Montreal and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting also from the U of A.