Meet the judges for the 2025 CBC Music Class Challenge: spring edition
Get to know the music educators who will select the winning classes
The spring edition of the CBC Music Class Challenge presented by MusiCounts is open and you can register here.
Get to know the esteemed judges who will select the best performances in the different categories. Learn more about this year's music professionals below.
Jeannie Hunter
Currently head of special education and fine arts at Nepean High School, Jeannie Hunter has taught instrumental music, percussion, vocal music, band, choir, guitar, piano, orchestra, jazz and music for community living for the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) over the past 30 years. She won the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award at the 2025 Junos, is the recipient of an OCDSB Director's Award, and is also a two-time recipient of the OCDSB Arts Advisory Committee Award. In 2015, her students won the title of Canada's greatest music class, and in 2024 they came second in their category for the CBC Music Class Challenge. Last year, she was awarded best percussion section at MusicFest nationals.
A career-long advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion, Hunter was the founding director of Brookfield High School's World Voices Choir, which partnered with social justice organizations to use music as a tool for social change. As an instructor with Ottawa's Orkidstra (the first El Sistema program in North America), Hunter has taught students ages five to 18. She is involved with the Ontario Music Educators' Association (OMEA) as a board member, clinician, conference attendee and contributor to the association's journal, The Recorder.
Hunter's students have shared the stage with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Johnny Reid, Jully Black, Susan Aglukark and Serena Ryder, among others.
Dylan Maddix
Dylan Maddix, originally from Summerside, P.E.I., is an assistant professor of instrumental conducting and community engagement at Memorial University, where he leads the wind ensemble and concert winds. Previously, he headed wind and brass studies at Cambrian College, where he also taught music theory and pedagogy. He has also served on Laurentian University's conducting faculty.
His education includes a bachelor of music from Mount Allison University, a master of music in trumpet performance from the University of Toronto and a doctorate of musical arts in conducting from Arizona State University.
Maddix is active in music leadership, serving on the Newfoundland and Labrador Band Association's board. He was also a past chair of the Canadian Band Association. Additionally, he co-hosts The Band Room podcast with Cait Nishimura and leads the Changing Your Pattern conducting podcast.
A skilled trumpeter, Maddix has performed with Sarah McLachlan, Roger Hodgson and others, and has conducted masterclasses at universities across Canada. He has also consulted on music for Netflix's Umbrella Academy and Global TV's Private Eyes.
Kiera Galway
Musician, educator and choral leader Kiera Galway is an assistant professor of music education and choral activities at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. She holds undergraduate degrees in bassoon performance and music history/literature and music education, graduate degrees in choral conducting and musicology, and she completed her PhD in music education at the University of Toronto.
Galway's research and creative activity spans the areas of music education, scholarship of teaching and learning, place-informed education and choral music. She is a co-director of the interdisciplinary Together Time literacy program and creates playful, multimodal learning experiences for learners of all ages at Mount Allison. She also enjoys research and creative collaborations with colleagues in university, school and community contexts.
