About Us
Michael Eastep, a native of Micanopy, Florida, studied tuba with William Cramer at Florida State University, David Kuehn at North Texas State, and privately with Arnold Jacobs in Chicago.
After performing in summer programs at Tanglewood, Massachusetts and with the American Wind Symphony in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he moved to Winnipeg in 1975 to perform with the Winnipeg Symphony and the CBC Winnipeg recording orchestra.
From 1982 to 2016 he was Principal Tuba with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. In January of 2025 he marked his fiftieth year as a performing musician in Canada. Since moving to St. Albert in 2019, Michael has indulged his strong interest in the brass band world by performing with both the Mission Hill and Mill Creek brass bands.
He teaches tuba players at the University of Alberta and is active as an organiser and performer in tuba/euphonium ensembles.
Tubist Jennifer Stephen is originally from Yellowknife, NT. She pursued
her studies first at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Bowling
Green State University, and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal
Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
In addition to her position as Principal tubist with the Kitchener-
Waterloo Symphony, Jennifer is an active freelance tubist in Ontario and
across Canada, performing with ensembles such as the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, National
Ballet Orchestra of Canada, the Calgary Philharmonic, and the Hamilton
Philharmonic, among others. She is a member of the Esprit Orchestra
and both a performer in and Executive Director of the renowned
Hannaford Street Silver Band. An active chamber and session musician
in Ontario, Jennifer regularly records for Film and Television and has
appeared on numerous award-winning pop albums and video game
soundtracks.
Jennifer is a passionate educator and maintains a busy studio at the
University of Toronto. She is an in-demand clinician, and has appeared
as a guest coach and clinician at many music schools across Canada,
including the University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, the Glenn
Gould Professional School and Memorial University. She is a member of
the Creative Committee of the Canadian Women’s Brass Collective, and
has been on faculty at the National Music Camp of Canada since 2010.
CRTEC 2026 Adjudicators
Meet The Team
Dr. Keith Hartshorn-Walton
President and Host
Mélanie Hartshorn-Walton
Concept
Sara Harvey
Communications
Lee Walton
Treasurer
Maria Pecora
Logistics
The CRTEC TEAM
Dr. Keith Hartshorn-Walton specialises in jazz tuba, sousaphone, electric and acoustic Bass, piano and organ. Keith has a low-brass studio at Carleton University, and conducts the Carleton Brass Ensemble.
Originally from Winnipeg, Keith toured extensively with the Foothills Brass Quintet. He has performed with Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, Quinsin Nachoff, as well as orchestras in Edmonton, Calgary, Oshawa, Ottawa and Kingston. Recently, he was featured as a tuba soloist with the Kanata Wind Ensemble.
In Ottawa he can be found in bands as diverse as The Bank Street Bonbons, Safe Low Limit (an all-bass clef jazz group), Linsey Wellman’s Wedding and Funeral Trio, and particularly Mélanie E., a quartet featuring his wife, french vocalist Mélanie Hartshorn-Walton. All of these groups have been featured at jazz festivals and have received airplay on CBC and local radio.
In September 2019 Keith was invited to participate in the tribute concert to his mentor, jazz tuba legend Howard Johnson, in New York City, where he had the immense privilege of performing with the original members of Johnson's seminal jazz tuba ensemble, Gravity.
In 2023, Keith performed as a guest alongside Joseph Daley’s Tuba Trio along with Scott Robinson and Warren Smith in Buffalo, and in 2024 was invited to play in Daley’s True Unity Bass Association large tuba ensemble to premier works for his 75th birthday concert in Brooklyn, NY.
March 2026, Keith participated in Bob Stewart's 81st Birthday Celebration and Tuba Spectacular where he performed the music of Ray Draper with Scott Robinson.
Since 2020, he has been part of Tubari. a trio with Erik Lawrence on baritone sax and Bram Kincheloe on drums. Inspired by Howard Johnson, via whom they met, the trio were featured performers at the 2022 Virtual Tuba and Euphonium Conference hosted by ITEA, and performed to a full house at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. Tubari was also invited to play at the renowned Bop Shop Records concert series in Rochester, NY.