Megan Thibeault is a versatile performer who is passionate about discovering new ways to present, collaborate and explore music that reflects our current society. She is the pianist and co-artistic director of Alkali Collective.

Megan is a two time competitor in the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and has held fellowships with both Bang On A Can and Nief Norf. Currently she is the head of the piano department at The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. Some performance highlights for her upcoming 2019/2020 season outside of Alkali include a winter residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, solo performances at Upstream Music Association and Acadia University, and a world premier of Cory Harper-Latkovich ‘s new piano works for solo and duo piano at the Canadian Music Centre in March.

Halifax-based trombonist Shauna DeGruchy frequently performs as a soloist and in collaboration to create and present new music and interdisciplinary works. She is a founding member and co-artistic director of contemporary chamber ensemble Alkali Collective. She has commissioned and premiered several new Canadian pieces for her instrument, and as an emerging composer herself, she is currently writing her first EP for solo trombone with electronics.

Shauna has performed in several music festivals throughout Canada, including Sonic Boom, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Cate’s Park Concert Series, Surrey Fusion Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Shattering the Silence, Open Waters, and Halifax Jazz Festival. She has also performed as a soloist with the Vancouver Pops Symphony Orchestra on tour in Tokyo, Japan. In Summer 2021, she will be attending the Nief-Norf New Music Summer Festival as a performance fellow in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Shauna holds an undergraduate degree from Acadia University and a master’s degree from Université de Montréal. She is a trombone coach for the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble and teaches on faculty at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts.

Jacob Caines is a conductor, clarinetist and musicologist. Jacob’s music endeavours have brought him to explore many great 20th and 21st century works.

Jacob is on faculty at both The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts and The Fountain School of Performing Arts. He is the director of the Dalhousie University Wind Ensemble and works to find new ways to present music. He is also the artistic director of Sesquisharp Productions, a company that aims to creatively and collectively reinvent the concert experience. Jacob is the founder of http://www.classicalqueer.com, a website dedicated to interviews with queer+ performers, writers, musicians, administrators and artists. He is also the founder and conductor of Halifax Queer Ensemble.

India Yeshe Gailey is a cellist, composer, and improviser based in Montréal. Compelled to play music that speaks to our time, she draws from many eras and genres, performing as a solo artist and collaborator around the world. She is keen on working with living composers, reviving obscure gems, and presenting standard works in a unique light. 

India performs regularly with several other ensembles, including the environmental jazz quartet New Hermitage and the Sarah Rossy Chamber Ensemble. Her first solo album “Lucid”, a collaboration with three other emerging Canadian composers that was nominated for Music Nova Scotia’s “Classical Recording of the Year”. India is the recipient of numerous honours, including five Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarships, the Yuh Lih and Marion Kuo Award for Instrumental Excellence, and the Janis and Felicita Kalejs Award in Music. 

Andrew MacKelvie is one of the most sought-after saxophonists in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His performances range from jazz to experimental improvisation.

Andrew can be heard on award-winning albums from Jerry Granelli and Roxy and the Underground Soul Sound. He has performed live on CBC Radio, at the Halifax Jazz Festival, and at the Polaris Prize Gala. His work as an improviser has taken him from a participant to organizer of the Halifax Creative Music Workshop. Andrew is the saxophonist for the environmental jazz quartet New Hermitage. He is a regular performer with suddenlyLISTEN and the Upstream Orchestra.

Amy O’Neill is an active freelance flute and piccolo player and private instructor. She has performed across Canada and throughout Europe. After studying classical music for her undergraduate degree, Amy travelled to Ireland work with some of the best traditional Irish flute players in the world.  She has also done extensive pit orchestra work ranging from The Phantom of the Opera to Crazy for You. She doubles on flute, piccolo, alto flute, clarinet and saxophone and has begun to investigate the bassoon.

A former flute lecturer at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University, she currently directs the Feisty Flutes ensembles in Halifax and is a registered member of the NSRMTA. and has a thriving private studio in Halifax.