Cherith Alexander – SRMTA Oustanding Achievement Award
Cherith Alexander is a dynamic pianist based in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. As a respected piano and music theory teacher in the community for thirty years she has worked with students of all ages and levels many of whom have won provincial awards and RCM gold medals and even more importantly gone on to become lifelong music lovers and even professional musicians and music educators. One such student is Meagan Milatz, one of Canada’s finest young pianists, whom Cherith had the honour of teaching from her very first piano lesson at age 5 until completing high school at which time she received first prize at the CFMTA National Piano Competition at the age of 17.
During these thirty years, Cherith has contributed to the musical ecosystem in Weyburn in many ways beyond teaching, including as an active music festival committee member, accompanist and performer at community events, and church musician. An experienced collaborative pianist and chamber musician, Cherith has performed with many renowned musicians and especially enjoys coaching young musicians “from the piano bench.” One highlight of her collaborative career was travelling to ten National Music Festivals as one of the accompanists for “Team Saskatchewan”.
Cherith is passionate about the value of music festivals and has had the privilege of adjudicating at over fifty festivals throughout Western Canada including Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, and the Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver Kiwanis Festivals. In 2017 she developed curriculum and facilitated the first “Adjudicator Boot Camp” in Saskatchewan which was a workshop designed to train and inspire new and current adjudicators in her province. Cherith is an enthusiastic member of the RCM College of Examiners and is currently involved in mentoring new adjudicators and examiners, which is a source of great joy.
Cherith was educated at the University of British Columbia where she was a pupil of Kum Sing Lee. Other influential teachers in her life included William Moore of the University of Regina and Marcelle Guidos of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan under whose direction she completed her ARCT at the age of fifteen.
Cherith and her husband Tim live on their grain farm and enjoy travelling, particularly to visit their young adult children who work and study in Toronto, Waterloo and Calgary.
