...from the Ottawa Citizen, May 19. 2006:

Of the 18 kids in the Yamaha All-Star Band, nearly a third are from Ottawa. The five include: Nathan Cepelinski, on alto saxophone; Megan Jutting, on trumpet; Eric Cathcart, on bass trombone; Alex Mastronardi, on bass and Lucas Haneman, guitar. Montreal and Toronto each have two players. MusicFest executive director Jim Howard said the high proportion of Ottawans in the jazz band is thanks to the Nepean All-City Jazz Band, a group of high school and university students, directed by Nepean High School principal Neil Yorke-Slader. "It's like the farm team for every other (student) jazz band," Howard said. "They play across the country. It is like the PhD course for jazz in Ottawa so we always expect lots of Ottawa presence in that one."