Meet the Team

Rosina Christina Moder, Ma. Mus (Hons.)​
Co-Founder and Executive Director

Rosina Christina Moder was born in the Styrian Hills of South-east Austria and has resided in Jamaica since 1985. She graduated from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, with a Certificate in “Kindersingschule” - Early Childhood Music Education (1974), a Bachelor’s degree in Recorder Teaching (1976) and a Masters degree, (Hons.), in Recorder Performance (1977). Rosina received her post-graduate studies at the ‘Schola Cantorum Basiliensis’ (Jeanette van Wingerden) in Basel, Switzerland, and at the Music University ‘Mozarteum’ (Nikolaus Harnoncourt) in Salzburg, Austria.

Her performance career has taken her from Europe, Japan, Argentina, and the United States of America to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

​Rosina is co-founder and executive director of the ‘Music Unites Jamaica Foundation’, a non for-profit organization with the mission of raising funds for music scholarships and mentoring talented students in need. Research on Jamaican composers, as well as hosting free concerts and workshops island-wide, are further aims of ‘Music Unites Jamaica’. Rosina is also the founder and musical director of ‘Flauto Dolce’, the Jamaican Recorder Society.

Peter Ashbourne, CD, Composer, Musician and Music Lecturer, Co-Founder and Director

Peter Ashbourne attended the St. Hugh’s Preparatory School, the Wolmer’s High School for Boys, the University of the West Indies in Kingston, the Jamaica School of Music, and has a Bachelor of Music (composition) degree from the Berklee College of Music (Boston, Mass., USA). Mr Ashbourne, who holds a LRSM (Performance) diploma in violin, was considered a child prodigy on that instrument from as early as age 9. He also plays the piano.

​An experienced composer, arranger, performer and band leader, Ashbourne taught at the ‘Jamaica School of Music’ in its Jazz Department from 1976 – 1979. He conducted an Art Music and Reggae Workshop at the ‘University of Music and Dramatic Arts – Graz’, Austria in 1986 and held a lecture and seminar on the ‘Development of Jamaican Popular Music, from Mento, Ska, Reggae to Dancehall’ at the ‘University of Southern Maine’, U.S.A., in spring 2007. His lecture ‘Two Turning Points in Jamaican Popular Music’ held at the Global Reggae Conference 2008, at the University of the West Indies was universally well received and was published in the Book ‘Global Reggae’ in 2013.

Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE

Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE (born 10 October 1946) is a Jamaican-born British operatic bass baritone.

​Widely considered one of the greatest singers of his generation, Jamaican-born bass-baritone Willard White made his professional operatic debut with New York City Opera, where he played the character of Colline in La Bohème in 1974. His European debut was with Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, Wales, where he played Osmin in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio in 1974. He has since gone on to perform in the world's major opera houses and his powerful voice and commanding stage presence have made him a popular and admired singer across a wide range of musical styles. White is best known for performing as Mephistopheles in The Damnation of Faust, a role he has played many times.

​Besides the traditional classical repertoire he is celebrated for his performances as Porgy in Porgy and Bess. White was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995 and received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

​Winston A. G. Ewart, JP, MA, LRSM
MUJF Chairman, Pianist, Organist and Conductor

Winston Ewart is a retired commercial banker. He joined Barclays Bank, DCO in 1969, now known as The National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited, and remained with the organization until September 1996 when he was seconded to the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts as the Director of Studies for Music. After the period of secondment ended some 30 months later he opted to remain at the college and was later promoted to the position of Vice Principal – Administration and Development.

In 2007 he resigned this position and served for a short stint at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission as Music Specialist before moving on to the University of Technology Jamaica (UTech) as coordinator for the Masters in Business Administration Program where he served until March 2013.

Winston is very involved in the musical landscape of Jamaica. He has served as President of the Jamaica Music Teachers Association on several occasions and continues to serve as: Musical Director of the National Chorale of Jamaica; Organist of Christ Church (Anglican) for over 50 years; and as an Accompanist.  He is also the Local Representative for Trinity College, London.