Monik Nordine is a freelance saxophonist and composer in the jazz genre.  Currently living in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, Monik's activities in the music community include her jazz trio, Departure,  as well as The Pat Coleman Quartet.  An active grass-roots community organizer, educator and events coordinator, Monik was the Artistic Director of the Salt Spring Jazz and Blues Society for three years (2006-8) and has been a Musical Director for the Bandemonium Music Society since 2003 (www.bandemonium.org).  Her private teaching is centered at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo where she has been an instructor since 2006.

Monik completed a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Performance and Composition at McGill University in 1997.  She has been teaching privately since 1985 and has given clinics at numerous public and private secondary schools including: the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Island University.  She has studied privately in London, England and New York City, as well as having performed with such artists as: Michael Buble, Rob McConnell, P.J. Perry, Paul Horn, Chase Sanborn, Hugh Fraser and VEJI, Tommy Banks, Brad Turner and Phil Nimmons.  In 2002 she recorded Blue Comedy, a new album for Roadhouse Records (www.roadhouserecords.ca) with Pat Coleman, Ken Lister (www.kenlister.com) and Buff Allen (http://homepage.mac.com/buff_allen/home.html).  Not just to but over the moon, her album of original compositions recorded in 1997, won critical acclaim in Jazz Improv Magazine and has been broadcast nationally. She also appears on the West Coast Music Award nominated album Cruel Yet Fair with The Hard Rubber Orchestra and This Blue with Smilin' Jack Smith.