The NWT International Lute Festival is a co-production of the Hay River Lute Society and NACC.

Tyler Hawkins began lessons at the age of eight. His first formal studies in classical guitar were with Ray Sealey in London Ontario. He was deeply inspired by the Bach Lute Suite recordings of ten string guitarist Narciso Yepes (1927 - 1997). This motivation prompted an introduction with Toronto music instructor/composer Ted Lebar with whom he studied multi-string guitar technique at York University. Other teachers of notable mention are Lynne Gangbar and Alan Torok. Hawkins received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York with Honours in Performance in 1990. He has since been working as an educator and private guitar instructor in the Northwest Territories.

Miguel Serdoura was born in Lisbon, where he began his musical and artistic career, earning his Diploma in Classical Guitar in 1994. In 1995, he moved to Paris, where he studied the lute with Claire Antonini in the Early Music Department of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris – CNR. From 1999 to 2004, he completed his musical education at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. As a soloist, Miguel Serdoura has given recitals in France, Portugal, United-Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, China and USA. In 2000, he took part in a television documentary devoted to the lutenist Hopkinson Smith, broadcast by Mezzo, Classica, RTBF and TSR. He currently lives and teaches baroque and renaissance lute in Paris.

Originally from Montréal and working in the Maritimes since 1980,Michel Cardin has gained international recognition as a teacher, a performer, a musicologist and a producer. He is currently full professor of guitar and lute at the Department of Music of  the University of Moncton (Canada), with a PhD equivalence status, and has made 12 compact discs of solo Baroque lute music. This series of recordings, consisting for the most part of world premieres, is dedicated to The London Manuscript by Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750), the undisputed master of the instrument. The enormous enthusiasm for these recordings, shared by critics and the general public alike provides unambiguous justification for the re-discovery of such a great composer. Michel Cardin has given concerts in Europe, Canada, USA, Japan and Africa.