2006 Workshop Staff

Hauk Buen, from an eminent family of folk musicians, won the King’s Gold Medal of Honor in 2003 in recognition of his lifelong achievement as a hardingfele player and fiddle maker in Norway. He has been a frequent and favorite HFAA workshop teacher and performer over the years. (Who can forget the magical candlelight midnight concerts from summers past?) In March 2005, he gave a concert tour in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa to enthusiastic audiences. Besides his popularity with American audiences, Hauk has given concerts around the world and was a featured performer at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. When Hauk opens his fiddle case at a dance, people are already on their feet before he has finished tightening his bow. Hauk is a master fiddlemaker whose instruments are prized by fiddlers in America and Norway for their rich, even tone. He will bring new instruments that students may wish to consider for purchase.

Julie teaches Hardanger fiddle, violin and viola in Denver, Colorado, incorporating bluegrass, Celtic, and Scandinavian fiddle music with classical music. She also performs with the Cheyenne, Fort Collins, and San Juan Symphonies. She grew up in a family immersed in Scandinavian folk music and began Hardanger fiddle at the age of 13. After high school, she spent a year in Voss, Norway, studying Hardanger fiddle with Leif Rygg. Other teachers have included Håkon Asheim, Johannes Sundsvalen, and Sigmund Eikås. Julie taught at the 2002 HFAA annual workshop.

Andrea Een acquired her expertise on the Hardanger fiddle from master fiddlers in Voss, Telemark, and Setesdal. She is a music professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, teaching Hardanger fiddle, violin, and viola. In May 2002, Een received the Saint Olav Medal from King Harald of Norway and the Norwegian government in recognition of her services in the promotion of wider knowledge of Norwegian culture. Her solo CD, From the Valley, which combines her original fiddle solos with traditional dances and tone poems from West Norway, was released in 2004.

Dan Trueman, composer and violinist, began Hardanger fiddle ten years ago, first learning tunes from an old recording of Anund Roheim. He has studied with Loretta Kelley, Hauk Buen, and Vidar Lande, among others. Dan’s most recent accomplishment for the HFAA was curating the AmerikaSlåtter (new music) concert at AmeriKappleik in 2003. Inspired by traditional Hardanger fiddle, Dan performs with guitarist Monica Mugan in Trollstilt. The duo released its first CD of original tunes in 2000 and has performed contemporary music festivals and folk music festivals, most notably at Den Norsk Folkemusikkveka in Ål, Hallingdal. Dan teaches composition at Princeton University. He has just been awarded a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for music composition.

Karin Brennesvik, who lives in Hovin in Telemark, has been dancing since she was five. She has performed and taught folk dancing in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States. She has twice won the Norwegian National Competition in dance as well as innumerable smaller competitions. Karin is the founder and director of the traditional dance group Småjondølane, which has won prizes in international competitions. She has choreographed programs for the 150th birthday celebration of Edward Grieg, the Barbican Center in London, the Royal Foreign Department of Norway, and the Norwegian Embassy in the US, and has performed for the King and Queen of Norway. Karin has been a featured dancer in Revels performances throughout the United States.

Sigbjørn Rua, from Jondalen in Telemark, has won the Norwegian national championship in the halling (one of the most athletic dances in the world, requiring exceptional strength, skill, and grace) at least twice. He has also won local traditional dance competitions performing Numedal gangar and springar. He has taught numerous dance workshops with Karin Brennesvik in Norway and the U.S., and has performed extensively in Norway — for the King and Queen as well as in a series for young people entitled “Hallingbreak”, among others — and has traveled to perform traditional Norwegian dance all the way from Finland to Zimbabwe. Not content just dancing springars and kicking at the hat, Sigbjørn also plays munnharpe (mouth harp).