2012 Workshop Staff

HARDINGFELE

ANDREA EEN (Intermediate hardingfele) acquired her expertise on the Hardanger fiddle from master fiddlers in Voss, Telemark, and Setesdal.  She has taught Hardanger fiddle, violin, and viola at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, since 1977. 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 CDs, From the Valley and Winter Dreams, combine her original fiddle solos with traditional dances and tone poems from Western Norway. Een was a featured soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra in December 2008, playing the final movement of Peter Hamlin's Hardanger Concerto. 

SARAH KIRTON (Intermediate hardingfele) has been playing Scandinavian music since the early 1980s. She spent a year and a half studying hardingfele with Olav Jørgen Hegge and Harald Røine in Valdres in rural Norway in the late 90's. Sarah has taught hardingfele and played for dance classes at a number of Scandinavian dance and music camps in the U.S. She is a member of Nattergal Scandinavian Folkmusic Ensemble and Peak Nouveau, a contra dance band, and is a founding member of the Northern California Spelmanslag.

CHELSEA NICOLE SPANGLER (Beginning hardingfele) learned to play hardingfele at Fana Folkehøgskule, located near Bergen, Norway. She studied with Telemark fiddler Annika Westgård, a student of Leif Neset and Annbjørg Lien. Chelsea holds a BA in music from Wartburg College, and an MA in ethnomusicology from UC-Berkeley, where she specialized in Norwegian folk and popular musics. She has a passion for teaching, and has nine years of experience with both lessons and classroom teaching. Since 2007, she has had opportunities to perform and teach hardingfele in Norway, Sweden and the US.  

OTHER STAFF

GRETCHEN TANZER (Beginning hardingfele mentor) began playing the hardingfele in 1999 with the Boston Spelemannslag directed by Toby Weinberg. She was one of the recipients of a Bernt Balchen scholarship to attend the 2007 HFAA Workshop. Gretchen also plays traditional American, Irish, Scottish and Canadian tunes with the Cape Cod Fiddlers.

KARIN LOBERG CODE and LORETTA KELLEY, our Dance Class Fiddlers, need no introduction to those who have attended Scandinavian music and dance camps and weekend events around the U.S. We are delighted that they will be bringing their experience of over 20 years each of hardingfele study and the driving energy of their playing to our dance classes and parties.