2013 Workshop Staff

ERLING HALLING (Advanced hardingfele) has been playing hardingfele for more than thirty years. At age 18 he won his class at the Landskappleik, Norway’s annual competition in traditional music and dance. As a student of the famous Telemark fiddler Bjarne Pålerud, Erling learned many of the tunes from Bjarne's unique tradition from Hovin, a tiny valley between Tinn and Jondalen in Telemark. Erling today plays Hovin tunes from Bjarne that only a few others know. Erling has learned from many other fiddlers in his region, including the acclaimed Leif Aasane of Kongsberg and Hauk Buen. Erling won rave reviews for his teaching at Nordic Fiddles and Feet camp in 2012. He teaches hardingfele in the cultural school in Kongsberg.  

DAN TRUEMAN (Intermediate hardingfele) plays primarily Telemark style and has learned tunes from Hauk Buen, Per Anders Buen Garnås, Vidar Lande, Loretta Kelley, and others. Dan is the co-founder of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, QQQ, Sideband, and Trollstilt, and recently released a record with Old Time fiddler Brittany Haas. He is currently working on a new CD of tunes with Irish fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, on which both play new "5x5" 5-string Setesdal-style fiddles made by Salve Håkedal, and is collaborating with singer Iarla Ó Lionaird and poet Paul Muldoon on a new piece for voice, 5x5, and the Kronos string quartet. Dan is professor of music composition at Princeton University and has taught hardingfele at earlier HFAA annual workshops. 

LAURA ELLESTAD (Intermediate hardingfele) plays traditional Hardanger fiddle music from Valdres. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Traditional Music Performance from the Ole Bull Academy in Voss and has studied with some of the foremost Hardanger fiddlers and tradition bearers in Norway, including Tore Bolstad, Jan Beitohaugen Granli, Leif Rygg, and Håkon Høgemo. Laura grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She received the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America’s Ole Bull Scholarship in 2005, and in 2009 she received Torleiv Bolstads minnestipend, a memorial scholarship awarded to young fiddlers who play in the Valdres tradition. She is a popular dance fiddler and plays regularly for practices and workshops in valdresspringar. Laura has led instruction and given concerts in Norway, Canada, and the US. She is currently a master’s student at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where she is researching the music and activities of emigrant Hardanger fiddlers from the Valdres district.

SARAH NAGELL (Beginning hardingfele), from Tempe, Arizona, lives in Bondal in Telemark, Norway where she teaches music at the Hjartdal kulturskule. Sarah started playing hardingfele whilestudying with Dr. Andrea Een atSt. Olaf College and has played hardingfele in the Lars Skjervheim Spelemannslag, the Boston Spelemannslag, and Falkeriset Folkemusikklag. She received a Master's degree in Contemporary Improvisation (voice and fiddle) at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and a Master’s degree in Traditional Arts (voice and Hardanger fiddle) from Telemark University College in Rauland, Norway. In addition to teaching hardingfele, Sarah will also teach kveding (Norwegian traditional singing) at this workshop.

AMANDA UNDERWOOD, our Beginner Mentor, began studying hardingfele with Dr. Andrea Een at St. Olaf College, where she earned her Bachelors Degree in Vocal Music Education. She was introduced to the hardingfele tradition through dance, when she began attending the dance classes at HFAA workshops at the age of 14. She currently resides in Minneapolis, MN, and teaches Early Childhood Music at the MacPhail Center for Music.