learn from keepers of the tradition
the music, the technique, the lore, the joy
Our teachers are extraordinary musicians who either grew up within their musical traditions or have devoted a major portion of their lives to learning and understanding its subtleties. They are highly gifted teachers - personable, approachable, attentive - who are eager to pass on their technical skills and lore to students.
the music, the technique, the lore, the joy
Our teachers are extraordinary musicians who either grew up within their musical traditions or have devoted a major portion of their lives to learning and understanding its subtleties. They are highly gifted teachers - personable, approachable, attentive - who are eager to pass on their technical skills and lore to students.
Teaching Staff for 2019
updated bios for 2020 coming soon
meanwhile, here they are...
Sunniva Brynnel - Accordion, Swedish, Singing
Sunniva Brynnel is an accordionist, pianist, vocalist and composer within jazz, improvised music and folk music. In 2017, she was awarded Albin Hagström Minnesfonds scholarship for accordionists through the Royal Academy in Stockholm. Sunniva comes from a lineage of seven generations of female musicians, and her mother – a Swedish folk singer – is one of her major influences. She then went on to study Irish/Gaelic singing and music at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin. After a year spent iDublin, she moved on to study jazz performance at Birka FHSK outside Östersund, Sweden.
To be able to immerse herself in both jazz and the music of the British Isles, Sunniva then went on to study a BA jazz at Leeds College of Music, England, with composition as her major subject. Sunniva graduated from Leeds College of Music. She also has a Swedish music teaching degree from Gothenburg University (2016). Sunniva is currently based in Boston, US, where she graduated with a Masters of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from The New England Conservatory.
To be able to immerse herself in both jazz and the music of the British Isles, Sunniva then went on to study a BA jazz at Leeds College of Music, England, with composition as her major subject. Sunniva graduated from Leeds College of Music. She also has a Swedish music teaching degree from Gothenburg University (2016). Sunniva is currently based in Boston, US, where she graduated with a Masters of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from The New England Conservatory.
Yann Falquet - Guitar, Button Accordion, Singing
Yann Falquet is a truly active and creative acoustic guitar player on the Québécois music scene. He has explored many styles of music and completed a Bachelors degree in Jazz. Since then, he has developed a personal guitar style for Québec folk music, inspired by the playing of the accompanists of different cultures (Brittany, Scandinavia, Ireland, North America, etc). His involvement in traditional music scene brought Yann to perform on numerous recordings, and to regularly tour throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. He also toured for three years with the award winning celtic/world group The McDades. Yann had the opportunity to teach at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick, at the Goderich Celtic College as well as at the Alasdair Fraser's Fiddle Train and Sierra Fiddle Camp. see yann here
Sarah Hotchkiss - Novice Fiddle, Banjo
A native Vermonter, Sarah teaches to all ages at her private studio, Woodbury Strings, in Montpelier, Vermont. She was the Musical Director of The Vermont Fiddle Orchestra for many years, and plays fiddle and banjo with the Damn Yankee String Band as well as the fiddle/banjo duo, High-Low-Jack. She has also taught at numerous fiddle camps, workshops, and weekly fiddle groups in Northern Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as thirteen years of teaching strings in public and private schools around Vermont. Because of her varied musical and teaching background, along with exposure to a wide range of fiddle styles, she has developed a special expertise in teaching technique to beginning and intermediate level musicians of all ages and backgrounds. see sarah here
David Kaynor - Dance Calling, Swedish Fiddle, Harmony
David Kaynor began playing fiddle in 1974, and started calling local contra dances in Western Massacussetts around 1980. Over the last two decades, he has become increasingly involved as both fiddler and caller in the New England and national contra dance scenes. He has been on staff at Northern Week at Ashokan 32 years, and at Contra Dance Musicians' Week at the John C. Campbell Folk School 20 years. He has also played for and taught dancing at Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, Mendocino, the Lady of the Lake, Ogontz, Summer Acoustic Music Week, Suttle Lake, Wannadance Uptown and a myriad of other camps, workshops and music events around the country. In addition, he has worked with and for a lot of really wonderful people in a lot of great places such as The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Wintergreen dance weekend, Upper Potomac Fiddlers' Retreat, and more. Most recently he became the music director of the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra, VFO. He is also involved in playing and teaching Swedish fiddle music and folk dancing.
see david here
see david here
Alex Kehler - Scandinavian, Breton
Although trained as a baroque violinist at McGill University, Alex has always had a love for fiddle music that dates back to his childhood in Nova Scotia. Currently living in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, his specialties include Celtic, Québecois, Scandinavian, Breton, Klezmer and he is at home in many other styles making him an exceedingly versatile player. He has always had a love for teaching and is becoming known for the Scandinavian workshops that he gives. His current projects include Soulwood, Alex Kehler & Nicholas Williams, Les Siffleurs de nuit, La Nef, and Skye Consort. Over the past 7 years his passion for Scandinavian music has made him a rare bird in North America, playing the Swedish nyckelharpa. As a Canada Council grant recipient he has had the opportunity to study with four renowned Swedish teachers: Magnus Holmström, Sunniva Abelli, Torbjörn Näsböm and David Eriksson. He also plays låtmandola, the Swedish equivalent to the Irish bouzouki. see alex here
Katie McNally - Scottish and Cape Breton Fiddle
A devoted teacher as well as a performer, Katie McNally grew up steeped in the vibrant Scottish and Cape Breton music community in Boston and is the 2009 New England Scottish Fiddle Champion. She was a student of Hanneke Cassel and has performed at venues such as Wolf Trap, Club Passim, The Freight and Salvage, Symphony Space, Brighton College in Brighton, England, and various folk venues throughout New England. Katie performs regularly with guitarist Eric McDonald, has been a member of the Boston-based fiddle supergroup Childsplay since 2009, and joined world-renowned Galician bagpiper Carlos Núñez on his first tour of North America in the fall of 2012. Her debut solo album, Flourish, was released in January 2013.
Niel Pearlman - Piano, Mandolin
Multi-instrumentalist, stepdancer and host of podcast TradCafe, Neil Pearlman is a vital and distinctive voice in contemporary traditional music. Described as “a tremendous pianist” on BBC Radio Scotland and “a force to be reckoned with” by WGBH’s Brian O’Donovan, Neil is recognized in many Celtic music circles for his unique approach to the piano. Rooted in traditional Cape Breton piano styles, he adds jazz harmony and the syncopations of funk, Cuban, and Brazilian dance music to create a unique and infectious sound. It was this innovative style that led legendary Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland to say “watching Neil’s hands on the piano was like watching two spiders on crack!”
Today Neil’s musical projects run the gamut from deeply traditional to refreshingly contemporary. His podcast TradCafe is a series of conversations and collaborations with traditional musicians from around the world. He is a key member of the 9 piece Afro-Celtic Funk band Soulsha and the new quartet Fàrsan which blends Gaelic song, stepdance, fiddle and pipes
Today Neil’s musical projects run the gamut from deeply traditional to refreshingly contemporary. His podcast TradCafe is a series of conversations and collaborations with traditional musicians from around the world. He is a key member of the 9 piece Afro-Celtic Funk band Soulsha and the new quartet Fàrsan which blends Gaelic song, stepdance, fiddle and pipes
Lisa Ornstein - Québécois Fiddle, Old Time
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Fiddle virtuoso Lisa Ornstein is an outstanding interpreter of the traditional music of French Canada and Appalachia, blending compelling and inventive playing with impeccable tune choice. Befriended by North Carolina fiddle legend Tommy Jarrell while she was in her teens, Lisa quickly became an accomplished fiddler in the Round Peak style. A musical friendship with Franco-American fiddler Louis Beaudoin set her on a path to Quebec in 1978. When La Bottine Souriante — Quebec’s internationally renowned traditional supergroup — invited her to join the band, Lisa’s projected six-month stay began to stretch, eventually lasting twelve years. While in Quebec, Lisa spent countless hours visiting with older musicians and playing in kitchens and dance halls. She also squeezed in a master’s in folklore on the life and music of master fiddler Louis “Pitou” Boudreault. She has taught, concertized, and toured extensively in North America and Europe with some of Quebec’s finest musicians, and recorded for both Smithsonian Folkways and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her music appears on a number of La Bottine’s albums, and on critically acclaimed CDs with former bandmates André Marchand and Normand Miron.
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David Surette - Guitar, Mandolin
Widely acclaimed as one of New England’s premiere instrumentalists, David Surette is highly regarded for his work on the guitar (both flatpick and fingerstyle), mandolin, and bouzouki, in a wide variety of settings. As a soloist, he is nationally known as a top player of Celtic fingerstyle guitar. Yet his diverse repertoire also includes original compositions, blues and ragtime, traditional American roots music, and folk music from a variety of traditions, all played with finesse, taste, and virtuosity. David is an accomplished and gifted teacher who has taught at workshops and camps throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, including Swannanoa Gathering, Folkworks Summer School, Pinewoods Music Camp, Maine Fiddle Camp, and the Augusta Heritage Festival. He is folk music co-ordinator at the Concord (NH) Community Music School, and artistic director of their March Mandolin Festival. He has authored a book of Celtic fingerstyle guitar arrangements for Mel Bay Publications, and is a regular contributor to Acoustic Guitar and Strings Magazine. In 1994, Surette was awarded a travel grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to study the traditional music of Brittany, and has published a collection of Breton folk tunes. His most recent solo release is Northern Roots.
Pete Sutherland - Banjo, Shape Note, Singing
A warm-voiced singer, songsmith and accomplished multi-instrumentalist known equally for his potent originals and his intense recreations of age-old ballads and fiery fiddle tunes, veteran Vermont-based musician Pete has been on staff at dance and music camps and workshops coast-to-coast and is a widely-known year-round teacher and performer in the Champlain Valley. A Renaissance man of the folk arts, he is also a record producer, concert promoter, collage artist and author. His recent recordings include Streak o' Lean and The Wilderness Road. see pete here
Becky Tracy - Irish and Contradance Fiddle
There is nothing Becky Tracy likes better than to take a room full of fiddle players and fashion them into harmonious bowing beauties. Becky has certainly played around, being the longest surviving fiddle player with Wild Asparagus (20 years!) and the only fiddle player in the soulful but now defunct band Nightingale. She has a driving yet sweet sound to her playing and her awareness of what makes that happen has led her to be a popular teacher at music camps. Her playing has been shaped by the influence of teachers Brendan Mulvihill and Eugene O'Donnell and Lisa Ornstein as well as her many years of playing for dancing. Her solo CD, Evergreen, is an album of haunting beauty, intimacy and exuberance. see becky here
Nicholas Williams - Flute, Accordion, Singing
Nicholas Williams graduated from York University in Toronto where he studied world music, contemporary improvisation, and composition. Since then he has immersed himself in the world of traditional music, where he is most known for his distinctive and rhythmic style of flute playing. Drawing mainly from Irish and North Indian flute playing techniques, he is also influenced by the musical traditions of Quebec, Brittany, Sweden, and the US. A member of the group Crowfoot, Nicholas has toured extensively in the US, Canada, and the UK, playing for concerts, contra, and English dance events. He plays piano for Scottish country dance with fiddler Laura Risk and 'Les Joueuers de bon accord'. Nicholas currently lives in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. see nicholas here