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Randal Bays
- Irish Fiddle
Catherine
Fraser - Scottish Fiddle
Ward
MacDonald - Cape Breton Fiddle
Andy Stein
- Swing Fiddle
Matt Brown
- Old Time Fiddle
Dennis Cahill - Guitar
Abby Newton - Cello,
O'Carolan Tunes
Duncan Smith
- Piano
Ed Miller
- Scottish Songster
Grey Larsen
- Irish Flute, Tin Whistle, Piano
Larry Edelman - Dance Calling, Mandolin, Guitar,
Southwestern Tunes
Cosima & Christopher Luther -
Bluegrass, Jazz, & Fiddle Duets
Topher Gayle - Mandolin, Guitar, Song Writing
Loretta Thompson - Scottish Fiddle, Guitar
Frank Fyock - Orchestra, Composition
Tina Gugeler - Hammered Dulcimer
Arlene Patterson
- Fiddle, Guitar
Jennifer Sordyl- Beginning Fiddle
Steve Scott - Cello, Bass
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 - Irish Fiddle. The Cork Examiner, Ireland's second largest newspaper, called Randal Bays "a rare beast, a master of both the fiddle and the guitar", and Fiddler Magazine said he is "among the best Irish style fiddlers of his generation." That's high praise for this self-taught American whose recordings and concerts have earned him recognition on both sides of the Atlantic as a multi-instrumentalist of uncommon talent. As writer Don Meade put it in "The Irish Voice" (New York, Jan. 2001) "Still best known to many for his beautiful guitar accompaniment on fiddler Martin Hayes' early recordings, Randal himself is a marvelous fiddler, one of the best in the country." Randal's grasp of the Irish fiddle style is rare among non-Irish musicians, a result of more than twenty-five years of fiddling, listening, and sharing many a late-night session with the finest traditional musicians. In his workshops and private lessons, the focus is on helping non-Irish fiddlers internalize a sense of an authentic Irish style, making the music their own while nurturing respect and understanding for its roots in Irish culture.
Visit Randal's website. |
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 Scots/Australian
fiddler Catherine Fraser has
gained a reputation as a world-class performer and teacher, and
presents the music of her heritage with finesse, passion and
sensitivity. Constantly in demand for concerts and workshops and
acknowledged for her ability to combine a high level of technical
skill with a rare depth of emotional expression, Catherine has
gained the respect of audiences and students alike.
She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including
the Golden Fiddle Award for Best Soloist, Australasia 2010, Open
Fiddle Champion, Kirriemuir, Scotland 2005, and the South Australian
Music Industry Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Folk
Music, 1996, 1997. Performances include appearances in Scotland, Canada,
North America, New Zealand and of course around Australia. Some
career highlights include guest tutoring at the Boston Harbor Fiddle
School, performing and teaching at the Scots Fiddle Festival,
Edinburgh, and presenting at the Australian National String Teachers
Conference, amongst many other international performing and teaching
engagements. "An outstanding fiddler, Catherine has a rare grasp of
Scottish dance music..." The Living Tradition Magazine, UK.
Visit
Catherine's website. |
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 Ward MacDonald,
Cape Breton Fiddle - Ward MacDonald grew up in the Scottish
fiddling traditions of Prince Edward Island, on Canada’s east coast.
His playing style reflects four generations of family heritage and
is spiced with a unique combination of Cape Breton, Acadian, and
Irish influences. Ward has been a performer, composer, and teacher
for the past 14 years.
Ward has been featured at concerts, festivals, and square dances
across Atlantic Canada as well as Ontario, Quebec, and the Yukon. He
has also taught and performed at fiddle camps in Yukon, Vermont,
Maine, and he is thrilled to be making his third appearance at the
Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp.
Watch a video of Ward performing at the Rollo Bay Fiddle
Festival.
As a teacher Ward possesses a thorough technical understanding of
the music with a knack for explaining it in simple terms. His method
includes intense ear training aided by written sheet music.
Ward’s most recent project is the first-ever
PEI Fiddle Camp which is happening June 20, 2010. |
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 , Swing Fiddle, is best known as the "Powder Milk Biscuit" fiddler on A Prairie Home Companion,
where he has been heard for the last 20 years. Often compared with jazz greats Stephane Grappelli and Joe
Venuti, he was a founding member of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, he recorded and won a Grammy with Asleep at the Wheel, and he has worked with a wide range of musicians, including Itzhak Perlman, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, André Watts, Mariah Carey, and Smashing Pumpkins. A native and resident of Manhattan, his arrangements and compositions have been performed by orchestras across the country, including an opera with
librettist Garrison Keillor, and he has composed film scores for Roger Corman and National Lampoon.
Visit Andy's Website.
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More about Andy. |
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 Matt
Brown - Old Time Fiddle - Matt is a talented
performer of American roots music. He is an entertaining singer and
multi-instrumentalist. He has established himself as a highly
respected old-time fiddler, both authentic and innovative. His
mentors are some of the best fiddlers in the genre, including Brad
Leftwich, Rafe Stefanini, Bruce Molsky, Dirk Powell, and Bruce
Greene. Matt tours actively as a solo performer. He has been the
fiddler for Rhythm in Shoes and Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble
and has appeared as a guest artist with Tim O'Brien, Uncle Earl, and
The Wilders. He has performed at Millennium Stage at The Kennedy
Center, Club Passim, and the Wheatland Music Festival. His teaching
credits include the Colorado Suzuki Institute, The Swannanoa
Gathering, and Ashokan.
Visit Matt's
website. -
Matt on YouTube. |
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 Dennis
Cahill - Guitar - Dennis is a master guitarist, a native of
Chicago born to parents from the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry,
Ireland. He studied at the city’s prestigious Music College before
becoming an active member of the local music scene. Cahill’s spare,
essential accompaniment to Martin Hayes’ fiddle is acknowledged as a
major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition. In addition to
his work with Martin, Dennis has performed with such renowned
fiddlers as Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers and Kevin Burke, as well as
many Irish musicians on both sides of the Atlantic.
Visit
Dennis' website. |
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Cello - A perpetual regular at RMFC, Abby is well known for her
groundbreaking work in the revival of the cello in American and
Scottish traditional music. In the mid-seventies, she began
performing with John Cohen and Jay Ungar in the Putnam County String
Band, making it the first modern string band with a cello. At the
same time, she began an active and continuing recording career,
performing on over 100 recordings of prominent folk artists. Abby's
solo CDs "Crossing to Scotland" (1997) and "Castles, Kirks, and
Caves" (2001), have earned her critical acclaim both in the US and
abroad. She has appeared on Prairie Home Companion and in 2001,
Fiona Ritchie, of the nationally syndicated NPR show Thistle and
Shamrock, did a feature program on Abby's music and her influence on
the folk cello movement. In addition to many workshops conducted in
Scotland promoting the use of the cello as both a melodic and
rhythmic instrument in traditional music, Abby has taught in the US
at Gaelic Roots, the National Strings Workshop, the Swannanoa
Gathering and Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp. Mel Bay published her
first collection of Celtic tunes for cello and the second is in the
works. The combination of her teaching, performing and publishing
have inspired many amateurs and professionals to enjoy playing
traditional music on the cello. Visit Abby's Website. |
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 Duncan
Smith - Piano - Duncan is known around
the world as a performer and teacher of Scottish music and dance. A
multi-instrumentalist and singer, he has performed in a wide range
of musical styles from renaissance and baroque to rock and roll,
jazz and bluegrass. Duncan began playing piano in the Scottish idiom
in 1980, and in 2001 he formed a duo with international award
winning fiddler Catherine Fraser, with whom he has recorded four
highly acclaimed CDs, and continues to tour internationally.
Duncan's approach is to fuse multiple musical styles to create a
sensitive and imaginative backdrop for the rich and varied range of
the Scottish fiddle repertoire. He has taught accompaniment
workshops and residential courses in Scotland, Canada, Australia,
and New Zealand, helping participants explore the interplay of
rhythm, harmony, mood, and story as they develop and refine their
own personal style of accompaniment. He is also the Co-Director of
the Southern Hemisphere International School of Scottish Fiddle.
"Smith's piano is always inventive. It is a refreshingly different
approach to piano accompaniment for this kind of music." -- Graham
McDonald, Canberra Times
Visit
Duncan's Website. |
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 , Scottish Songster - Ed is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, and now lives in Austin, Texas. He continues his singing, with regular gigs in Austin and tours throughout North America, taking his songs and stories everywhere from coffee houses and folk clubs to festivals and Highland Games. Ed's repertoire is representative of the breadth of the Scottish folk revival, including ageless ballads and the songs of Robert Burns, as well as more recent songs which are entering the folk repertoire and keeping it fresh. From children's street songs to songs of nationalism, emigration and urban life, a performance by Ed Miller gives the audience an education (in the most entertaining way) in the constants and changes of Scottish life. Ed's voice soars as distinctive, smooth and satisfying as a good malt whisky. As the folk music critic for The Scotsman newspaper wrote, "we couldn't ask for a more tasteful and accomplished ambassador of Scots song". Visit Ed's Website. |
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 , Irish Flute, Tin
Whistle, Piano-
Famous for his talent as a performer and teacher, Grey is also an
author, composer, recording artist and producer. His 480-page book,
The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle (2003),
a best-seller for Mel Bay Publications, is changing the way people
are learning and understanding Irish music. An insightful
diagnostician, he helps flute and whistle players hear, understand
and improve all elements of their playing and grasp the essence of
the Irish tradition. In his piano classes, he seeks to illuminate
the inner workings of contra-dance style accompaniment, while adding
a dash of Québecois voice-leading. He has taught at numerous camps,
festivals and workshops in the US, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands
and Australia, including Lark in the Morning, the Swannanoa
Gathering, Ashokan, Meadowlark, and the Northeast Heritage Music
Camp. Grey has been music editor for Sing Out! magazine since
1989. Also an old time fiddler, he enjoys sliding some little-known
southern Indiana tunes into the late night jams.
Visit Grey's Website |
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- Dance Caller, Mandolin Southwestern Tunes - Larry has traveled
throughout the U.S. and Europe playing, teaching, and calling for
traditional dancing. He plays fiddle, mandolin, and guitar with the
Prairie Chickens and The Percolators and just released a new CD,
Cafe Curioso, with the Soda Rock Ramblers. Larry has taught at
dozens of music and dance camps and festivals including the Festival
of American Fiddle Tunes, Ashokan, Augusta, Pinewoods, Lady of the
Lake, and many more. Again this year, Larry will be conducting his
very popular Southwest tunes workshop for all instruments. Larry
will also be calling the evening dances, delighting both novice and
veteran dancers with his fun, energetic dances, humor, enthusiasm,
and skillful teaching.
Visit Larry's Website.
Visit Larry and The Soda Rock Ramblers
(www.sodarockramblers.com)
See Larry & The Percolators on YouTube. |
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 Cosima & Christopher
Luther - Bluegrass, Jazz, Viola & Fiddle Duets - Co-founders of RMFC, C&C have been studying various
fiddle styles, including Jazz, Swing, & Bluegrass, for over 19
years. They have been performing as professionals since age 8. Classically trained, they
graduated with their respective Masters degrees in violin
performance at the Thornton School of Music at the University of
Southern California in Spring of 2008. Christopher started his Doctoral degree
(DMA) in viola last fall at UT Austin. Cosima is conducting several youth
orchestras in Southern California as she embarks on a career as a
freelance musician in Los Angeles. Worldwide appearances
include Europe and Asia. In 2007, Christopher produced and
released his first CD, "Personality," which includes Cosima on
several tracks;
CD available here. Visit
Christopher on MySpace. |
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 Topher Gayle
- Mandolin, Guitar, Songwriting
- Topher plays guitar, mandolin, mandola, ukulele, string bass and percussion. Long ago, he studied
composition at Boston University. Now, he plays Bluegrass,
contra-dance, swing, rock & roll, country, and blues in several San
Francisco Bay area bands. His versatility has also made him a
popular accompanist to several local singer/songwriters. He gives
private lessons in guitar and mandolin, and has presented workshops
at music camps. He enjoys recording original tunes in his home
studio, building musical instruments, and abusing music genres.
Topher's written instructional books, and is the creator of The
Original Mandonator. Visit Topher's Website. |
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- Fiddle & More - Loretta Thompson is a high-spirited musician and singer whose versatile performances captivate audiences everywhere. Dynamic fiddling and a radiant voice echo the fervor of her Scottish-Irish and American heritage. She possesses a passionate and spontaneous enthusiasm for traditional music and dance which shines in every aspect of her life. Combining fiddle, guitar, and whistles with moving vocals, Loretta entertains with repertoires in Celtic music, American Historic and Nostalgia, Old Time Country, and more. She literally fiddled her way across Scotland and Ireland and is embraced wherever she travels for her talented fiddling and enthusiastic charm. Loretta has been featured for many years at local, state, and national Scottish and Irish gatherings, Celtic Festivals, and in concerts with a long list of leading Celtic entertainers. Loretta majored in music education and conducting, has experience as a full-time public school orchestra director, clinician, and general music teacher, and is a member of the Evergreen (CO) Chamber Orchestra. Loretta is a full-time entertainer, composer, private teacher, and plays for all forms of Scottish and Irish dance.
Visit Loretta's Website. |
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Orchestra, Composition - Frank is the former director of the orchestra at Denver School of the Arts and conductor of the Jefferson Young Artists Orchestra. He is a composer and song writer and has directed choirs, orchestras, and drum & bugle corps. He has his own recording studio and played fiddle professionally with a touring country band for ten years. After his stay at RMFC in 2001, he wrote "Escapes for Fiddlers," a collection of original solo fiddle tunes, which will be available at the camp store.
He will again be teaching his fascinating and popular course in
music history and composing. |
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- Hammered Dulcimer - Tina first heard a hammered dulcimer in 1986 while living in Ketchikan, Alaska. It quickly became her passion and soon it seemed everyone on the island had heard Tina and her band, BearFoot. Since moving to the Denver area in 1990, Tina has become a full time musician, performing solo and in small combos with fiddle, guitar or piano, and in several local contra dance bands. Along with her busy performance schedule, she teaches students on the dulcimer and bodhran. Tina has published a book of her arrangements, “Arrangements for the Hammered Dulcimer." She has taught at several festivals including Dulcimer Festival in Fort Collins, CO, Irish week at Augusta in Elkins, WV, the California Traditional Music Society Annual Summer Solstice Festival, Winterfest in Irving, TX, the Sawdust Festival in Bennington, OK, and was a jam session leader and teacher at the Southwest Dulcimer Festival in Dewey, AZ. Over the years, Tina has won many local and regional competitions, and in the year 2000 she won the U.S. National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. She appears on recordings by Denver's High Strung and the dance band Contrafusion.
Click here to
see a video of Tina. - Visit
Tina's website. |
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- Fiddle & Guitar - A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Arlene's creative approach to teaching is well known. A regular clinician for the Suzuki Association of America, she is also a national judge for Scottish fiddle competitions and performs for dancing and Scottish events. Her day job is general music teacher in an elementary school. Come to class prepared to have fun. |
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- Beginning Fiddle
- Jennifer was literally "raised in the music business" along with
her 8 brothers and sisters in the family music store in the Midwest.
These days you'll find her enthusiastically teaching fiddle and
beginning violin at two rural charter schools in Southern Arizona.
She especially loves teaching the Montessori students and their
parents, in the arts communities of Patagonia and Tubac, where she
sponsors regular barn dances as well as playing professionally with
the Tucson contra-dance band “the Jumping Chollas”. Jennifer also
plays ‘big band’ tunes from the 20’s, 30’s & 40’s with her guitarist
husband, Don Berg, in the ensemble “Contra Swings”. |
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 - Cello, Bass - Steve is a talented
multi-instrumentalist who has broad professional experience,
including chamber/symphonic, Jazz and Dixieland, folk, and Celtic.
He has performed at many Celtic, Jazz and folk festivals in the
Northwest, and has numerous recordings to his credit, with his own
bands and as a studio player. An experienced dance musician,
Steve's playing is driving and rhythmic, and he continues to expand
the cello's possibilities in traditional and folk music. Steve
is highly regarded as a teacher, and has been named to several
"Who's Who" lists in education. Steve also brings with him over 25
years of pro bass experience with various bands and symphony
orchestras, and has something to offer everyone. |
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From the archives:
Artists 2009
Artists 2008
Artists 2007
Artists 2006
Artists 2005
Artists 2004
Artists 2003
Artists 2002
Artists 2001 |
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