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Luminescent Orchestrii
Luminescent Orchestrii combines Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle. Based in New York City, the group is comprised of Sarah Alden (fiddle), Rima Fand (fiddle), Benjy Fox Rosen (bass), and Sxip Shirey (lots of instruments you've never seen before). The group has performed widely in the U.S., British Isles, and Eastern Europe.
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Joel Mabus
Joel Mabus is one of the best solo performers we've ever seen, displaying an incredible variety of styles and instruments. By turns, he picks a mountain banjo to accompany an ancient ballad, sings a witty song about modern life, plays a sweet Irish melody on guitar, swings a hot jazz number, and then reaches deep for a soulful expression of values in a troubled world. Joel is equally talented on guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin. Based in Michigan, Joel has been a mainstay on the folk circuit these past 30 years, and he has 19 albums to his credit.
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Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet.
Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen, each well-known and loved for their decades of music making, join musical forces to create a sound and energy that is truly spectacular. Cindy is a superb singer, guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Grey is one of America's finest players of the Irish flute and tin whistle, as well as an accomplished singer and concertina, fiddle, piano and harmonium player. Dar Williams tells us, "When I was torn between folk music and opera, Cindy was one of the reasons I chose to pursue folk music." The Washington Post describes Grey as "a gifted multi-instrumentalist who consistently demonstrates his melodic finesse".
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Orpheus Supertones
The Orpheus Supertones are one of the best-kept secrets of traditional American music, having won many contest awards since they formed in 2004. The group is two couples: Walt Koken (fiddle and banjo) and Clare Milliner (fiddle); Pete Peterson (banjo and guitar) and Kellie Allen (guitar). They play old time fiddle tunes and sing songs, mostly from the southeastern U. S. Walt Koken was the founder of and fiddler for the legendary Highwoods String Band in the 1970s, and Clare is especially known as a tune scholar, having collected and transcribed 1600 old time fiddle tunes! |
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AppalAsian
AppalAsian combines Appalachian and Asian music to create something totally unique and wonderful! Mimi Jong, one of the finest erhu (Chinese violin) players in the U.S., joins with Jeff Berman, a genre-bending mountain dulcimer player who has performed and recorded internationally, and Sue Powers, a banjo player who co-founded Devilish Merry. |
Simple Gifts
Folk College's host band is three women (Linda Littleton, Karen Hirshon & Rachel Hall) playing twelve instruments, performing styles that range from old time to Celtic to Klezmer and beyond. Combining tradition with innovation, Simple Gifts creates some of the finest arrangements in folk music today: swing fiddle creeps into a Romanian dance, spoons show up in an Irish reel, and the concertina ventures far beyond styles considered traditional for that instrument. Based in the hills of central Pennsylvania, Simple Gifts switches with ease among two violins, concertina, mandolin, banjolin, recorders, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, baritone fiddle, guitar, piano, and percussion. |
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Peggy Shutes
Peggy is a music teacher in the State College Area School District where her middle school curriculum focuses on Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and World Folk Music. She is a member of several area jam groups and plays mountain dulcimer and keyboard with Smash the Windows, a folk and contra dance band.
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Jerry Trusty
Jerry grew up in Mississippi where he learned and played traditional music at an early age. He has a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in music performance (French horn). Jerry was a high school band director for several years, and he is now a professor in counselor education at Penn State. His current musical passions include playing, researching and building clawhammer and old-time banjos. |
Rachabelle
Rachel Bell (Rachabelle) grew up playing piano and exploring a wide range of folk instruments. Now focusing on accordion and wooden flute, she enjoys a busy gig schedule playing concerts and contra dances with Montage, Tunescape, and the Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand Band. She is admittedly addicted to composing and has a particular love for Quebecois, Scandinavian, and French music.
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Bob Nicholson
Bob is a Folk College tradition, making our annual Friday night contradance truly special. Bob is in demand as a contra and square dance caller who is known for his relaxed teaching style, patience, energy, and ability to make the dance fun! |
The Druckenmillers
Tom and Betty Druckenmiller, along with their son Nathan, perform old time music on banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. Tom is a radio DJ on WDIY, and he reviews traditional music for Sing Out! Magazine. For five consecutive years, Nathan was awarded Youth Scholarships to attend the Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, WV to study fiddle, banjo and guitar as an advanced student. They are especially interested in West Virginia music.
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Clark Parry & Lucinda Durkee
Clark and Lucinda are gentle teachers for beginners. They will bring dulcimers, bass, guitars, mandolin, hammered dulcimer and fiddles for you to try. Absolute beginners are welcome!
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Mark Fowler
A former member of Simple Gifts, Mark sings and plays guitar, hammered dulcimer, and mountain dulcimer in a wide variety of styles.
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Diana Wagner
Diana Wagner is a historian, collector, and performer of historic and traditional music, Born in Northern Wisconsin, she plays acoustic and classical guitar, dulcimer, a bit of banjo and mandolin, and multiple percussion instruments.
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Gordon Bonnet
Gordon is the flutist and vocalist with the Ithaca area band Alizé. His specialties include music from central France, Brittany, the Balkans, and any music with non-standard rhythms. |
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Peggy Leiby
Peggy is a founding member and director of FiddleKicks, a dance troupe that performs Appalachian clogging and other styles of percussive dance. In addition to teaching these styles, she has offered workshops in waltzing and couple dances since 1999, and has a strong background in international folk dancing. Peggy is currently working with Simple Gifts on a collaboration where FiddleKicks will perform to Simple Gifts' music. Peggy co-founded Mostly Waltz, a popular social dance in Philadelphia. She also plays recorders in early music ensembles, English country and contra dances bands; and manages phillydance.com. |
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In addition to these instructional staff, Folk College has a dedicated volunteer staff to make sure all other aspects of the weekend run smoothly.
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