Hardanger Fiddle Teachers

Arne Anderdal

Arne Anderdal, from Hemsedal in the valley of Hallingdal, has been playing hardingfele in the Hallingdal tradition for over 20 years. He teaches hardingfele at Ole Bull Akademiet, where he has been for the past eight years. He is a featured performer in many concerts and annual festivals, including the Telemark Festival and Folk Music Week in Ål, Hallingdal. Arne leads the Voss Spelemannslag and is an organizer of the Osa Festival in Voss. His teachers include Egil Syversbråten, Jens A. Myro, Øyvind Brabant, and Knut Fausko. A favorite at Buffalo Gap, Ramblewood, and the Julian weekend in California, Arne is known for his excellent teaching and humor.

Andrea Een

Andrea Een acquired her expertise with the Hardanger fiddle from master fiddlers in Voss, Telemark, and Setesdal. She has been studying since her first trip to Norway in 1979. A music professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, Andrea has taught Hardanger fiddle, violin, and viola at the college 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. In 2004, she released her solo CD, From the Valley, which combines her original fiddle solos with traditional dances and tone poems from West Norway. For information on Andrea's recordings and performance calendar, see her Web site.

Loretta Kelley

Loretta Kelley is the premiere American player of the hardingfele. Since 1979, she has made over a dozen trips to Norway to study with the masters. Loretta has taught and performed extensively throughout the U.S., including appearances on A Prairie Home Companion and All Things Considered. She has been a staff teacher at Nordic Fiddles and Feet (formerly Scandinavian Week, at Buffalo Gap) nearly every year since its inception, and has taught at the HFAA’s yearly workshop, at Scandia Camp Mendocino, and at numerous other camps and workshops throughout the country. She has published two recordings, AmerikaSpel (1996) and Dansekveld (1990). In 1994, her playing was featured on an hour-long program on Norwegian radio.

Karen Solgård

Karen Solgård lets beginners in on the secrets of the Hardanger fiddling style. Her CD Norse Fiddle at Home is intended to make this music feel more local for American audiences. A second CD, Norse Fiddle at the Wedding, will be released this March. She performs throughout the Midwest, gives workshops in schools, and teaches Hardanger fiddle tunes to orchestra students, fiddlers, and classical violinists. Karen has served HFAA as Sound Post editor, vice president, and annual workshop teacher. Her main dialect is Telemark, with some work in Valdres and Vestland styles, and as a Scandinavian-American is steeped in gammaldans.

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Dance Teachers

Bjørn Lien is an “A” class dancer and an esteemed judge at many kappleiks (dance competitions). He began dancing at age 23, learning on the dance floor in the tradition of the masters. From 1993 to 1998, Bjørn was the president of the Landslaget for Spelemenn (Norwegian National Organization for Folk Music), organizing the annual national competition for dancers, fiddlers, and singers called Landskappleiken. Bjørn also works on his dairy and forestry-based farm in Flå, Hallingdal. He has taught at the Fiddles and Feet dance camp and at Mendocino, as well as at Folklore Village for a weekend workshop.

Sissel Rudningen

Sissel Rudningen, from Hemsedal in Hallingdal, started dancing as a 7-year-old at the local barneleikarring (folk dance group for children). After a 1986 hallingspringar workshop in Hemsedal, at which she was fortunate to be able to dance with many of Hallingdal's fine older dancers, Sissel began traveling to as many festivals and parties as possible to dance with different experienced dancers. "Dancing at parties is the best place one can learn," she says. Sissel's first dance teachers were Torun and Birger Liahagen; she has also learned much from Sigrunn Bæra Svenkerud and Gunnlaug Lien Myhr.

An A-Class dancer in Norway, Sissel has taught in the United States at Scandinavian Camp at Ramblewood in 1995 and at Buffalo Gap in 1996 with Knut Skrindo and fiddler Arne Anderdal. In 2000, she and Knut were at Folklore Village with fiddler Hilde Kirkebøen, and she and Hilde appeared at the Norway Day Festival in San Francisco. Participants at Sissel's workshops have raved about her beautiful dance style and her friendly, insightful teaching.

Bruce Emery will review the Valdresspringar taught by Erik and Anne Røine at the 2004 workshop. He is well known for his careful and precise teaching and has studied Valdres dance for many years. Bruce has organized and instructed a number of dance workshops in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, including Telespringar, Valdresspringar, and all types of gammeldans (old-time dancing). His careful explanations will further students’ competence with the dance.

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