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Presenters
Debbie Brewin-Wilson Nicolas Carter Chris Caswell Cynthia Cathcart Lois Colin Stephanie Curcio Jaque Davison Brenda Dor-Groot Candyce Dunham Edie Elkan Jessica Frost-Ballas Martha Gallagher Melinda Gardiner Maeve Gilchrist Tracy Gorman Bill Grant Dennis Gormley Denise Grupp-Verbon Michael Grupp-Verbon Gráinne Hambly Joy Yu Hoffman William Jackson Kathy Kasley Sabine Meijers Aideen O'Donnell Alfredo Rolando Ortiz Kim Robertson Gerry Serviente Margaret Sneddon Maureena Spadaro Sunita Staneslow Tomoko Sugawara Carol Thompson Angel Tolosa Clotilde Trouillaud April Vega Frank Voltz Sarajane Williams Janet Witman David Yunghans
Presenters
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Jessica Frost-Ballas comes to us from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where she is a professional harpist and teacher who performs with local orchestras, opera companies, and choral societies throughout Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. She has served as the principal harpist with the McLean Orchestra since 2005. Jessica has a teaching studio that has fueled the composition of the Shenandoah Harp Ensemble, whose members are from varied backgrounds and enjoy performing classical, celtic, folk, religious, and popular works. They appeared at the festival last year, which was their first out-of-state, all-lever harp performance. and this year they will again do our lunchtime concert.
Presenter website: Jessica Frost-Ballas
Make Money from Your Harping
Level: Any Type: Lecture When: Fri. 3:30pm More Info
Martha is ‘gracious and gifted’ and plays with ‘joie de vivre,’ and is ‘an absolute gem of a performer." In 2003 Martha was invited to tour the US with the Chieftains, and along the way garnered plenty of applause just for herself. Touring the US on her own under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she has also competed in the Annual Edinburgh International Harp Festival on a Special Opportunities Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts With a deep background in many forms of music from classical to rock and roll, Martha has a BA in Music and is an experienced teacher and avid advocate of arts-in-ed and has presented programs for k-12 integrating music, history, Shakespeare, poetry and physics. Martha, who also sings, has numerous CDs, among them the intriguingly titled, The Wild Harps of Ireland and Songs from the Stones (which does not cover the Rolling Stones!).
Presenter website: The Adirondack Harper
Blues Harp: Walk on the Wild Side
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Fri. 1:30pm More Info
Create & Give a Stellar Performance
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Sat. 1:30pm More Info
Songwriting from the Heart
Level: Any Type: Hands On When: Sat. 3:30pm More Info
Spice It Up!
Level: Any Type: Hands On When: Fri. 9:30am More Info
Melinda Gardiner
For Melinda Gardiner the harp is more than a musical instrument, it is also a partner in healing. Executive Director of the Music for Healing and Transition Program, she is trained as a holistic nurse as well as being a CMP (Certified Music Practitioner). Melinda uses harp music to diminish pain, aid sleep, restore balance, harmony and peacefulness for patients in a variety of stressful situations: pre and post-surgery, birthing, drug-infusion, ICU/CCU, Alzheimer's and dementia and for hospice and palliative care. For each patient’s needs and situation she can choose just the right harp, from the wire-strung harp of Scotland and Ireland, to a small Gothic harp or a large, resonant lever harp. In her home area of the Albany/Hudson/Berkshire area, Melinda provides vocal and harp music for special ceremonies and celebrations and she is also a cantor and liturgical musician. With Bruce Gardiner she has created of retreats featuring Centering Prayer and Taize sung-prayer. In a joint collaboration with Mona Peck, CMP, Melinda has published Shadow's of the Living Light: Songs of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, six songs, with Gregorian and modern musical notation for ease of comparison and study.
Presenter website: Music for Healing and Transition Program
Developing Unconditional Presence as a Therapeutic Musician
Level: Any. Type: Hands-on When: Fri. 1:30pm More Info
Enhancing Your Therapeutic Presence With Your Voice
Level: Any. Type: Hands-on When: Fri. 3:30pm More Info
Maeve Gilchrist
While many musicians flourish best within the boundaries of a definite tradition, others, like Maeve Gilchrist thrive on innovation and improvisation and creating, what she fondly calls "my musical patchwork quilt." Steeped from an early age in both classical and traditional music, Edinburgh-born Maeve Gilchrist discovered jazz in her late teens which she pursued at Berklee School of Music in Boston where she also studied voice, percussion and Latin American music and felt completely at home in the eclectic but rigorous environment. In particular Maeve is interested in stretching the traditional boundaries of the harp. “I’m always trying to find new sounds for the harp, trying to get away from the kind of lilting, transparent music that many people associate with it. … while also admitting, “This sound isn’t going to please everybody." Maeve is gutsy too. At the 2006 commencement concert, she sang -- accompanying herself on harp--a jazzy, Celtic arrangement of honorary degree candidate Melissa Etheridge’s ‘Baby, you can sleep while I drive’ with Etheridge in attendance! Now living in New York, Maeve recently won the 2007 L&H Jazz and Pop Harpfest Lever competition. She has released one CD, Reaching Me.
Presenter website: Maeve Gilchrist Music
Blazing Levers
Level: Adv. Type: Hands-on When: Sat. 9:30am More Info
Contemporary Scottish Music
Level: Int-Adv. Type: Hands-on When: Fri. 3:30pm More Info
Elements of Jazz & Improvisation
Level: Int-Adv. Type: Hands-on When: Sun. 9am More Info
Rhythm!
Level: Int-Adv. Type: Hands-on When: Sat. 3:30pm More Info
Tracy Gorman
Danza Paraguaya: Paraguayan Dance!
Level: Any Type: Dance When: Fri. 3:30pm More Info
Bill Grant
Like many of the presenters at the festival, Bill Grant wears many different hats in the harp world. You’ll see him at the festival wearing his harp technician hat. He has been certified as a harp technician with Lyon & Healy and Salvi Harps and has been doing harp regulation and repairs for 15 years. Bill is also a harpist who has performed as principal harpist with the Bergen Philharmonic, The Ridgewood symphony and the Society of Musical Arts in New Jersey; as well as the Broadway Bach Ensemble and Musica Bella in New York. He performed with the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra in Mexico and played the Nutcracker Ballet with the Danbury Symphony Orchestra for 3 years. He currently lives in the Big Apple.
Do It Yourself: Harp Maintenance
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Fri. & Sat. at 11:30am More Info
Dennis Gormley is a talented multi-instrumentalist who has been a fixture on the Philadelphia folk music scene for over 40 years. He has been performing traditional Irish music with his wife (the festival's director) Kathy DeAngelo as McDermott's Handy since 1978. He is a well-respected teacher of traditional music and regularly teaches classes for the Delaware Valley chapter of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann as well as co-teaching at the young musicians session at the Irish Center in Philadelphia. He and Kathy anchor NJ's longest continuously running Irish session, now at the Treehouse in Audubon NJ.
Presenter website: McDermott's Handy
Try the Tinwhistle
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Sat. 9:30am More Info
Denise Grupp-Verbon
Denise Grupp-Verbon comes to Somerset from Toledo, Ohio with a distinguished background in both lever and pedal harp as well as extensive experience playing for musical theatre from Gypsy to La Cage Aux Folles. Besides performing and teaching at various harp festivals and events, she currently teaches a wide range of classes at two area colleges from Music Theory to Music Business I and II and for her teaching excellence was awarded an Adjunct Teacher Award in 2005-6 by the Board of Directors of the Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges. With her guitarist husband, Michael, she plays in a popular, versatile and very well-regarded duo, Tapestry and have recorded and published several CDs and music books. You'll see Tapestry in concert at Somerset and Michael will be doing a workshop too as part of our Career development program.
Presenter website: Tapestry
Lone Arranger
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Sat. 9:30am More Info
Musical Cupboard of Special Effects
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Fri. 3:30pm More Info
Finger Puzzles and Shapes for the Harp
Level: Any Type: Hands-on When: Fri. 9:30am More Info
Michael Grupp-Verbon
Michael Grupp-Verbon is half of the musical duo, Tapestry, in which he performs with his wife Denise (who just so happens to be presenting and performing here too). Besides his instrumental acumen on guitar and several other instruments, Michael has long been involved in the music industy as a sound technician. With that in mind, it was a natural that we asked him to present a workshop at the festival on just this topic.
Presenter website: Tapestry
Sound Decisions on Amps & Sound Gear
Level: Any Type: Lecture When: Sat. 3:30pm More Info
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