David Brewer - Winds and Bodhrán
David Brewer is a multi-instrumentalist who has toured with the Scottish super-group The Old Blind Dogs, and with Molly's Revenge across the US, the UK, Canada, China, and Australia. He has been a special guest of the six-time Grammy winning group The Chieftains, and was a key musician for the sound track of the PBS documentary, “Andrew Jackson, Good, Evil, and the Presidency”. David, who is known for being animated and engaging on stage, compliments Rebecca’s award winning fiddling with guitar, Irish penny-whistle, and bodhran frame-drum, but primarily the Scottish bagpipes, on which he is unarguably one of the most energetic and charismatic performers of the instrument in the world today.
To See His site, CLICK HERE
Rebecca Lomnicky - Scottish Fiddle
Originally from Corvallis Oregon, Rebecca began playing classical violin and piano at age five, discovering Scottish fiddle music only a few years later. Rebecca has been the recipient of many fiddle awards throughout her career, the most presitigous being in 2009, when she won the invitation only 20th Annual Glenfiddich International Scottish Fiddle Championship held at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland. She has performed in Scotland, Ireland, Italy, China, and across the US, has been featured on the BBC radio show, Take the Floor, and in 2009, recorded her second CD, Inspired, with David Brewer. In 2014, Rebecca graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a double major in Music and Sociocultural Anthropology. She was also awarded the 2013-2014 Ellen Gussman Adelson Prize for outstanding instrumental music performance. In addition to performing, Rebecca is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Berkeley.
To see her site, CLICK HERE
Shelley Phillips - harp, voice, celtic modes
Shelley Phillips has a Masters of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She plays and tours with The Anjali Quartet and The Coulter/Phillips Ensemble, performs as a duo with her husband, Barry Phillips, sings Shape Note music, and has collaborated with Rumi translator and poet Coleman Barks making two albums of poetry and music. Shelley has appeared on more than 20 albums on the Gourd music label, including her solo albums The Fairie Round, Pavane, The Butterfly, and The Wood Between the Worlds, as well as a duet album with Barry called Wondrous Love. She also has recorded music of the Shakers and produced a benefit album, Verdant Groves, for the Shaker village museums. In addition she teaches at several other summer programs, including founding the Boxwood Flute Festival's children's, teens' and seniors' programs in Nova Scotia and teaching music related crafts at various primitive skills gatherings in the west. Shelley also works as a music director within the Episcopalian church and is the founder and Artistic director of Community Music School of Santa Cruz, where she runs Celtic Camps for children, teens and adults, concerts, workshops, and other programs. She lives on the foggy California coast with her husband and her very spoiled cat.
John Weed - irish fiddle and Cello
John Weed is a classically-trained violinist who switched to playing Irish fiddle about 20 years ago. John lived in Ireland in 2000 and taught fiddle workshops at the Flowing Tide International Music School in Doonbeg, County Clare. He attended the Frankie Kennedy Winter School in Dunlewey, County Donegal where he has studied with Ciaran O'Maonaigh and Dermot Mcloughlin.
Stuart Mason - guitar and mandola
Stuart Mason has been collecting and performing traditional music for over 40 years. He has appeared on stage from Ireland to China performing Celtic, old time bluegrass, and his original compositions, which have won awards from the West Coast Songwriters Association. He leads workshops and classes in traditional music techniques at music festivals and camps.
To see his site, CLICK HERE
Aria Disalvio - Cello
Cellist Aria DiSalvio brings her soulful, rich tone and refined technique to a wide variety of musical settings. Whether performing with the Santa Cruz Symphony or in contemporary folk ensembles including Ashley Broder Trio, Aria’s passion for and expertise in diverse styles of music shines through. A graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Aria continued her studies with Irene Sharp (San Francisco) and Stephen Harrison (Stanford) after relocating from Michigan to the San Francisco Bay area. Always drawn to a diverse range of musical styles, Aria discovered a joy and freedom in traditional music after attending Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School. She began to study various traditional music styles, particularly Scandinavian, and soon became a teacher at several traditional music camps including Alasdair Fraser’s Sierra Fiddle Camp, where she is currently on faculty.
Neal Hellman - Dulcimer
Neal Hellman has been arranging and performing on the mountain dulcimer for the past four decades. His books of arrangements include Celtic Songs & Slow Airs for Mountain Dulcimer, The Dulcimer Chord Book, The Hal Leonard Dulcimer Method, and Music of the World for Mountain Dulcimer. Neal’s latest recording, Emma’s Waltz, is a colorful dance through traditional and contemporary acoustic music styles. Neal's other recordings include: Autumn In the Valley, Dream of the Manatee (with Joe Weed) and Oktober County, all on the Gourd Music label. An original composition, written by Neal and performed by Jay Unger and Molly Mason, is featured on the Ken Burns production Not for Ourselves Alone. Neal has placed a number of other tracks on the films of Ken Burns including Horatio's Drive, National Parks: America's Best Idea and The Dust Bowl (2012). As founder, director and one of the primary artists of the Gourd Music record label, Neal has produced over forty albums, including Simple Gifts, The Fairie Round, Tender Shepherd, The World Turned Upside Down and Jefferson’s Fiddle, creating a uniquely distinctive sound, featuring a variety of acoustic instrumental ensembles, rich in texture and tonal color. He was music director for a production of The Grapes of Wrath, which played at The Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College in 2009 and in 2013 produced a show for Santa Cruz Reads titled A Musical Celebration of the Life and Times of John Steinbeck.
ariel young - yoga
Proud mother of a musician who attended Kid and Teen camp for years, Ariel is herself a perpetual beginner on fiddle, and serves on the CMS board of directors out of a desire to help create opportunities for musicians of all ages and skill levels to participate. An Application Analyst in "real life" (a job which requires way too much time sitting) Ariel earned her 200-hr certification as a yoga teacher at Ease Mountain Yoga in 2018, and has taught early morning class there since January 2019. Ariel teaches beginning yoga based on the Vinyasa Flow tradition. She's a firm believer in the 15-minute savasana - your reward for getting up and moving!
Additional Instructors for 2019:
Ginny MItchell – voice
Fox Pettinotti - mandolin, banjo, guitar
Bob McMurtry – Scottish dancing
Adam Hendey - pennywhistle
Adam Hendey is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who has performed in Ireland, the UK, and across the United States, playing and studying with members of Lúnasa, Flook, and Molly’s Revenge. Since beginning tin-whistle at thirteen years of age, Adam has dedicated himself to the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland, while also becoming well versed in other forms of popular music. On guitar and bouzouki, Adam brings an innovative contemporary approach to traditional music, with a passion informed by intense study of music theory and a diverse wealth of musical experience. In addition to performing, Adam graduated from the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, with a majors in Music and Philosophy. He has just finished a masters degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying Traditional Music and specializing in guitar performance. Adam has released his debut solo album, Forward, which features appearances by both Rebecca and David. For more about Adam, please visit: https://www.adamhendey.com
Rachel Goodman - Folksong
Rachel Anne Goodman was bit by the folk bug growing up in Canyon, California surrounded by the burgeoning music scene of Berkeley and environs. Singing was always her passion. When she “grew up” she hosted folk/bluegrass radio shows on public radio stations around the U.S. She is a Peabody award-winning radio producer.
Rachel sings and plays Celtic and folk music on guitar and mandolin with her husband, Steve Coulter, and plays in a couple of local bands, “Boss Tim and the Laylows” and “The ‘Dooners”. She has taught singing workshops at our camp in Boulder Creek, CA and Lark in the Morning and will be teaching at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop. For her “day job” she teaches journalism at Cabrillo College in Aptos.
Tom Padula - voice
Tom Padula has several decades experience teaching choral music, currently Early Music (pre-1600) and previously 20th century jazz a capella. He also plays a variety of instruments, mostly woodwinds and strings, both historic and modern, and is finding Celtic fiddle to be the most challenging so far. Professionally he has created digital audio recording systems for companies such as Digidesign, SGI, and Apple and currently is CTO of a mobile software company. He holds a BA in Music from Princeton University.