Summit School of Traditional Music and Culture

Tom Mackenzie Tom Mackenzie is a full-time member of the Woods Tea Company, “Vermont’s hardest working folk group”. He has traveled all over the country with them playing everything from Irish to Old Time to originals. His banjo and hammered dulcimer playing are also in great demand at dances throughout New England. He has traveled to over 20 different countries while acting as the musical director for Folkids of Vermont. Visit: www.tmackenzie.com for more information on Tom.

Mark Greenberg Mark Greenberg Mark Greenberg is an educator, writer, musician, and proprietor of Upstreet Productions, specializing in traditional folk music and oral history. He was a co-founder of the Philadelphia Folk Workshop and currently teaches American music history at the University of Vermont. He was the text editor of, and a writer for, the JVC-Smithsonian/Folkways VideoAnthologies of Music and Dance of The Americas, and his radio program, “On & On,” was broadcast for 12 years on WNCS. For more information about Mark Greenberg: www.upstreetproductions.com.

Jordan Mensah Jordan Mensah grew up in Accra, the capital of Ghana. As a child, Jordan learned his ancestors’ tribal drumming styles, dances, and songs from his uncles. At age 12, Jordan joined a dance troupe that performed in Accra. He has performed across the United States, and now teaches West African drumming and dance in Central Vermont. Jordan is the founder and director of the Shidaa African Cultural Project in Montpelier (www.shidaafricult.com).

Dan Haley Dan Haley is a well-respected singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music teacher. He has played mandolin for 30 years and is a featured player in the bands of Mark Legrand, and Spencer Lewis. He has also played in the local contra dance band, Roustabout. Dan's Web site is www.myspace.com/danielhaleymusic

Colin McCaffrey Colin McCaffrey is a full-time record producer, songwriter, composer and performer with a constantly growing catalog of songs, compositions and production credits to his name. He has taught songwriting workshops and residencies for more than a decade in the region; and is constantly listening to, writing, editing, recording and absorbing songs. Colin lives along the Kingsbury branch of the Winooski river with his wife, children's novelist Laura Williams McCaffrey, and two daughters.

Benedict Koehler and Hilari Farrington This musical couple now living in East Montpelier, Vermont, met at a benefit for the Champlain Festival in 1986. Strongly influenced by the playing of the great musicians of East Galway and County Clare, both Benedict and Hilari have played and taught widely at Irish music festivals and events such as the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the Chris Langan Weekend in Toronto, the St. Louis Tionol, the Piper's Gathering in North Hero, and the Champlain Valley Folk Festival. Known as insightful and generous teachers, Benedict and Hilari are also engaging performers on uilleann bagpipes, penny whistle, Irish harp, and button accordion. They have shared the stage with some of the finest musicians of our day. Either individually or as a duo, they have also appeared as guest performers on CDs by fiddlers Sarah Blair, Becky Tracy and Laurel Martin, piper Brian McNamara, and accordionist Patty Furlong.

Joanne Garton Joanne Garton began classical violin and Scottish Highland dance at age 5. She began to concentrate on Scottish fiddle upon joining the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club and ultimately spending 18 months in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although now a resident of Montpelier, she has called Montreal home for most of the last ten years, playing and dancing with many Scottish, Irish and Quebecois musicians in the city. Joanne has travelled extensively with her fiddle and has won the New England Fiddle Competition, New England Scottish Fiddle Championship, and placed third in the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship in 2002. She now loves playing for dances and joining in on the session scene.

Katie Trautz Katie Trautz has studied old-time fiddle and Appalachian folk music with some of the best instructors in the nation, including Pete Sutherland, James Bryan, Greg Boardman, James Bryan, Bill Hicks, Jimmy Triplett and Alan Jabbour. Katie has toured with the Village Harmony Choir in the USA and Europe, and studied harmony singing with both Ginny Hawker and Sheila Kay Adams. She presently teaches private fiddle lessons and performs in a number of ensembles, including Mayfly and Knotty Pine. She is also the director of the Summit School. Visit: www.myspace.com/katietrautz for more information on Katie.

Ted Ingham Ted Ingham took up the banjo over a decade ago, after playing guitar for twenty years. He has attended old-time music workshops and festivals, and learned from master players. Ted has offered individual clawhammer lessons to beginning and intermediate students for the past three years. He taught a 10-week beginner's course at the Summit School in spring 2008, and also led a clawhammer "from scratch" class as part of an old-time workshop program presented by Woodbury Strings in Montpelier. Ted has played clawhammer banjo at the Montpelier Farmer's Market and Langdon Street Café with Summit School compadres Katie Trautz, Dan Haley, and Mark Greenberg. Underground cassettes of his guitar work with legendary DIY bands Flashback, the Plùmbers and Stone Pony are being stealthily insinuated into the appropriate analog archives. To hear his more recent music, visit http://www.myspace.com/tedingham

Heidi Wilson
Heidi Wilson is a singer-songwriter who grew up singing grace in four part harmony at the dinner table. She has been leading a cappella groups for the past six years and has worked with youth in all kinds of settings, from summer camps to classrooms including Village Harmony, Augusta Heritage Center, and local elementary schools. Heidi is thrilled to bring people of all ages together in song, and to create opportunities where music can help our communities to pass on stories, mark transitions, and celebrate!

Kathleen Moore
Kathleen Moore, founder of the Kitchen Sync Cloggers, has choreographed, taught, and performed Appalachian dance for more than 25 years. She draws from a myriad of dance traditions including African, swing, contra, square, Cajun, and more. She has studied with masters of Appalachian dance including Ira Bernstein (of 10 Toe Percussion), Sharon Leahy (of Rhythm in Shoes), and Eileen Carson (of the Fiddle Puppets).