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
Bill Coulter
William Coulter is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy award winning master of the steel-string guitar. His most recent recording, The Rolling Waves, was released in December 2021 on the Gourd Music label. This solo project is a collection of original arrangements of folk and original music from the Celtic lands and beyond. In fall of 2021, Fire & Grace, Coulter's duo with Canadian violin virtuoso Edwin Huizinga, released Alma, a collection of folk-Baroque and world music. Coulter has been Music Director for Tomaseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas since 1998, and has performed with the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Apollo’s Fire and many other ensembles. In March of 2016 he debuted Celtic Journey, a full length pops concert with the Omaha Symphony featuring Irish singers, dancers, musicians and story-teller. Collaborations have been a mainstay of his career including tours and recordings with Gourd Music artists Neal Hellman and Barry and Shelley Phillips; classical guitar virtuoso Benjamin Verdery, and Irish flute wizard Brian Finnegan. Tours have taken him around the states and to Ireland, Europe, Taiwan, New Zealand, Chile, and most recently Australia. Coulter teaches classical guitar at UC Santa Cruz and at many summer camps and festivals. He earned degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the university of hard knocks.
Adam Hendey
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 click here
janet herman
A lifelong lover of traditional music, Janet became enthralled with shape note singing in her twenties, traveling throughout the country to “singings” and earning a Ph.D. in Folklore & Ethnomusicology from UCLA with a dissertation on the topic. She also loves singing in Irish, having gotten her start with sean-nós at the Joe Mooney Summer School in Ireland in 1999; she was a soloist for Mary Mc Laughlin’s Cór Ainglí and currently conducts the choir for the annual Irish language mass at St. Joseph’s Parish, Mountain View. Lap dulcimer lovers know her as co-founder, instructor, and former long-time Director of CMS’s Redwood Dulcimer Day and as a featured performer in the indie documentary Hearts of the Dulcimer. Janet is lead writer and advisor for the Music of Bhutan Research Centre, based out of Thimphu, Bhutan. In her free time she plays Irish tenor banjo at sessions and with her family band, Dance Around Molly, and sings with the global vocal group Zambra.
Rebecca Lomnicky - Scottish Fiddle
Originally from Corvallis Oregon, Rebecca began playing classical violin and piano at age five, discovering Scottish fiddle music only few years later. Rebecca has been the recipient of many fiddle awards throughout her career, the most prestigious being in 2009 when she won the invitation-only 20th Annual Glenfiddich International Scottish Fiddle Championship held at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland. Rebecca has performed in Scotland, Ireland, Italy, China, and across the USA, and currently tours with her Scottish band, The Fire, which includes fellow CMS faculty David Brewer and Adam Hendey. She has been featured on BBC Radio on multiple occasions, and was recently interviewed by Fiddler Magazine which stated “Rebecca has proved herself to be an accomplished and gifted interpreter, composer, and champion of Scottish fiddling.” In addition to her performance accolades, Rebecca holds two masters degrees, one in Folklore and one in Ethnomusicology specializing in Scottish traditional music, and is currently teaching and pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.
To see her site, CLICK HERE
Fox Pettinotti
Fox pettinotti is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who specializes in guitars, whistles, irish tenor banjo, and mandolin. fox attended community music school’s kid camps and teen camps throughout their youth.
Shelley Phillips
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 of Community Music School of Santa Cruz. She lives on the foggy California coast with her husband and her very spoiled cat.
Autumn Rhodes
Autumn Rhodes hails from Amish country in Indiana and has been performing Irish traditional music professionally since age 13. She has toured the US, Canada, Ireland, and Thailand extensively, performing on tin whistle, Irish flute, concertina, uilleann pipes, button accordion, and Irish and English vocals. She has won several fleadh gold medals and is known as an expert on the history of Irish music in California. She plays with several bands in the Midwest and California, including The Jammy Dodgers, The Golden Gate Céilí Band, Gránna, and Soltré. Autumn has 20 years of experience teaching and being an event staff musician, including at Lark Camp and Catskills Irish Arts Week.
Verlene Schermer
Verlene Schermer is a San Francisco Bay Area based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist with an eclectic style that ranges from Celtic, to blues and jazz. She accompanies her dynamic and versatile singing voice on Celtic harp, piano, and guitar. She is a sought-after performer and clinician for concerts and workshops throughout the country and in Europe, and maintains a schedule of weekly private students. Verlene has recorded 12 CDs, and published well over 50 books, all of which can be purchased on her website. She also teaches harp workshops on Zoom at least 2 Saturdays a month. Check her website calendar for upcoming workshops. More information at www.verlene.com
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.