Join us on May 13 for a showcase on the legendary Hardanger fiddle, featuring a concert and discussion with Karen Rebholz and Lucy Jacobs!
Hardanger fiddles originated in Norway in the 1600s and are richly ornamented with intricate carving, inlaid fittings and black line drawing. An ethereal resonance is created by sympathetic understrings. Traditional Hardanger fiddle music is played with asymmetric rhythms, multiple tunings, and nonstandard tones which have been preserved by means of an unbroken aural chain. In today’s program, Lucy Jacobus and Karen Rebholz will introduce you to the Hardanger fiddle and perform traditional tunes that were the musical accompaniment to life in the Norwegian countryside. These tunes mark important events in the lives of the people and serve as an aural repository of history and traditions unique to each valley.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Karen Rebholz combined her interests in the art she loved—rooted in beauty, craft, pattern, and storytelling—along with her interests in science, music, and her Norwegian heritage when she started to build Hardanger fiddles in 2012. She first learned from studying instruments directly, online research, violin building books, and corresponding with makers in the US and Norway. She furthered her skills and understanding of acoustics in 2018 while working with Sigvald Rørlien at Ole Bull Akademiet in Voss, Norway, thanks to a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation. She has received Gold Medal, Best of Show, and People’s Choice awards in woodworking at Vesterheim, and three of her Hardanger fiddles were awarded medals at Landskappleiken in Rjukan, Norway in 2022 and Gol in 2024.
Lucy Jacobus, age 17, became enchanted by the Hardanger Fiddle in 2020, after hearing it in The Lord of the Rings movie. She was granted a Hardanger fiddle on loan from the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America and learned various tunes and Norwegian folk stories under the teaching of Karen Rebholz. In early 2022, she showed a great interest in learning to build Hardanger fiddles and began wood carving. Today, Lucy continues to carve and currently studies under Lars Erik Øygarden of Rauland, Norway.