Calliope Instructors

Calliope Classes are taught by the best folk artists in Western Pennsylvania, many of whom are also performers.

Charlie Anderson plays banjo, guitar, flute, tinwhistle and sings. He is well-known in the Pittsburgh area for his interpretations of folk music and his skills as a music teacher.

George Balderose teaches the playing of Great Highland Bagpipe and several types of smaller bellows bagpipes from Scotland and Ireland. He co-founded the Balmoral School of Highland Piping in 1978, and has intensively studied bagpipe teaching methods with some of the world's greatest players of these instruments. Many of the students he has started from scratch play in local pipe bands and have won prizes in piping competitions. The NY Times called him a "virtuoso piper."

Jeff Berman is a genre-bending multi-instrumentalist on percussion, drums, vibraphone, and lap dulcimer. He was active in the NY music scene before relocating to Pittsburgh, collaborating with many internationally known artists. His compositions for performance, dance, and film include the Academy Award-nominated documentary, “In Our Water.”

Amy Brown, originally from Pittsburgh, is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville where she received a B.S. in music technology. Before leaving for college, she was involved in the Pittsburgh Irish session scene, studying Irish flute with Richard Withers. She is a energetic teacher and is involved in Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Pittsburgh and the Gaelic League of Pittsburgh.

46 years old, Sam Blancato first took up the harmonica at the age of fourteen when a friend introduced him to the sounds of Little Walter Jacobs and Paul Butterfield. A member of the Western Pennsylvania Blues Society, Sam is an active member of the Pittsburgh area blues community and plays weekly at jam sessions, sits in with a number of local blues bands, and is also the front man of his own band, The Door Shakers.

Oliver Browne has fiddled since his childhood days in Ireland and has played with some of the finest traditional musicians in North America and Europe. He comes from a family that has been influential in international Irish music circles for many years. Now in Pittsburgh, Oliver performs with The Rolling Scones, Hooley, and at ceilis, feis, and seisuns.

CCE is short for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the international organization dedicated to the preservation of traditional Irish music, dance, song, and language. Members of CCÉ Pittsburgh host a weekly session, teach classes through Calliope, and present concerts. For more information on CCE activities: www.ccepittsburgh.org

Carla Dundes moved to Pittsburgh several years ago from Cincinnati, where she performed and recorded with the band, Silver Arm. Originally a professional oboe player, she is now an ardent tin whistle player, playing with “The Rolling Scones” and at sessions and ceilis in the area. Her biggest Irish music influences are Mary Bergin and John Skelton, with whom she studied.

Dolores Heagy is the Artistic Director and Founder of Pittsburgh’s premier performing clogging group, the Coal Country Cloggers, and has more than 25 years of teaching and performing to her credit. She is also a square dance caller, fiddler and banjo player, and has taught / called dancing in community halls, at festivals, and dance weeks nationally.

Guitarist Andy Hoke has developed an extensive and well-rounded set of sensibilities from performing in jazz, blues and rock bands, bell choirs, marching bands, orchestras and musicals. Along with decades of experience in music performance, education, composition and production, Andy also has a special interest in ear training and harmonic music theory. Dubbed ‘human jukebox’ and ‘iPod,’ Andy has the rare ability to instantly reproduce nearly any popular or known repertoire as a result of his advanced work in ear training and music theory.

Bob Hutchinson is a skilled teacher, player, and maker of Appalachian dulcimers. He is well-known for his interpretations of traditional and contemporary music played on the dulcimer. His work is frequently featured in the Dulcimer Times magazine.

Ceinwen King-Smith has sung with the Mendelssohn Choir and soloed with the Pittsburgh Oratorio Society, of which she was a member for 25 years. She is currently a member of Coro Latin Americano of Pittsburgh as well the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, for which she has also done solo work.

Heather Kropf is a singer/songwriter/producer who offers a multi-faceted aural digest of styles ranging from jazz to folk, to radio friendly pop. Heather's musical influences range from classic 70s songwriters to contemporary AAA, pop & neo-soul artists of today. Her gentle and intuitive piano style masterfully supports her lyrics, which stand up to the best poetry with fresh and unexpected images. She is currrently working on a piano/vocal solo project called Hestia due out in late 2007.

Ken Lamison was introduced to the potential of the guitar in 1964, thanks to Ed Sullivan and The Beatles. Shortly thereafter, he began a lifelong foray into all aspects of guitardom, from instrument repair and restoration to instruction and performance. His passion for Blues music was sparked the day he heard Michael Bloomfield with the Electric Flag and can be heard throughout his playing. His performance experience spans the realms of folk, country, rock, funk, jazz, big band and blues. He produces music at his home studio and gigs as a solo artist and in various bands throughout the Tri-State area.

Caroline Mitchell learned to knit at age 9 and since then has knitted numerous useful objects in various techniques including Aran, Fair Isle, Cable, and Nordic, and including at least 100 sweaters and numerous hats, scarves and smaller objects as gifts.

Ronald Morelli plays bluegrass and clawhammer banjo, and guitar. His musical life spans over 30 years, and he enjoys using the banjo as an accompaniment to singing a wide variety of songs in bluegrass, gospel, and old time Appalachian styles.

Carol Palmer is a classically trained violinist who has played the mandolin for 5 years. She is a member of the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra, a community-based organization open to players of all levels of ability. She is also one of six solo performers in the Pittsburgh Mandolin Consort, which will be in concert at Heinz Chapel in September. Carol began teaching for Calliope last winter, and is an enthusiastic and supportive instructor. For more details on the mandolin and her courses, go to her website.

Stephen Pellegrino is a versatile artist who has been playing the squeezebox for 45 years and is interested in all styles of music. Since 1975 he has been creating experimental and inter-disciplinary performance works. Since the early 80's he has been engaged in an on going multi-sectional work called DRYWALL. The impetus behind this series is the integration of his bread labor as a plasterer and his shamanistic role as an artist. An entire mythos and culture is built on this construction milieu, utilizing tools and process as the basis for rituals, music and dance/movement sections.

Emily Pinkerton is a singer/songwriter, instrumentalist and ethno-musicologist whose work draws from old-time country and Latin American folk. She has taught private lessons since 1990 and as an undergraduate worked at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. On fiddle, banjo and guitar, she has shared the stage with artists such as Divahn, Glen Velez, Stacy Phillips, and the Chieftains.

Sue Powers started playing banjo in high school after early training in piano, guitar and church choir. Sue rapidly became interested in old-time music through her family who settled and has resided along the Allegheny River north of Pittsburgh since the late 18th century. Sue's grandfather and great-grandfather were both fiddlers and dance callers in the area.

Rich Rayburg has been playing bodhran for approximately 8 years. He was a member of the traditional Irish ensemble Sl·n Abhaile and currently is a regular player at local sessions and cÈilÌs. A former bodhran student at Calliope, Rich now enjoys teaching as well as playing.

Janet Reing plays banjo, hammered dulcimer and guitar. She was a member of the Coal Country Cloggers for many years and also performed with the Deer Creek String Band. She now performs with the Blue Mountain Cloggers and Sandy Gals, as well as with her husband Mike.

Mike Reing has been active in the Pittsburgh folk music scene for twenty-some years. Mike plays guitar, banjo, harmonica, fiddle and sings. He was a founding member of the Deer Creek String Band
and currently plays guitar with the Lackawanna Longnecks.

Kip Ruefle is a versatile percussionist with over 32 years experience on drum kit, and 25 years playing rock, jazz and folk with multiple musical ensembles. Along with drum kit, Kip specializes in a variety of ethnic hand percussion (including congas, bongos, djembe, doumbek and tabla ) and bodhran. He is a former Calliope student and a regular attendant at local Irish Music Sessions and drum circles. His favorite bodhran players are Johnny “Ringo” McDonagh and John Joe Kelly.

Faith Stenning has played the Celtic Harp throughout southwestern Pennsylvania for over two decades. She has been the featured harper at the Pittsburgh International Festival and the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, and in 2005 she won second place as an ensemble player at the Scottish Harp competition at the Ligonier Highland Games. She has studied music at Boston University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Scottish Arts School at Oberlin University, along with private study with Gretchen Van Hoesen, Principal Harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Mark Tamsula plays fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin in the Old Time Country style and knows more than 700 tunes and songs. Mark has been performing and teaching in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region for over 20 years. You can visit Mark's website at www.appalachianmusic.net

Bernadette Vargo's first experience with formal dance began at four...with a pink tutu. After dabbling with jazz, ballet and musical theater, she found her place in middle eastern dance. For her, tribal fusion dance a way of weaving a tale. With skirts and tassles, gestures and notes, colorful and delicate silk threads are intricately spun and woven, shimmied and interlaced around a strong musical fabric. Bernadette is an active performer, working with Khafif (www.khafif.com) Music and Dance.

Harold Yeager plays banjo, guitar, and sings with the bluegrass band Midlife Crisis. Harold began his banjo studies at Calliope and has since studied with Tony Trischka and completed the Duquesne University Guitar and Bass Workshop.

Teacher Inquires: Call 412-361-1915 or send e-mail to calliope@calliopehouse.org