Faculty for Up North Summerfest 2008

Sunita Staneslow is an international performing artist who specializes in both Celtic and Jewish music. Although classically trained and a graduate of the Manhattan Schoolo of music, Sunita’s true passion is traditional music. Her many harp recordings and books of harp arrangements have built a loyal following around the globe.  Based in Israel; Sunita is a frequent performer at festivals and concerts in Europe and North America. Sunita performed and taught at the 2008 Edinburgh International Harp Festival and will be teaching this August at the Island Mountain Arts Celtic Harp camp in British Columbia,Canada. Sunita tours with her fiddle and harp duo, Tzalool.  Sunita also works as a therapeutic harpist at a children’s hospital near Tel Aviv.

Robbin Gordon-Cartier graduated from Montclair State University Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education.  As a young harpist, summers were spent in Dublin, Ireland, studying at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.  Robbin earned gold medalist rank at the Granard Harp Festival in Ireland.  She performs with the New Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey. She performs at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall in New York City and New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  She has appeared on several television shows, recordings and at events honoring Lord Guiness, Cicely Tyson, and Sir James Galway to name a few.  Robbin’s performances display the great versatility of the concert and folk harps.  Her warmth and charm draw people into the concerts and workshops, always leaving audiences wanting more.

 

Delaine Fedson is currently the harp instructor at the University of Texas at Austin and Southwestern University. She has over 25 years experience performing with various Central Texas orchestras and opera companies, and is a veteran of several regional tours with national touring acts. She has toured Europe with the Austin Chamber Ensemble, and performed in Carnegie Hall and for several national and international music conferences. Ms. Fedson's recording credits include chamber music recordings, and orchestral work for the Public Broadcasting Network. Ms. Fedson appears on the Texas Commission for the Arts and Heartland Arts roster of Touring Artists.

Ms. Fedson holds degrees in harp performance from the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Texas at Austin, is a registered Harp Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and is an active clinician for national and international workshops and conferences. She serves on the Board of the American Harp Society, and is published in several professional journals. When not playing or teaching the harp, she apprentices with an art jeweler, works in her garden, and maintains a private studio in Austin, TX.

Serena O Meara is a professional lever and pedal harpist, recording artist, teacher, and music publisher. Her teaching studio, limited to 45 students, includes ensembles, group lessons and private lessons. She has published some of the many selections that she had arranged for her ensembles. Serena is principal harpist in the Chippewa Valley Symphony. Performing at over 100 events a year, she solos or duos with a flautist, violinist, or harpist. Serena has released 6 albums. She received a Music Therapy degree from the University of Minnesota, interning at the Menninger Foundation and working in V.A. Hospitals before marrying and settling in Western Wisconsin.

Sara Walthery has been playing Celtic Harp since 1992.  In 2007 she completed the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP.org) to become a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) to provide therapeutic music at bedside. 

In addition to providing therapeutic harp, Sara entertains at nursing homes and assisted living centers in the vicinity of Logansport, Indiana.  She also provides background music for social events, ceremonial music for weddings, church worship services, memorial and funeral services, programs for clubs and service organizations, and concert performances.  She is often accompanied by her husband Pete on hammered dulcimer, penny whistle, and mountain dulcimer, and more recently, with her daughter-in-law, Leah Walthery on flute.  Their “Extended Family Band” debuted at the Logansport Public Library in 2008 with a St. Patrick’s Day all Irish concert.

Sara’s repertoire is a mixture of Celtic, American folk music, popular standards, and hymns.  She appears with Sara and Maynard Johnson and Carmen Pillitteri on Oceans So Green, a CD of Irish music heard in America in the 18^th century.   

 

Melanie Wiltse is a career church musician with 30 years of piano teaching experience.  She was introduced to the harp several years ago and the harp has become her passion.  She builds harps for her growing number of students, teaches workshops at national harp conferences and has a group of enthusiastic harp students in Stevens Point, ages 5 to 75, who share her love for this unique instrument.   She especially enjoys the variety of musical traditions, both folk and classical, that embrace the harp and its music.   Melanie builds instruments in her workshop located in Rudolph, Wisconsin and also enjoys gardening, writing, photography, sewing and a variety of arts and crafts.   She is the mother of three adult children and grandmother of five.