Fiddle Week , June 29-July 5, 2025
Fiddle Week 2025 Catalog Section
For this program, coordinator Andrew Finn Magill has put together another amazing staff with expertise across an array of styles and rounded out with incredible guitar, upright bass, and cello instructors. For 2025, we have Darol Anger (bluegrass fiddle), Sara Caswell (jazz and be-bop), Joe Craven (blues and improvisation), Katie Glassman (Texasstyle), Evan Price (swing), Haley Richardson (Irish), Natalya Weinstein (old-time and klezmer), Libby Weitnauer (old-time fiddle), Zoe Guigeno (upright bass), Greg Ruby (guitar and swing ensemble), and Duncan Wickel (cello). For this year’s Luthiers Exhibit, violin maker Joe Thrift and bow maker Sarah Bystrom will be on hand all week for repairs and sales.
Interested in studying fiddle for a week with the best fiddlers in the world? The Swannanoa Gathering’s Fiddle Week is the premier multi-genre fiddle camp in the country and features an award-winning staff of virtuosos curated for both their teaching ability as well as their playing. Not only does it offer a mix of genres from Irish and klezmer to swing and bluegrass, but it also provides classes using the fiddle as a form of self-expression that explore improvisation and your own creativity. Students can enroll in up to four classes per day (capped at 15 students each), followed by evenings filled with concerts, informal jam sessions, and special-topic jams led by instructors. There is also instruction in guitar, bass, and cello, and the program runs simultaneously with Mando & Banjo Week. This diversity of instruments produces a wonderful community atmosphere full of collaboration and jamming. A Luthiers Exhibit features a professional violin luthier and bow maker who are present all week to help with any instrument issues. As music spills into the evenings, food and beverage trucks featuring famous late-night fried okra and local craft brews help fuel the music into the wee hours. Grab your fiddle and come learn with us this summer!