LIVE PERFORMANCE • THE LITTLE CAFE

Sophie Orzechowski grew up playing Scandinavian, New England, and Celtic music with her family band, led by her mum Jane. She has played at dances and festivals across New England since she was little and she joined the upstate NY music community in 2013. She plays fiddle, piano, nyckelharpa, and a hardanger d’Amore built by her spouse Devon MacRae.

Alyssa Rodriguez is one of the few and finest players of the nyckelharpa in New York, Sweden’s national “keyed fiddle” instrument. She has headlined the American Swedish Institute’s Midwinter Folk Festival and the Jamestown Scandinavian Festival, gives lecture recitals, and sold out performances as “The Fiddle Witch.” She was awarded a prestigious Fulbright grant to study at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland 2021-2022, where she researched Nordic folk music and folk music improvisation. Alyssa has studied nyckelharpa with many riksspellmän (master Swedish folk musicians), including at the year-long folk music course at the Eric Sahlström Institute.