PORTLAND FIDDLE CAMP TEACHERS
Camp Co-Founder & Teacher
Kate O’Brien
Hi! I didn’t realize until later that I grew up in a musical family. Everyone took lessons at something. Then cousins/aunts/uncles would come over and we would sing and play music together. It was so normal I figured everyone did it. In 4th grade, I decided to play violin in my elementary school orchestra in Birmingham, Michigan. I vividly remember the night before my first orchestra class when I pulled the full-size (too big for me!) violin from the top shelf of the linen closet and played it under my covers when I was supposed to be asleep! Anyway, that led to private classical studies as well as studies in old time, jazz, improv & bluegrass. Music is never boring and there’s always more to learn! I toured the US and Europe playing with various folk and rock bands. I hold a Degree in Music Theory and Violin Performance and I’ve been a private violin teacher since 2004. I opened Mosaic String Academy in Portland, OR in Jan. 2019. I ❤️Fiddle Camp
Camp Director & Teacher Sophie Vitells Enloe
Sophie began playing violin at the age of eight and grew up nurturing a deep love of violin and fiddle music. With musical interests ranging from classical to Irish to Klezmer, she discovered traditional Appalachian (or old-time) music at the age of 16 and began delving into its archaic and powerful sound. She has performed with old-time, country and folk bands throughout the U.S. and Europe, and taught fiddle workshops at a number of music camps. Sophie currently has a private studio in NE Portland. For more information about her playing and teaching, you can visit her website here.
Special Guest Teacher Mirabai Peart
Originally from Australia, she has been performing professionally for 24 years and has toured nationally and internationally as a string player, backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist with various projects. She has performed in genres ranging between classical, improvised music, indie folk-rock and folk-inspired original music. Along with her classical training at the Australian Institute of Music and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Mirabai’s music is informed by the deep-dives she has taken into various styles such as jazz, free improvisation, and folk traditions from the Balkans. She continues to study folk traditions as well as composing and performing her own music. Mirabai teaches private lessons in violin/viola alongside Kate at Mosaic String Academy.
Camp Teacher Colin O’Brien
is a nationally touring independent performer based in Nashville. (He's also Kate's brother!) He has shared bills with artists such as The Infamous String Dusters, Great American Taxi, Trampled By Turtles, Tim O’Brien, Del McCoury, Steve Martin, Sam Bush, Darol Anger and Peter Rowan. Colin has performed at innumerable venues and festivals throughout the United States. Colin loves to engage his audience, young and old alike, and may at any time leave the stage to dance and sing among them; his voice, fiddle and feet all still resounding loud and clear through the stage speakers. He is a gifted teacher who imparts knowledge, dedication and FUN. We will miss him this year but look forward to his return next year!