Carlitos Medrano was born in Havana and grew up steeped in traditional Cuban music. He studied and performed with many prominent Cuban musicians before moving to California in 2008. Carlitos plays with many bands and has performed in festivals all over the Bay Area.

Faisal Zedan was born in Lebanon, raised in Syria, and grew up playing the Derbakki drum. From there, he mastered the intricacies of Arabic music, moved to California in 1992, and is now a nationally known percussionist dedicated to the transformative power of rhythm.

Al Striplen was a professor and counselor at Sacramento State for 40 years and now teaches Native American culture, spirituality and music at the State Indian Museum. Of Amah Matsun Ohlone and Aztec heritage, Al emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things.

Chris Reid has traveled extensively and immersed himself in Latin American music and culture for over two decades. He has deep roots in the Lark In The Morning community and has taught this workshop at the Freight & Salvage, in Berkeley, since 2018.

Darina Drapkin has been singing Balkan music for 20 years. She performs with Sonoma County’s Balkan ensemble, Gradina, and is making a solo album. She is also a trained Waldorf teacher and teaches music through Santa Rosa Symphony’s education programs.

Katiana Vilá is a global vocalist, percussionist and songwriter. Katiana has lived and studied in Spain, Brazil, and Latin America. She performs with various Bay Area latin bands, flamenco ensembles and as a soloist.

Bobby Edwards began French horn study at age 11. As a musical hobbyist, he also enjoys playing ‘relatives’ of the horn, like the (valveless) Natural Horn, and the long, wooden Alphorn. He sometimes plays the garden hose, too!

Janessa Lynna has been belly dancing since she was 8 years old, performing at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Lark in The Morning traditional music camp, and throughout the Bay Area. Janessa has studied dance abroad, won awards, and she loves to teach.

Jim Partridge has been committing folk music in the Bay Area for many years. He now sings with Brass Farthing, whom you may have seen at Dickens Fair. Approach Jim with caution; he harmonizes with complete strangers with no provocation whatsoever.

Ken Genetti s a versatile multi-instrumentalist who discovered Balkan music at Lark Camp in 1999. Inspired, he has since learned music from Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece on several instruments and is a member of "Gradina," the North Bay's Balkan music ensemble.

Kim Atkinson is an internationally recognized percussion artist, ecstatic drummer and teacher who uses sound, rhythm and noble intention for personal and group transformation. A master facilitator, he has recorded and performed with renown musicians and dancers from many cultures since the 1980's. For more on Kim and his offerings, please visit www.PulseWave.com

Leslie Hubbert has been learning Cuban and Puerto Rican songs for 25 years. She has taught in schools, festivals and Lark in the Morning music camp. Leslie plays in the band “Los Piratos” and also as a duo with husband Michael Hubbert.

Mark Sellin is a veteran musician and stage performer. He has acted on stage over 1000 times and directed over 30 plays. For Mark, focus is a key concept throughout the performing arts because it helps the meaning come through.

Michael Greenberg has been playing strings since age 11. At first he was strictly a strummer, but in college he discovered fingerstyle technique and has been loving it ever since. Michael is excited to share his insights on fingerstyle guitar with other aspiring pickers.

Sean Tergis grew up so immersed in folk music from the Middle East, Turkey, Greece and the Balkans that he moved to Istanbul to study and perform. Now back, Sean plays with multiple bands and produces a weekly event in San Francisco called Balkan Sundays.

Shay Black comes from a legendary Irish singing family. His irresistible stage presence graces Irish band “Garva” and sea shanty group “Stormalong John,” and his popular classes at the Freight & Salvage and the Starry Plough draw people in into traditional music.

Sue Williard has studied Balkan and international dance and song with many teachers all over the United States and Europe. She has been a member of four performing groups over the years, including Nashville's own Dancefolk. Sue has taught Balkan dance to school groups, dance camps, recreational dance groups, senior citizens, ranch hands, and people waiting for various types of public transportation. She currently teaches Balkan dance at several dance groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has been the Balkan Dance teacher at Lark World Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino, California for the many years.

Tyehimba Kokayi has a deep, wide-ranging background in dance, theater and music. He studied with great West African Dance masters, earned degrees in Ethnic Studies and Education, has received grant funding, and founded The Lions Den Educational Institute to educate about West African Culture.

Will Wheeler is a musician and software engineer who lives in Berkeley, CA. Currently the Board President for Lark Camp, he’s been involved with Lark since 2000, and spearheaded the project of turning LTA into a nonprofit. In addition to being a mainstay in the SF Bay Area Irish and Contra dance music communities, he has been on the staff of several other camps including San Francisco Folk Music Club’s Camp Harmony and BACDS Family Week.

Professional musician and educator, Gregory Masaki Jenkins, is known for his passionate expression of Balkan music with clarinet, alto saxophone, and voice. He was exposed to the music when his parents brought him to Balkan Camp in Mendocino at age thirteen. Five years later, he became an instructor there, directing Kids Band from 2001-2015, also teaching at balkanalia!, Kolo Festival, and Zambaleta. He has been teaching at Lark Camp since 2015.

Celia Ramsay grew up with a passion for the ballads of Scotland, but she was also heavily influenced by popular music from the 1930s and 1940s. She likes to point out that the jazz ballads from the mid-20th century and much older ballads from the British Isles lean heavily on songs about love, and its trials, tribulations and triumphs. Celia performs her original songs, music from the Great American Songbook, and Scottish roots music from a vast repertory. She has performed at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley in her own shows, and in shows with The Black Brothers, Holdstock and MacLeod, and Flower and McLaren. She has performed in many duo-style house concerts with Eamonn Flynn, Steve Baughman, Dave Nachmanoff, and Ken Risling. Celia recently retired from volunteer board service both for the Freight and Salvage and Lark Traditional Arts, but continues to volunteer as Program Director for Lark Camp.

Jason Adajian is a musician, folk dancer, folk dance teacher, aspiring artist and a student of world-wide ritual traditions. He has played the button accordion for dancers for 17 years and has danced with the Pipe & Bowl Morris Men and the Newcastle English Country Dancers for 23 years. He has been a teacher at Lark Camp for many years.

Rick Fulkerson is an accomplished guitar player and teacher. He is the founder of Le Hot Club Swing, a Gyspy Jazz, Manouche/Swing band in the style of the Hot Club of France from the 1930's and 1940's which featured Django Reinhardt on the guitar and Stepahne Grappelli on the violin, two of the most important Jazz influences of all time. Rick currently leads a monthly Django Jam at OCA.

Joelle Gonçalves is the Artistic Director and principle dancer of Sol Flamenco. Her formal flamenco dance training began in 2003 when she traveled to Seville, Spain, to study at Studio Flamenco José Galván and has since returned to Spain several times to study at prestigious flamenco academies including Academia de Flamenco Manuel Betanzos, Andrés Marín Flamenco Abierto, and Estudio Flamenco Juan Polvillo. She has also studied at The Institute for Spanish Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as flamenco schools in Oakland and San Francisco. Now and award-winning performer, she also teaches Flamenco weekly in Santa Rosa.

Mark Taylor is an international recording artist, performer and teacher. His combined experience in classical and flamenco music makes him a strong and dynamic interpreter of the classical repertoire with an approach to flamenco that is rhythmically vibrant, passionate and true to the essence of the many styles he performs. Taylor began his study of classical guitar in 1980 at the Santa Rosa Junior College earning a music degree and was awarded the first Julia Harp Scholarship for music performance at Sonoma State University. He received private instruction with Kirby Wilkerson, and Phillip Roshegar, and master classes with Vladimir Mikulka, and Deborah Marrioti. He has performed in many renaissance and baroque chamber ensembles. Already a professional guitarist, he visited Spain frequently over a period of 15 years studying flamenco guitar in Granada, Sevilla and Jerez de la Frontera and Madrid with such great artists and teachers as Mario Escudero, Carlos Heredia (Seville), “El Carbonero” (Jerez), Roman Martin, and at the famous Amor de Dios dance studio (Madrid). He currently performs throughout Northern California with Sol Flamenco.

Craig Kurumada is a dancer, singer, musician, linguist and Balkan bagpipe refurbisher. He grew up learning Obon dancing in the Japanese community of Salt Lake City and continues to teach Obon dancing as part of the recently created Humboldt Obon Festival, now in its fourth year. He studies the history of Obon in the United States and its ongoing growth and evolution as a living folk tradition.

Two days after the war started, the Bezhenar’s family of six, including mother, father, grandmother and three girls, fled the city of Odessa on the Black Sea. With each of them bringing only a single suitcase, they travelled by car to Romania where they stayed as refugees for three months. They came to America because a Cloverdale family sponsored them as part of the Uniting for Ukraine program and offered them a home to live in. The family arrived two years ago on May 25.

Eleanor and Angelina, 20 and 18 respectively, received vocal training in music school since kindergarten while being homeschooled by their mother. They both learned to play the guitar, and keep busy writing songs and performing throughout Northern California.

Deborah Fischbach has been a student of dance, rhythm, art and music since grammar school, and by high school had received several honors and awards in the arts. In 2003 she was certified for Professional development in the field of California standards for Arts education excellence in Arts integrated curricula, K-12 (Via a CAC grant) and currently performs percussion and teaches dance. Deborah is a founding member & current president of The Institute for Traditional Studies non-profit organization founded in 1979. In 2007 she authored 'California Folk Dance Traditions' an Instruction Booklet and accompanying music CD, funded by NEA, CAC and WESTAF.

Taylor Mountain Band is a popular Sonoma County Bluegrass band. Their members are seasoned singers and multi-instrumental musicians. Formed in 2022 the band includes Jim Wagner on vocals, dobro, bass, and guitar, Alice Fitzwater on fiddle and vocals, Sheridan Malone on bass, guitar, ukulele, and vocals, Marc Dwaileebe on mandolin, fiddle, and guitar, and Dave Carlson on Banjo, guitar and vocals.

Greg Johnson is an accomplished jazz pianist and music teacher. The founder of Glass Brick Boulevard, a popular jazz ensemble, Greg grew up in the midwest listening to Gospel, Motown and Beethoven. Since 1989, Greg's musical journey has included more than 120 compositions, more than a thousand performances before more than 100,000 fans on two continents, many radio, TV and videos performances, more than 500 piano students, a dozen producer's credits of jazz, rock, pop, and folk rock recordings, and the score of a feature film-Character Killer. Glass Brick Boulevard was created in 1991 (initially named Inner Act), and performed 150 straight Monday Nights at the 4th Street Tavern in San Rafael, CA., then moved throughout the bay area.

Raman Osman is a Kurdish composer and master tembûr/tambour musician from Al-Hasaka, Syria. He’s a self-taught musician who began playing at the age of 10. He started composing at the age of 15 and began developing his own style of playing tambour. He has performed at a variety of venues, including the Damascus Opera House, and several cultural centers. Raman currently lives in Northern California where he performs Kurdish music and music from the Middle East as a solo artist as well as with artists from various world music traditions.

As a multi-instrumentalist Aryeh Frankfurter performs professionally on a wide range of stringed instruments both familiar and rare. He is a classically trained violinist which he started at the age of three. Since 1994, his focal instrument was the Celtic folk harp. Beginning in 2008 the Swedish nyckelharpa (or keyed fiddle) became his primary instrument. He is also adept on viola, cello​​, cittern, guitar and more.

Lisa Lynne is a multi-instrumentalist and performer who has gained worldwide recognition for her original music featuring the Celtic harp. She specializes in traditional acoustic folk instruments and is widely acclaimed for composing memorable and heartwarming melodies that transcend category and genre.

The Story Wrens were formed approximately 2008 by performers at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Sothern California who met at the St. Helena’s Guild. Performing story songs of the British Isles, the Wrens includes Shawna Selline, Vickie Bottelson, Mark Sellin and Megan Jo.

Sophia Zimmermann trained at Colorado State University and The Hartt Conservancy. She is deeply inspired by Alexander Technique, a movement practice that helps singers work harmoniously with their body to maximize sound and minimize fatigue. Sophie teaches privately and performs around the North Bay.

Tim Witter began his tabla training with Ustad Alla Rakhai in 1980. He has studied since 1984 with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and ‘tied Ghunda” with him in 1994 becoming a devout disciple. He has also studied Mridungam and kanjira with Subash Chandran in Madras in 1996/97.  He has made numerous trip to India for study and performance, and in 1994/1995 completed a research/performance grant awarded to him by the American Institute of Indian Studies.  Tim taught at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael,CA for over twenty years and continues his studies with Swapanda.  Currently, he hosts the musical gatherings in his homes in Sebastopol and Oakland with the intention of presenting the traditional music in an intimate house-concert setting.

Will Marsh brings refined melody, imagination and devotion to all facets of his music. He has been performing around the world on sitar and guitar for over two decades. Will has worked with Grammy-winning musicians and producers and has been featured on national T.V. His deep commitment to the tradition of Hindustani classical music on sitar has profoundly shaped his artistry and he has been blessed to study with the legendary musicians Ustad Aashish Khan, Roshan Jamal Bhartiya and Tushar Bhatia. 

His latest release "The Integration" expresses a fresh approach to bringing a world of sounds and influences together. Currently, Will resides in the California Bay Area as a sought-after teacher, performer and recording artist.

Chris Hanlin is an experienced luthier, having honed his skills for more than twenty years. His expertise at repairing fine wooden instruments led him to become authorized by one of the most revered American guitar manufacturers to repair their guitars. Hanlin is also an accomplished musician who has toured and played throughout the United States.

Born in rural Indiana, Hanlin’s first instrument was the drums. Hanlin moved to California in 1989, and landed a position working at World of Strings, a fine instrument repair shop in Long Beach. He apprenticed under Bob Mattingly, the most renown luthier in Southern California.

Dodona, named after the ancient oracle of the region Epirus, dips into the deep wellspring of musical traditions from Epirus, Albania, and across Northern Greece. With melodies ranging from mournful to celebratory, plaintive to driving, trance-inducing to surprising, Dodona brings their love of these unique songs and instrumentation to the Bay Area for listeners and dancers alike. 

Dodona features Calvin Lai on clarinet, Gregory Masaki Jenkins on clarinet and vocals, vocalist Genevieve Krause, Jenette Sellin on accordion, Kent Kessinger on guitar, and Sean Tergis on percussion.