The Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts is a friendly, enthusiastic community ensemble that plays music from a variety of fiddle traditions. Our members range from novices to seasoned players, including professional musicians who are exploring something new, with most falling somewhere between the two endpoints. No audition is required to join us, just an interest in the music and a willingness to play with others—though it’s important to understand the basics of your instrument.
While the fiddle predominates, the orchestra also typically includes mandolin, guitar, cello, banjo, bass, and piano, and has at times incorporated accordion, flute, recorder, mountain dulcimer, dobro, and musical saw. In general, we welcome acoustic instruments that are a good fit with the music we play—New England tunes, old-time tunes, and tunes from the Irish, Québecois, and Scandinavian repertoires, with occasional forays into klezmer, jazz, and swing. Sometimes we even put down our instruments and sing!
Leadership
Director
Our musical director Annika Amstutz is a versatile and talented fiddler and music educator. She teaches private lessons to students of all ages and plays regularly with a variety of bands throughout the valley.
…And co-director
For our Fall and Spring seasons, Annika is joined by a musical co-director. The co-director varies from season to season, with each season’s repertoire highlighting the particular co-director’s interests. Past co-directors include Susan Conger, Peter Siegel, Ann Percival, George Wilson, Natalie Padilla, Lissa Schneckenburger, and Van Kaynor.
Performances
Full orchestra
The Fiddle Orchestra performs as a full orchestra twice a year, in November and May. Each concert celebrates the culmination of ten weeks of exciting, hard work: learning new repertoire, making new arrangements, and enhancing our ability to play as a group.
Valley String Band
The Valley String Band was created by members who are having so much fun, they just want to play more. They enjoy playing pieces from the Fiddle Orchestra’s past repertoire and performing for community events when opportunities arise. Contact us to book the VSB for a perfomance.
History
Founding
In 2017, fiddlers Becky Shannon and Alice Yang, who often heard David Kaynor talk about the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra, which he then directed, thought, “Why couldn’t we do that here?” And so, with the help of a small group of fiddler friends, in September of 2017 they ushered the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts into being, with the wonderfully multi-faceted David Kaynor as musical director and Annika Amstutz as assistant musical director.
Persisting
In 2020, after David was diagnosed with ALS, he and Annika became co-directors, and after David became incapacitated, Annika took over as director. This was about the time that Covid descended upon us all, and the Fiddle Orchestra persisted as best it could, playing outside when the weather was cooperative and over Zoom when it was too cold, too wet, or too dark.
Encouraging
In the spring of 2023, we emerged from that phase and returned to playing together in a shared physical space in real time, which we have been doing ever since. We aim to remain constant to the values articulated by Becky and Alice in the beginning and exemplified by David in much of his life as a musician, teacher, dance caller, and encourager-in-chief to aspiring musicians of all ages.