Troy Gawlak
Troy grew up with a passion for Polish-American polka music, as well as Polish and other Eastern European folk music. He has been playing the concertina for over two decades and performs in several polka bands. He has studied in Poland and traveled throughout the country on multiple visits. Troy produced the Folk Carols of Poland project with pastorałki that he has collected and arranged. The recording brings together musicians he has had the fortune of befriending through his involvement in the polka and Eastern European folk music scenes.
Steven Greenman
Steven is an internationally renowned musician with a wealth of experience and knowledge of traditional Jewish klezmer, Eastern European folk, and Romani ("Gypsy") music. He holds both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Music, and has composed a substantial repertoire of original klezmer pieces. Steven is an accomplished instructor of traditional East European Klezmer violin and has played in several folk ensembles as well as performing as a soloist with many orchestras and projects worldwide.
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Ed Siwiec
Eddie is an accomplished musician, vocalist, composer, and recording artist. His musical journey began in the 4th grade, and over the course of the next 50 years of performing Polish-American style polkas, he has shared the stage with some of the top bands in the land, including the Grammy award-winning Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones. Eddie has recorded on numerous albums, appeared in both TV and film, and has performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He is a 2005 inductee into the International Polka Hall of Fame.
Cătălin Petrescu
Cătălin was born in Bușteni, Romania. He studied cello at the Brașov Music & Arts School and took up the bass during his time in the Romanian Navy Orchestra. In 1990, he traveled to the United States with a folk ensemble and shortly thereafter was granted political asylum in the US. He continues to play with several bands and orchestras, including — along with several on the Folk Carols of Poland project — the Cleveland-based Harmonia Ensemble.
Alexander Fedoriouk
Alex began playing the cimbalom (cymbały in Polish) as a child in his hometown of Kolomyja, Ukraine. He studied music at the Kolomyja Music School, Chernivtsi Musical College, and the Kyiv State Conservatory, and has received awards at the Ukrainian national competition on folk instruments. He has performed as a soloist with The Odessa Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as on several film scores. Alex is a member of Harmonia and owns Folk Sounds Records, where this project was recorded.
Kevin Adams
Kevin is an accomplished musician, composer, producer and recording artist. He studied music at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and has performed Polish-American polka music across the country with numerous bands, including Polka Hall of Famers Lenny Gomulka and Dick Pillar, and the Grammy Award winning Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones. Kevin is featured on more than 50 recordings, including his own self-produced recording of Polish kolędy entitled A Child is Born. He was inducted into International Polka Hall of Fame in 2014.
Walt Mahovlich
Walt grew up surrounded by and performing Eastern European folk music. He plays accordion, clarinet, sax, and various flutes and bagpipes. He has performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and in folk festivals throughout North America and Europe, and has worked as a folk music fieldworker for the Smithsonian and National Council for the Traditional Arts. Walt founded Harmonia in 1990, and also plays in the Macedonian band TurliTava.
Beata Begeniova-Fedoriouk
Born in Eastern Slovakia, Beata grew up surrounded by the Slovak and Rusyn folk songs of her family. She attended the Prešov School of Music and the J. P. Šafárik University, and has received numerous awards in folk song competitions. She has been featured on many recordings and has performed with some of the top Rusyn and Slovak ensembles in Europe. She is the lead singer in Harmonia, performing songs in the Slovak, Rusyn, Ukrainian, Polish, and Serbo-Croatian languages, among others.