Jan-Olof Andersson 
From Sweden comes Jan-Olof Andersson, a singer and guitarist. He was born in Skovde, raised in Tidan, and now lives in Bromma, Stockholm. After finishing his singing-master education at the Academy of Musical Education in Stockholm he chose to live the insecure but exciting life of a freelance musician, singer and teacher.
Jan-Olof has been awarded several marks of distinction for his way of interpreting the Swedish ballad. He was awarded many prizes and scholarships including the Nils Ferlin Troubadour Prize and Olrog Scholarship. His repertoire ranges from 16th century Elizabethan love songs and instrumental music through the Swedish ballad tradition to today’s popular music, with compositions of his own and solo pieces for the guitar.
His visit with us three years ago and his tour through the Northeast at that time was so well received by both young and old that he is one of the few entertainers that has been welcomed to our stage for a repeat performance. For more about Jan-Olof see: www.JanOlof.se
Bente Midtsveen
Oslo, Norway sends us Bente Midtsveen. She received
her musical education from Norges Musikkhøgskole. In the early
90’s she was the solo Women’s Accordion Champion of Norway.
Graduating in 1991 she taught music in schools in Vestlandet, Totem and
Valdres. Besides teaching she has been giving concerts and seminars both
as a soloist and in collaboration with other musicians. The Norwegian
Accordion Association elected her leader of the Educational Committee
from 2000 to 2002. She also has participated in the annual Norwegian Accordion
Championships as a judge, conductor and soloist. This is her first visit
to the USA and she will be performing at other Norwegian events during
her stay here. Find out more about Bente on her website: http://home.no.net/duetter/english/index.html
Isottaret 
One of the top young women’s folkdance groups,
from Jyväskylä, Finland. They are a division of the folkdance
group ISOT that had performed in this country at the Finn Fest in Maine
a few years ago. This group has won many choreography championships and
has been performing at folk dance festivals in Scandinavia. The group
consists of nine dancers and will be accompanied by a three-piece orchestra.
Prior to their performances at our Midsummer Celebration they will be
touring in the New England area at various Scandinavian events.
The Danish Duo
Jodie
Wilhjelm Trappe, soprano and Jane Pejtersen, mezzo-soprano are two
young talented performers of Danish descent. They both have impressive
resumes. Jodie, a SAHS scholarship winner in 1998, graduated cum laude
with a Bachelor’s of Music in Voice and Music Education. She has
performed in many musical and Light Opera productions such as “Kinertransport”,
Pirates of Penzance” and many others and is currently in the new
Off-Broadway musical “Vincent”.
Jane C Pejtersen is a student at The Lee Strasberg
Theatre Institute 
and an extra in the opera “Salome” at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York City. She also had a lead role in the play “Waxing West”
and other productions and is also a winner of NATS (NY’s Association
of Teachers of Singing) in their musical theatre division in 2003.
Pianist, Anthony Romaniuk from Brisbane, Australia will be their accompanist. Anthony has won many honors and competitions in Australia and received his Bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
Johanna Grüssner
Born in The Åland Islands, Finland and now resides in Sweden where she works for the city of Stockholm by giving jazz concerts and workshops in the Swedish schools. She also teaches at the cultural school Kulturama as well as directs choirs around Stockholm. She is a graduate of Berklee College of music in Boston and received a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance in New York. After finishing college toured Scandinavia extensively where she performed at prestigious jazz festivals and clubs including shows with The American vocal group The New York Voices. The tour ended with concerts at the many New York jazz clubs including ”Birdland” and ”Kavehaz”. Johanna then continued to work in New York as a freelance vocalist and a recording artist.
Ms Grüssner also worked as a vocal instructor and music teacher at Public School 86 in The Bronx where she developed a new program with instrumental classes, music theory and vocal instruction. In May 2001 she brought 24 fifth grade students across the Atlantic to visit her home country Finland and perform gospel concerts for the local people.
The journey caught the attention of the media such as ABC, CBS and CNN. The New York Times printed three first page articles during the trip and a documentary film was made. Ms Grüssner received awards from, “The Finlandia Foundation” and “Thanks To Scandinavia” for the work she did with the children. In June 2004 the book ”Seven Days of Possibilities” is to be released by the book company PUBLIC AFFAIRS (www.perseusbooksgroup.com) in New York and will be available at our Celebration. The book tells about Grüssner’s musical work with the children during her years in the Bronx and the trip they made to her hometown in Åland, Finland in May 2001. She is now on tour in the USA to promote the book, perform some concerts and negotiate with an American movie company that wants to buy the rights to a movie about her experiences.
Festive Midsummer Celebration
By Anne Abrahamsen, Norway Times
Madison, NJ
More than 900 people took part in the celebration of the 16th annual Scandinavian Midsum-mer Celebration at the Fairleigh Dickenson University campus in Madison, NJ. Delicious food, lively music, folk dancing and special events made this a great day for all generations to enjoy.
Starting off with the traditional flag ceremony, this festival featured live performances by Bente Midtsveen, the Norwegian women’s accordion champion and Jan-Olof Anderssen, a Swedish singer-guitarist.
Delicious Dishes
Also featured were the Isottaret Band and Folk Dancers from Finland, Danish
singers Jodie Trappe and Jane Pejtersen, and Finnish Jazz singer Johanna
Grussner. Additional entertainers from the tri-state area were there to
perform as well.
Scandinavian food came both canned and wrapped, but were all fresh and delicious. Meatballs, salmon, potato pancakes, frikadeller, karelina stew, Janssons Temptation, stuffed cabbage, cheeses and chocolates are just a few examples of what was devoured.
Imported merchandise such as Norwegian soljer, pewterware, t-shirts, sweaters, pottery, porcelain, books, CD’s and tapes were also for sale.
Abel Abrahamsen, Ege Imports, NY said, “A number of people were truly delighted to find a wide selection of Norwegian sterling silver enameled jewelry. One woman had just returned from Norway and had been disappointed that the jewelry she had wanted to buy was nowhere to be found in Oslo. So, she was so happy to discover it at the Midsummer Celebration!”
One customer buying wedding gifts was so glad to see Norwegian pewter, she said that “when I go to Norway this summer, I don’t have to schlep it with me [back from Norway] on the plane.”
Ellen Fjermedal, a rosemaling artist originally from Arendal, Norway, and a 50-year resident of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY, said she enjoyed greeting the festival participants.
“I paint and design the clocks and chests, which are very popular. I also get many orders in special colors. I even do bedroom sets and armoires by appointment.”
She commented further, “I enjoy keeping busy and going to the Scandinavian fairs. It is wonderful to continue crafting my Norwegian heritage.”
Non-Profit Organization
The SAHS is a non-profit organization that fosters understanding for the
Scandinavian Heritage and its contribution to the American Society.
The members want to make sure that they keep Scandinavian Heritage alive in the New York metropolitan area by sponsoring this annual Midsummer Celebration.
Bert Stromholm, of Swedish and Finnish descent, is chairman of the SAHS and welcomed all to the Midsummer Celebration. He stated that this event would have been very difficult to plan without the generous help of the SAHS and Third District Sons of Norway.
They were happy to volunteer their time knowing that the festival would continue. He had hoped that next year he could also get volunteers from the Danish Brotherhood, Icelandic Association, Swedish Vasa Lodges, additional Sons of Norway Lodges, and the Finlandia Foundation.
He said recruiting was essential because the population was aging, and that they needed to recruit the younger generation as well so that attendance would not decline. He estimated that about 900 people came to this event; the same amount that came last year.
He encouraged participants to “continue to make this an annual event that we can all be proud of.”
The annually awarded SAHS Scholarship of $1,000 was presented to Mathew Cirigliano of Cresskill, NJ.
This article was reprinted
courtesy of The Norway Times.
For more information, visit www.norway-times.com
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| ROSEMALING: Ellen Fjermedal, a rosemaling artist, displayed her beautiful pieces at during Midsummer Festival at Fairleigh Dickenson University in Madison, NJ. Photo: Anne Abrahamsen. |