Music Staff

• Elke Baker
• Susan Brandt
• Liz Donaldson
• Dan Emery
• Ralph Gordon
• Andy Imbrie
• Adam Oleksa
• Dave Wiesler
• Paul Woodiel



Elke Baker, fiddle



ELKE BAKER - MUSIC DIRECTOR, fiddle, viola (Glenelg, MD), U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion Elke Baker's distinctive, dance-driven fiddle style has made her one of the most sought-after Scottish fiddlers of our time. Performing solo and with Robin Bullock, Ken Kolodner, bands Terpsichore, Sugar Beat, Trio con Brio, and others, Elke has both a range and depth of skill surpassed by very few. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Birchmere, Honolulu Academy of Arts, in most of the fifty States, and on four continents. She is a world-renowned Scottish country dance musician, bandleader, and arranger. She recently headlined the RSCDS International Branch Event in Italy, TAC Summer School in Canada, and New Zealand Summer School. A scholar of Scottish music, Elke taught for many years at the Washington Conservatory of Music, as Artist-in-Residence at Montgomery College, and as a panelist at Harvard University. Elke directs the Potomac Valley Scottish Fiddle Club, a non-profit Scottish music educational organization now in its 32nd year, and has taught at fiddle camps and schools across the country. She has recorded ten albums, including recent releases On a Cold Winter's Day with Ken Kolodner and Wait 'til You Hear This One! with Sugar Beat, and a world-premiere single, The Fingerlock, an ancient fiddle pibroch. Elke’s new release Better Days features waltzes, tangos, and other couple dances from around the world played with four of her ensembles. Playing Scottish music for dancers is one of Elke's very favorite things, although dancing runs a close second. Instagram @elkebakerfiddlemusic www.elkebaker.com

Susan Brandt, Flute



SUSAN BRANDT Susan began as the one classical flutist in a family of string players, and as a teenager was a concerto soloist with orchestras as well as a young recitalist. She earned her bachelor of music in flute performance from the University of Maryland, and continued on as a freelancer and teacher. She began playing for folk dances by being a member of many popular contra dance bands in the DC region, including the fabled Capital Quicksteps. She played for Scottish and English balls with Dave Wiesler in early years, and was on his album Cracks and Shadows. With Sugar Beat, featuring Elke Baker, Marc Glickman and herself, she recorded the album Wait Till You Hear This One! She has been a fixture in the folk dance scene for decades, playing in many bands for contra dances, English dances, Scottish dances, balls, Waltz Time dances, folk festivals and dance weekends, and is known for both her lyrical and driving improvisatory style, and versatility across genres. As a classical musician, she still performs with orchestras and as a soloist, has a full studio of competitive flute students, and is in demand as an ensemble coach and clinician.

Susan Brandt https://brandt.duetpartner.com/

Liz Donaldson, piano and accordion



LIZ DONALDSON (Bethesda, MD). LIZ DONALDSON (Bethesda, MD) is a full-time musician and dance caller, and has been playing piano for dancing for many years. She is known for her innovative back-up style incorporating exciting rhythms, textures, and harmony lines in her music. In addition to playing for Scottish, English and American contra and square dances, Liz teaches all these styles, and dances, too! She is a member of Terpsichore, Waverley Station, The New Hipsters, Gyrations, The Treble Makers, and Elegant Echoes. Liz’s newest recordings are "English Echoes II: More English Country Dance Favorites" with Becky Ross, Colleen Reed, and Bruce Edwards, and another Scottish Country Dance CD "A Dancer’s Best Friend" with Elke Baker and Ralph Gordon. “A Dancer’s Best Friend” is a welcome addition to “Caledonian Muse” and "Terpsichore, Scottish Dance Music.” Liz also joins David Knight and Ralph Gordon on "Waverley Station: First Stop!" She is the Artistic Director and pianist on the hot live Scottish Country Dance recordings "Memories of Scottish Weekend (‘98) and "More Memories of Scottish Weekend ('02). Liz has published two books of Scottish tunes: "Scottish Dance Class Tunes" (revised in 2021) and "Scottish Tune Medleys" which have become mainstays for Scottish Dance Player’s libraries worldwide. She has also composed many wonderful tunes, including a host of waltzes. Liz has taught and played at numerous dance weekends and music workshops including Scottish Weekend, Pinewoods, Asilomar, and TAC Summer School.. Her travels have taken her across the US as well as to Great Britain, Canada, France, and Japan. Liz performed for the Smithsonian Institution's Piano 300 exhibition in ’00 and has performed with Terpsichore at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington, DC. In 2017 she was awarded the Scroll of Honour from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society for her contributions to music and dance. In addition to playing and teaching music, Liz is a caller of Scottish Ceilidh, English Country, and Community dancing. She particularly enjoys working with dancers of all ages and experience levels. Website: www.lizdonaldson.com. Photo by Ken Graham.

Dan Emery, pipes and flute



DAN EMERY (Fort Washington, PA) has been the designated piper at Scottish Weekend since the first session at Buffalo Gap in 1989. He has been the piper at Pinewoods Scottish sessions many times since 1986, where he got his first taste of piping for RSCDS. As well as the Highland pipes, Dan plays the Scottish small pipes, Border pipes and flute with the band Thistle House. He can also be heard playing all those instruments (and occasionally fiddle) at socials and parties around the Delaware valley. When not piping, Dan is a fine Scottish country dancer, retired highland dancer.

Ralph Gordon, cello and bass



RALPH GORDON (Charles Town, WV) is a classically trained bassist and cellist educated at West Virginia University and the Manhattan School of Music. Ralph has played for more than 25 years with Terpsichore and has worked extensively on revitalizing Scottish folk cello style. He played for many years with innovative folk band Trapezoid, and his skills span a wide range of musical styles from chamber music to big band swing. The Charleston Post Courier wrote "His playing is more sophisticated and technically accomplished than the next ten string players of any sort and he uses his instruments to subtly ground, stabilize, and inspire the rest of the ensemble as they pursue their experimentations."

Ralph is in great demand in the Washington, DC area as an artist and session musician. He can be heard on more than 60 recordings, including Scottish, English country, contradance, hoedown, folk, bluegrass, klezmer, blues, swing, jazz combos, and big band styles.

Andy Imbrie, piano



Andy Imbrie (Santa Clara, California) Andy has had the good fortune to accompany some of today's leading fiddle talent, including Caroline McCaskey (with whom he collaborated on "Salute to San Diego" released in 2023, Judi Nicolson, Elke Baker, David Knight, Tim Macdonald, Deby Benton Grosjean, and many others. Andy leads the "Reel of Seven" Scottish dance band, which released "The Magic of Summer School" (a compilitation of dances recorded during their fabulous week at the New Zealand Summer School) in 2018 to wide acclaim. Their earlier CDs include "Dance for Joy" (2009), "Dance for Joy Encore!" (2012), and "Gotta Dance!" (2015), (www.reelofseven.com).
Andy began studying classical piano as a child and started playing for dances with the encouragement of Kim McGarrity and Barbara McOwen. He plays regularly for Scottish Country Dancing, ceilidh dancing and contra dances throughout the US and Canada, and has been on music staff for several tours, including two in France, three to New Zealand,, and one to Scotland, Orkney, and the Shetland Islands. He has also been on staff at Asilomar and Pinewoods on multiple occasions and was honored to have been invited to teach piano accompaniment at the Boston Harbor Fiddle School and the Valley of the Moon Scottish fiddling school for several years. Andy was delighted to serve as music director for the TAC Summer School in 2019 and to be on staff at the International Branch workshop in Italy in 2022.
Andy is married to Sherryl Fawx (also a dancer and musician); they live in Santa Clara, California. In 2021, he retired from his position as Engineering Fellow at a major aerospace company where he was a specialist in simulation, guidance, and control of flight vehicles.


Adam Oleksa, fiddle


ADAM OLEKSA After a childhood playing classical violin, Adam Oleksa got sucked into providing dance music at Swarthmore College. Since then, he has been playing for English, Scottish, and Contra dances around the Mid-Atlantic region. When not doing music stuff, whether folk dance, classical, or pit orchestras, Adam…does more music stuff as one of the Member-Owners of Mount Airy Violins & Bows in Philadelphia, where he heads the bowmaking and restoration department.

Dave Wiesler, piano and guitar



DAVE WIESLER (Newark, DE) has been playing for Scottish country dancing since 1993, dancing it since 1995, and on staff at Scottish Weekend every year since 1996. Dave is highly regarded for his deep knowledge and spirited piano playing of Scottish dance music, and he now performs regularly with his band Thistle House and with fiddlers Hanneke Cassel and Mara Shea, among others. He has played at concerts and dance and music camps across the country, and his music has taken him to Hawaii, Canada, England, Scotland and the Galapagos Islands. He appears on nearly 20 recordings, many featuring his own compositions. He is also a capable guitarist and singer, a writer of silly ceilidh songs, and a stay-home dad of two young boys.

Dave is at home in a huge range of other styles of music and folk dance besides Scottish music -- including contra dance, English country dance, swing, vintage dancing, Viennese waltz, and couple dancing. He has been on staff at Pinewoods, Augusta, Ashokan, Buffalo Gap, Sierra Swing, Timber Ridge, and the Boston Harbor Scottish Fiddle School, and has performed at the Kennedy Center and at the Smithsonian. Check out his book of original melodies, DaveTunes, and his CDs, including Cracks and Shadows and two Scottish dance recordings, Many Happy Returns with Hanneke Cassel and Heather Hills with Mara Shea. Note also that Dave has a new Scottish dance cd out: Delaware Valley Gold, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Delaware Valley branch of the RSCDS available here. You can also find out more about Dave on his website at davewiesler.com




Paul Woodiel

PAUL WOODIEL (South Orange, NJ) Leonard Bernstein called Paul "a first-class performer, who combines spirituality with intellect". A busy New York - based purveyor of violin and fiddle music, Paul’s broad stylistic compass includes the dance fiddle traditions of America and the British Isles, ragtime and traditional jazz, and the violin music of Charles Ives. Mr. Woodiel has presented recitals at the 92nd St. Y, Wesleyan University, Caramoor, Miller Theater, Yale University, and the New York Festival of Song at Carnegie Hall, and has appeared as soloist at festivals from Bard College, NY to Moab, Utah.

A veteran of dozens of Broadway orchestra pits, Paul has been fiddle/violin soloist for the Broadway productions of RAGTIME, SUNSET BOULEVARD, and Sting’s THE LAST SHIP, as well as celebrated revivals of THE MUSIC MAN, WEST SIDE STORY, and the Tony Awardwinning 25th anniversary production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, for which he performed the eponymous role in 36 cities in the US, Canada and Japan.

A three-time New England Fiddle Contest champion in his hometown, Hartford, CT, he is a widely respected exponent of the fiddle traditions of New England. In this vein, he performed for many years across the US and abroad with the Scottish dance band Local Hero. Other engagements have included performances and recordings with Steve Reich, piano wizards Dick Hyman and Neely Bruce, The American Ballet Theater, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, American Composers Orchestra, and the Grammy Awards Orchestra.

Paul is married to the celebrated violinist Robin Zeh, and lives in South Orange, NJ.