The Danish violin and guitar duo Haugaard & Høirup are touring all year round with their unique mix of traditional and contemporary Danish music arranged for concert. The two musicians, violinist Harald Haugaard and guitarist and singer Morten Alfred Høirup, will be touring America, during May and June 2007. The tour will be taking the duo to four American states as a direct result of the cooperation between Haugaard & Høirup and the Helen Bommarito Agency.
American folk festival attracting 250,000 visitors in three days
The tour in the US brings Haugaard & Høirup to the large Northwest Folklife Festival that will celebrate its 35 year anniversary in the very heart of Seattle, Washington, during the last weekend in May, 2007. Every year more than 250,000 people visit the Folklife Festival to enjoy 7,000 musicians, dancers and tradition carriers under the world famous tourist attraction, the Space Needle. The many participating artists primarily come from the Pacific Northwest, but the festival also introduces a number of international guests, this year including Haugaard & Høirup. During that same weekend Haugaard & Høirup will also be performing at the Juan de Fuca Festival of Arts in Port Angeles, Washington, and the week before that, in Portland, Oregon.
Scandinavian folk festival in Minnesota
Then for the weekend of June 8th to 10th, Haugaard & Høirup travels again to the US. The two Danes are one of the main acts on the 8th Nisswa-Stämman, which is a Scandinavian folk festival featuring bands from Norway, Sweden, Finland and especially from the US. Haugaard & Høirup will be the first Danish act ever to perform at the festival which is situated in the the small town Nisswa, 3 hours drive north of Minneapolis in the state of Minnesota.
Danish music in California
From the 23rd of June to the July 1st, the great Scottish violinist Alasdair Fraser has invited Haugaard & Høirup to his home state of Calfornia. The duo will be performing and indeed teaching Danish music at Alasdair Fraser´s Sierra Fiddle Camp not far from Nevada City. Here fiddlers and other musicians of all ages and levels of musical experience choose from daily workshops on Scottish and related fiddle styles. Additional classes are offered in guitar, cello, keyboard, dance, song, percussion as well as "recreational opportunities such as ropes course, arts and craft, swimming, hiking etc." Alasdair is featured on Haugaard & Høirups album "Gæstebud/Feast".
Haugaard & Høirup records 10-year anniversary album
During July 2007 Haugaard & Høirup will be writing material for their seventh album which will be recorded in the fall of 2007 and released in January 2008 to celebrate 10 great years on the road. Furthermore the duo will be shooting a Live-DVD in front of a Danish live-audience during autumn 2007.
The tour is being supported economically by the project "Danish Roots – Growing in the World". Haugaard & Høirups albums has been released by Go Danish Folk Music production.
Haugaard & Høirup is supported by The Danish Arts Council via The Danish Folk Council.
Relevant links:
Haugaard & Høirup: www.hhduo.dk
Helen Bommarito Agency: www.helenbommarito.com
PFM Management: www.pfmmanagement.dk
Northwest Folklife Festival: www.nwfolklife.org
Nisswa-Stämman: www.niswastamman.org
Alasdair Fraser´s Fiddle Camp: www.sierrafiddlecamp.org
Juan de Fuca Festival of Arts: www.jffa.org
Halkær Festival: www.halkaer.dk
Danish Folk Council: www.folkmusic.dk
Danish Roots: www.danishroots.eu
GO Danish Folk Production: www.gofolk.dk
