The Artists

Ingrid Olsson, a former "Viking Princess of Greater New York," is of Norwegian and Swedish parentage. Born in Brooklyn, she was taken to Lista, Norway at the age of eight months. Her first spoken words were in Norwegian. She returned to Brooklyn as a toddler, but spoke both Norwegian and Swedish at home. She returned to live in Norway when she was eleven, and attended Hassel Folkeskolen. At the age of twelve, she returned to Brooklyn.

Ingrid made her debut with the Brooklyn Philharmonia, singing the role of Orpheus in excerpts from Gluck's opera, Orpheus ed Euridice, when she was fifteen. A New York All-City Chorus Scholarship winner, she attended New York University on a full academic scholarship, graduating as a University Honors Scholar. She received her Master's Degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Well known in America's Scandinavian community, Ingrid is a specialist in Scandinavian folk music and art song. She began performing in the Scandinavian community in Brooklyn when she was four years old, and studied voice for 25 years with legendary Norwegian-American voice teacher, Agnes Forde. Ingrid had the good fortune to sing, for many years, with the superb accordionist, Walter Eriksson. She has performed on television and radio in Norway and Sweden, as well as in this country. She has sung for the King of Sweden, the Crown Princess of Norway, and for two of Norway's Prime Ministers.

Ingrid has been soprano soloist in many churches and temples in the New York metropolitan area. She has also performed in opera, operetta, and musical comedy, in roles as diverse as Lili in Carnival, Katisha in The Mikado, and The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors.

She has given recitals of contemporary art song at Lincoln Center, and under the auspices of the New York Council of the Arts, the Ford Foundation, American Penwomen, Composers, Authors, and Artists of America, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. She has also performed for the Sons of Norway, the Swedish Vasa Order, the Danish Chamber of Commerce, the Scandinavian American Foundation, the American Scandinavian Society, and the Long Island Scandinavian Society. Ingrid has sung at all of the major Scandinavian music festivals in the metropolitan New York area. In recent years, Ingrid has had the joy of singing with the Scandinavian Accordion Club of New York, and with Jeanne Eriksson Widman's band, Smörgåsbandet. With the bands, she has performed throughout the New York metropolitan area, Minnesota, Montana, at the Norsk Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota, the Scandinavian Folk Festival in Jamestown, New York, and at "Bälgspel vid Landvägskanten" in Ransäter, Sweden. Ingrid has been honored by having her picture displayed in the Lister Utvandrermuseum (Emmigration Museum) in Kvinesdal, Norway.

Ingrid and her husband, Richard, met at New York University where he became her accompanist. After hearing him play, she had to marry him! They have two children, Aaron and Kari, and they live in Glen Head, New York

Ingrid is also the featured soprano soloist on the CD A Swedish Christmas.

Richard Feingold, B.A. Hofstra University, M.A. State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a conductor, pianist, arranger, and music educator.

He studied piano and music theory with Frances Goldstein of the Juilliard School of Music, and with David Poliakine. Dick studied solfege with Luther Goodhart of New York University, and with Gabor Friss of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. A conducting student of Maestro Laszlo Halasz, founder of the New York City Opera Company, Dick later served as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Director for many of Maestro Halasz's operatic and symphonic productions.

As a pianist, Dick was the recipient of the Flavia Davis Porter Prize. He has performed for the Crown Princess of Norway, and for two of Norway's Prime Ministers. He has concertised both in this country and in Norway.

Dick has conducted many choral and instrumental groups, including the Concert Orchestra and Chorus of Long Island, the New York All-City Chorus, the Hampton Bays Music Festival, the Faerder Singers (a Norwegian Men's Chorus in Brooklyn, New York), and the Vasa Folkdancers of New York Singers (a Swedish-American mixed chorus).

For many years a Music Specialist in the Port Washington Public Schools, Dick has also taught in the Master's Program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and in the Undergraduate Program of S.U.N.Y. Old Westbury. He has been a Music Education Consultant to the New York City Board of Education, the Creative Arts Workshop of Port Washington, and the Half Hollow Hills School District. He was one of the people featured in the book, PORTraits, which is about people who have been important to the Port Washington community, and upon his retirement from teaching, the Guggenheim Elementary School auditorium was named in his honor.

Dick also did the choral arrangements, trained, and conducted the chorus on the CD A Swedish Christmas. He speaks Norwegian, with a true "Lista" dialect.

Monica McFadden, the violinist on "Per Spelmann," is a native of Wichita, Kansas. She earned a B.A. in Music Education, graduating summa cum laude with an emphasis in piano. After teaching elementary vocal music in Wichita for two years, she moved to New York to pursue acting and landed various roles in theatre and television. Monica's love of teaching music, however, eventually led her back into the school setting. She taught elementary vocal music in Port Washington, conducting two elementary choirs, and teaching string classes. Currently, Monica has moved back to the Midwest, and she is teaching in Wisconsin. She has been playing piano and violin since childhood, and she is grateful for the huge role music has played in her life.

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