MUSICIANS
The Musicians for 2026 are:
Friday Welcome Dance
Audrey Leigh Jaber (fiddle)
Christopher Jacoby (accordion)
Saturday Kim McGarrity Memorial Ball
Elizabeth Anderson Howe (fiddle)
Ben Anderson (cello)
Dave Wiesler (piano)
Friday Welcome Dance
Audrey Leigh Jaber, California
You know Audrey Jaber is performing if the room is buzzing at a higher level. Her fiddling, featured in bands including The Free Raisins, The Gaslight Tinkers, Audacious (with Larry Unger), and Wake Up Robin, has electrified dance and concert halls across the US and Europe. Hailing from Honolulu and now living in California, she cut her folk teeth in the Boston area, attending Berklee College of Music and spending years exploring the thriving New England folk scene. Audrey’s fiddle playing is rhythmically lively and spontaneous; she's guaranteed to get you up and dancing. She specializes in English dance, New England, Celtic, and Old Time tunes (and did we mention she’s also an audio engineer?!). You might also have taken a workshop with Audrey, as she’s been on staff at various camps including various weeks at Pinewoods, Ashokan Northern Week, BACDS American week, New London Assembly and Halsway Manor.
Christopher Jacoby
Christopher Jacoby (he/him) has played accordion, piano, mandolin, and guitar for Scottish country dancing for over a decade. He got his start playing accordion for SCD with Susie Petrov while working on crew at Pinewoods Camp. Around the Bay Area, he can be found chasing his 4 year old, and infrequently playing Scottish with Patti Cobb and Caroline McCaskey. He is thrilled to join Audrey Leigh Jaber for the Friday Welcome Dance and looks forward to a wonderful weekend at Asilomar.
Saturday Kim McGarrity Memorial Ball
Elizabeth Anderson Howe plays the fiddle and teaches music around the greater Boston area. Elizabeth is the 2020 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and the winner of the 2016 Perth All-Scotland Fiddle Championship. Elizabeth’s early training came through a combination of Classical violin lessons and learning at fiddle workshops and camps. A formative moment came in the fall of 2016, when she spent a semester in Glasgow to study under fiddler Douglas Lawrence and experience the music culture of Scotland firsthand. She holds music education degrees from Berklee College of Music (B.M. 2017) and Ithaca College (M.M. 2022). She is a frequent staff member at camps and workshops such as Maine Fiddle Camp, Pinewoods Dance Camp, and the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club. Elizabeth teaches orchestra full time in Walpole, MA.
Elizabeth Anderson Howe, Walpole, Massachusetts
Ben Anderson, Boston, Massachusetts
Ben Anderson has been playing violin for over 20 years, and cello for over 15. After starting on classical, he fell in love with Scottish music during his years attending the Boston Harbor Scottish Fiddle School. Since then, he has continued learning at iconic camps such as the Pure Dead Brilliant fiddle weekend and the Boston States Fiddle Camp. Today, he most commonly performs with his sister Elizabeth, who together have performed from across New England to Scotland and France. He also frequently plays for dances around the Boston area. As his day job, he works in software engineering.
Dave Wiesler, Newark, Delaware
Pianist Dave Wiesler (Newark, DE) began playing traditional Scottish music for dances and concerts in 1993 and started dancing it two years later. Since then he has become highly regarded for his strong rhythm, his technical skill, and his deep knowledge of the genre, as well as for his versatility in other styles careening through classical music, classic rock, jazz, choir music, and many other dance forms. He has played at festivals and camps across the country, as well as in Canada, Scotland, England, France, and Switzerland. Dave plays most often with his band Thistle House, but he regularly joins other musicians and has recorded SCD dance albums with Thistle House, Hanneke Cassel, the Scottish Weekend ensemble, Mara Shea, and the Delaware Valley Band. He is a capable guitarist; a prolific composer of tunes, songs, and occasionally more complex musical pieces; and a proud father of two boys, one of whom has recently gotten hooked by SCD.
