The Spirit of Crisol wants to bring together all the ideas and concepts that pushed us to organise a camp with the characteristics that follow but the first and most important is passion; passion for music.

To those not familiar with the term fiddle, what makes the fiddle different from the violin is not the shape of the instrument itself, but the musical language one chooses to speak with it. We will explore the possibilities of expression on the violin that are different from the typical ways in which we are used to hearing it (this philosophy can be applied to every instrument). The goal is not to play folk music on the violin, it is to speak the language of the soul with it, no matter what the musical style you want to play.

Our goal is also to have a course in which everybody can delight in their love for music and reject the implicit competitiveness that sometimes exists when learning to play an instrument.

There will be different levels of learning available, but everyone will interact, no matter whether they are beginners or advanced players – we don’t believe in boundaries; Crisol is inclusive.

Alasdair Fraser is the Alma Mater of the course; he is one of the best fiddlers of today’s folk music scene and a motivating teacher who directs similar projects in Scotland (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig), California (Valley of the Moon Fiddle Camp and Sierra Fiddle Camp) and Australia (Stringmania!).

Our main cello teacher is Natalie Haas, a young and vibrant cellist who has a great sense of creativity. Natalie has been touring with Alasdair since 2004 and they’ve released 6 studio albums together. She also teaches at the above-mentioned courses. Her lessons are more and more popular every year, and she is helping to release the cello from its classical structures and bring it to a new sphere, treating it as a principally chordal and rhythmic instrument.

Music transcends borders and cultures. Accordingly and along the years, we have invited musicians from different traditions to teach us about their musical languages and ways of playing so that we will have a full and complete learning experience by the end of the course. We have also added dance and singing as we consider them an essential part of our tradition.