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ANDREA HANSEN: STRINGS ACROSS THE SKY A Gift of Music to Northern Canada A Thirty-Eight Minute Documentary

Media Kit

http://www.cottagecountrynow.ca/cottagecountrynow/art

“To hold an instrument and make it ‘talk’ is an experience and much more interesting than passive learning...” Andrea Hansen Andrea Hansen: Strings Across the Sky showcases both the career and the remarkable musical contribution of Andrea Hansen to Northern Canadian Communities. This thirty-eight minute documentary is a moving tribute to Hansen’s life-long love affair with music and her dedication to revitalizing traditional fiddle music in the communities of Northern Canada.

DIRECTED and PRODUCED by PIRKKO KARVONEN PRODUCED with the support of THE ALBERTA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS

Contact: pakarvonen@gmail.com Telephone 780 – 689 - 3748

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ANDREA HANSEN: STRINGS ACROSS THE SKY A Thirty-Eight Minute Documentary By Pirkko Karvonen SYNOPSIS “Strings Across the Sky” is an interesting blend of biography, Canadian history in the making, and a lesson in legacy building. The film introduces viewers to Andrea Hansen, a gifted Canadian violinist, who retired from performing in 1999. She left the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to concentrate on a passion she discovered in 1988, when she co-founded Strings Across the Sky, a music program dedicated to teaching the violin to the children of Northern Canada. The film begins with Andrea’s personal and professional history, but soon leads into her remarkable teaching adventures with budding young musicians in Northern Canada. She shares her insights and philosophies on the importance of music to learning and to life. Andrea’s drive and passion for music, for revitalizing the tradition of fiddle music in the Canadian North, is infectious. It quickly becomes apparent that she has much done more than teach violin to a few children, or arrange for the donation of a few stringed instruments. She has planted the seeds of a legacy that will grow and evolve, ensuring not just the revitalization of fiddle music in Northern Canadian communities, but the revitalization of the communities themselves. STRINGS ACROSS THE SKY: A BRIEF HISTORY

In 1987 the Toronto Symphony went on its Canadian Odyssey tour performing for six different language groups above the Arctic Circle. The TSO discovered a once vibrant musical heritage brought to the Beaufort Sea by early European seafarers. With shipping routes closed by Arctic ice, the British seamen spent several months locked in the frozen landscape. They played their fiddles, danced jigs

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and reels, and infected those around them with a love for fiddle music. The Inuit of the Mackenzie Delta and Western Arctic gradually adopted this new musical art as their own. For decades almost every village or settlement had at least one “entertainer”. But with time, elders passed away, teenagers fell prey to alcohol and drug abuse, and the fiddling tradition began to fade. Then Andrea Hansen met Frank Hansen (no relative). Frank, an amateur fiddler and Inuvik businessman, intrigued by the coincidence of name, billeted Andrea in his home during the TSO tour. At the kitchen table he told Andrea of his dream to keep the fiddle alive in the North. The two co-founded Strings Across the Sky, a kitchen-table notion that grew into a charitable organization that builds self-esteem, teaches communications tools, enhances reading and arithmetic and oh yes, teaches youngsters to play the fiddle. Back in Toronto, Hansen enlisted the support of her friend, George Heinl, a Toronto violin dealer and together they began to collect unused fiddles and other instruments. Since founding the organization in 1988, Hansen has delivered over 200 donated violins to the 17 northern communities participating in the program. Hansen returns three times a year with her brand of teaching magic. Each time, students new and old are inspired by her methods. First she performs Mozart’s classic, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She then leads the youngsters through an array of Twinkles, an angry version, a sad version and a sexy version. In a few minutes, students learn the instrument communicates as they do. They are hooked. To hold an instrument and make it “talk” is an experience and much more interesting than passive learning. The experience leads to achievement and perhaps a goal; these are the building blocks to self-esteem. Hansen has witnessed it over and over again. She’s not alone. Parents notice that their children’s motor skills and co-ordination improve along with an ability to focus. The children learn to hold a violin first by holding wooden spoons. A method Hansen used herself over 60 years ago when she first began to play. Next, they play on four open strings. This means they don’t have to use any fingers when practicing the up and down motion. In turn, students gain an immediate feeling

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of fiddle playing. By using the open strings with a note pattern and listening to guitar chords, students easily learn the basics skills needed to play a fiddle tune. QUOTABLE QUOTES “To hold an instrument and make it ‘talk’ is an experience and much more interesting than passive learning...” Andrea Hansen “Early on, music is mathematics. It’s a clear form of communication and it releases stress. If you learn to read music, then you learn to read,” Andrea Hansen “She has an energy that is totally captivating and really a demanding way of teaching that really demands that the kids play to perfection. Many of these children have never had that demand, and when they are faced with that, they usually rise to the occasion and perform beautifully.” (Robert Bromley, Assistant Instructor, Yellowknife) “This is why those of us who are supporting the program, participating in it, and so on just love to have Andrea’s workshops because we hang out there with the kids, and we are learning every second that Andrea’s sort of on stage, working with these kids. And that gives us the skills to continue when she’s not around. Off doing this somewhere else.” (Robert Bromley, Assistant Instructor, Yellowknife) “I’ve been playing it every day, hours and hours every day. Practicing songs and stuff like that. That’s what I want to do the rest of my life is do what Andrea’s doing. Travel around the world with it. Do square dances up north and play the violin in lots of places and do lots of things with it. And I hope that my kids one day will pick it up too.” (Charlie Wabano, fiddler, student Sioux Lookout) “It`s really important the work she`s doing in the Aboriginal community. They keep fiddling alive. I have relatives who work and live up north and they`d like to see their culture continue.” (Gary Atkins, assistant instructor, Parry Sound) “People are gradually waking up to the fact that music matters. It existed two thousand years ago when Confucius made some comment that if a nation provides the nurturing of a soul, the growing of a mind and spirit through music for young children, then they shall see the beginning of a great nation.” (Andrea Hansen)

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“It’s not just a fun thing, it feeds the soul. When they’re sad, they can pick up the fiddle. When they’re happy, they can pick up the fiddle. They can play the fiddle at Grandma’s funeral or at a brother’s wedding.” Andrea Hansen 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards “It’s an ongoing learning thing and I’m loving it. I guess more like what my grandfather would have done, because his life was music. He had music in his soul and I think he would love it to know that his music came across through me to the children of the Arctic. I owe it all to the Cobbler, the violin, and the kids in the north.” (Andrea Hansen) BIO ANDREA HANSEN Andrea Hansen retired as a full time violinist from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1999. Prior to her classical career, Hansen enjoyed a long and memorable entertainment career, working with performers like Glen Gould, Arthur Godfrey, Guy Hansen’s, Guy Lombardo and George Burns. Today, Hansen’s extensive classical career and entertainment charm have uniquely positioned her as a “magical educator” someone who touches others profoundly and irrevocably. In 1988 Hansen co-founded Strings Across the Sky, a not-for-profit association destined to inspire a passion for learning through the art of fiddling. Hansen returns to Arctic communities annually, volunteering her time and inspiring new musicians. In 2003, Hansen launched a similar program intended to stimulate a passion for learning amongst aboriginal children in more southern located northern communities. Born to Finnish parents in Kenora Ontario, Hansen was a child prodigy. She performed her first radio broadcast at the age of 4. By the age of 8 Hansen debuted in Toronto Massey Hall. For fifteen years she and her older sister Florence played the violin as part of a nightclub act, The “Hansen Sisters”. Then in 1967 the sisters took their final bows and Andrea returned to her classical roots, first joining the Montreal Symphony and a decade later, the Toronto Symphony.

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In 1987 the Toronto Symphony took their Canadian Odyssey tour to the Western Arctic. It was during this tour, in Inuvik, that Hansen initiated and later developed her remarkable project. Touched by a young girl who asked, “Will we ever see you again?” Hansen has directed her considerable talent, energy and skill to delivering over 200 donated fiddles to Northern communities and teaching youngsters how to play them. Her vision, determination and generosity coupled with her ability to teach quickly and effectively are changing the world one

student at a time. In 1999, this great Ambassador of Music received The Order of Canada. In 2002, Andrea was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2005, Andrea was honoured with The Order of Ontario. Andrea sits as a member of The Academic Council of the Royal Conservatory of Music

and is a frequent guest lecturer in return for donations to Strings Across The Sky to return both fiddling, and Andrea, to the north. Andrea Hansen was born in Kenora, Ontario of Finnish parents. She taught herself on “spoon fiddles” until her parents succumbed to their daughter’s desire and started her on violin lessons at age 3. Introduced to violinist Fritz Kreisler at the age of seven, she was inspired by this great musician and by the musical gift passed on to her by her grandfather in Finland - the Cobbler. Her first public performance was on the radio at age four. Her studies continued in Sarnia and Toronto, with full scholarships awarded by the Kiwanis Festival, the CNE Music Competition and the Royal Conservatory of Music. At age sixteen Andrea began a professional career with her sister. The Hansen Sisters were launched on the CBC television show, Pick-The-Stars. This led to the Arthur Godfrey Show and many other appearances. A highlight of their Supper Club engagements was being featured with Guy Lombardo at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. Winding up their career as The Hansen Sisters at Expo ‘67, Andrea re-entered the classical world as a violinist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Ten years later she returned to Toronto and became a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra retiring in 1999. In 1988 Andrea co-founded Strings Across the Sky. For fifteen years she has been traveling on ice roads, small planes and boats through blinding snowstorms and under frigid skies, doing just about everything she can, to touch over 400 northern students with her special magic of teaching the fiddle.

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Andrea was appointed a member of the Canada Council in 1991 and she received the Canada 125 Commemorative Medal for her significant contribution to Canada. In 1999 she was appointed to the Order of Canada. In 2002 Andrea received The Golden Jubilee Medal. in 2005 Andrea was honoured with The Order of Ontario. She continues her contributions today as Artistic Director and Co-founder of the Strings Across the Sky Foundation. BIO PIRKKO KARVONEN – PRODUCER/DIRECTOR Pirkko Karvonen has worked in film and television production since 1976 when she and her husband, Albert Karvonen, founded Karvonen Films Ltd. In the process of working as cameraperson, still photographer, videographer, writer, and producer, Pirkko has gained a wealth of production experience.

Her directorial debut occurred with the 2001 documentary The People of Sointula, which garnered her a Best Documentary nomination at the 2002 Alberta Film and Television Awards. Pirkko is also well known as one of Alberta’s most talented and prolific textile artist. Her award- winning works are enjoyed locally and internationally in public, corporate, and private

collections, including the permanent collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. She is probably best known for her inlay tapestries and transparencies and her work can be found in collections in Canada, Australia, Finland, Japan, New Zealand and Sweden. For the past twenty years Pirkko has researched old Finnish immigrant rag rugs and woven them into a new modern face. Her research and experimentation into color and design has also covered false damask and “kuvikas” (weave structure from Finland). Her latest commissioned work of a large 6 feet by 5 feet tapestry decorates the Glencow Club in Calgary and she has a large, three section tapestry at Athabasca University. This last tapestry, measuring about three meters in width by two meters in height, depicts prairie Grain Elevators. Pirkko was a teacher of weaving and consultant with Alberta Culture (Gov’t of Alberta) Visual Arts Branch for over 30 years. Besides this she gave evening courses in weaving with the Continuing Education of Edmonton Public School Board and Sherwood Park Recreation Department. She is the founder of Strathcona County Weavers, Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta (HWSDA) and Tablet Weavers

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International Studies and Techniques (TWIST). Today Pirkko teaches from her Studio at Amisk Lake, Boyle, Alberta and gives workshop. Her latest workshop was at the Peace Country Weavers Conference in Fairview, Alberta. She will be giving a workshop at the Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta Conference in May 2012 Filmography Includes: Peter Sawatsky: Life in Bronze (30 minute documentary -2007) explores the life and art of a Manitoba artist working in bronze. Producer, director, camera. Between a Rock and a Hard Place (One hour documentary - 2007) is a story of the early mining and logging in Canada through the eyes of the early Finnish Immigrants to the Sudbury area. Producer, director, camera. We Dare to Dream (One hour documentary - 2006) celebrates the wonderful stories and great contributions of the Finnish people to Canada as seen through the literary works and selective interviews of key Finnish Canadian authors, historians, pioneers, business people, artists and their families. Producer, director, camera. Joanna! Emperor’s New Clothes (30 minute documentary - 2006) explores the life and work of celebrated textile artist Joanna Staniszkis. Producer, director, camera. Clay in Hand (30 minute documentary - 2005) celebrates the rich tradition of Alberta ceramic artists and their uniquely renowned place in the world. It focuses on two internationally acclaimed couples, John Chalke and Barbara Tipton and Richard and Carol Selfridge. Producer, director, camera. Tillenius: The Art of Nature (30 minute documentary - 2004) is the story of Clarence Tillenius, master painter who has overcome the odds to live and extraordinary life. He spent a lifetime studying wildlife and translating nature into art, rising above a tragic accident to become one of Canada’s leading wildlife painters. Producer, director, camera. The People of Sointula (Documentary – two versions, 30 minute and one hour - 2001) A small group of Finnish immigrants fled into the wilderness of Canada to form their own society in the early 1900s. Their dream was to build a world of their own based on utopian ideals of equality, justice, and love. Producer, director, camera. Journey into the Finnish Forest ( One hour documentary - 2001) is the story of Albert Karvonen’s travel to Finland to explore the forest heritage of his ancestors. Pirkko Karvonen Associate producer with Karvonen Films.

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Kenya: Living Mosaic (One hour documentary - 2000) explores the wildlife of Kenya. Pirkko Karvonen Associate producer with Karvonen Films. Great Northern Forest (One hour documentary - 1998) was a co-production with NFB; it is the story of the gigantic evergreen magnificent boreal forest – a great swath of spruce, pine, fur aspen and birch trees. Here, you can hear the plaintive howl of timber wolves, the gnawing and splashing of burly beavers, the wail and echo of loons, and the crack of Antlers as battling moose collide Pirkko Karvonen Associate producer with Karvonen Films. Mountain Splendour ( 48 minute documentary - 1997) captures the many faces of the Canadian Rockies through the seasons. Pirkko Karvonen Associate producer with Karvonen Films. Prairie Grasslands (48 minute documentary - 1992) captures the magical blend of grassy plains, sculptured badlands, wooded coulees, and water-filled sloughs that make up the prairie grasslands of Western Canada. Pirkko Karvonen Associate producer with Karvonen Films. Passage of Migrants (52 minute documentary) Shadows passing across the moon, a soft beating of unseen wings in the dark, distant cries blown back by the wind, a line of geese flying high… these are some of the familiar fragments that are part of the mystery of migration. Pirkko Karvonen Associate producer with Karvonen Films. Log House: Finnish Style and Log House is Born (30 and 52 minute documentaries) gave Pirkko Karvonen to explore her Finnish roots and put her cultural expertise to use. Associate producer with Karvonen Films. Matti Kurikka (30 minute documentary film – 2001).The story of, Matti Kurikka, Finnish journalist, theosophist, and utopian socialist who moved to North America in the year 1900 and in 1901 helped establish Sointula, a utopian island colony on Malcolm Island, British Columbia. Producer, director. SELECTED AWARDS AND HONOURS In 1996 the City of Edmonton recognized her contribution and talents with the prestigious Salute to Excellence Award for her artistic excellence. In 1995 year she received the Immigration Award from the Alberta Government for her contribution to fine arts.

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BIO SANDRA TOBER – WRITER Sandra Tober’s accomplished writing is achieved by an effective blend of her scientific and creative skills. Her strong academic background includes concentrated zoology studies at the University of Alberta (Bachelor of Science) and Alberta College of Art and Design (Bachelor of Fine Arts). After several years writing for Karvonen Films Ltd. (KFL), Sandra began directing in 2002; many of these films went on to receive various nominations and awards at festivals in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Since 1996, Tober has written over twenty scripts for Karvonen Films—both series and one-hour specials—for lead broadcaster Discovery Channel Canada. She delivered the script for the award winning show Land of the Ice Bear, the fourth one-hour co-production between KFL and the National Film Board of Canada. For her efforts, she has received six nominations as Best Scriptwriter Non-Dramatic at Alberta’s AMPIA awards (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006), winning in 2004 for Mountain Sheep: Life on the Edge. STRINGS ACROSS THE SKY CREDITS Producer/Director – Pirkko Karvonen Director of Photography – Pirkko Karvonen Additional Camera – Ray Harper, Albert Karvonen Editor – Roley Wight Writer – Sandra Tober Narrator – Shivani Saini Location Sound – Pirkko Karvonen Post Production Sound – Downy Karvonen, Jerry Krepakevich Post Production Picture – Reel Girls Media Inc. Kathleen Anderson – Assistant Editor Neximar Alarcon – Graphic, Assistant Editor Archival Footage Courtesy of Lewis Beck Music Performed and Composed by Andrea Hansen

Frank’s Delta Dream Sisu Polka Cobbler’s Violin (Suutarin Viulu) Pingo Push

Additional Music

Sibelius, Finlandia, Op. 26 Recorded December 1939

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Cleveland Orchestra Artur Rodzinski conducting

Special thanks to:

Ken Jorgensen Learning Through the Arts The Royal Conservatory of Music Sheila L. McKay Sheila MacDonald Marty Brown John Tees Colin Adjun Robert Bromley

Jan Randall George Tuccaro Lewis Beck Shari Lundy Gerry Atkins Jamie RT (Rokerby-Thomas) Deb Misener-Jones Doug Pawis

Glen Zilinski, &Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.

Extra Special Thanks to the Communities of: Tulita, Holman, Sioux Lookout, Yellowknife, Lutsel Ke Kugkluktuk, Parry Sound and Conklin