Ellen Carlson              

Ellen started the NH Fiddle Ensemble in 2010 with 18 people. Enrollment doubled in year 2 and has continued to grow to over 120 people in 2023. She added Melissa as a coach and leader in 2014. The Ensemble became a non-profit in 2021. Ellen is a sought after fiddle teacher, teaching at some of the largest festivals and workshops including Grey Fox, Fiddle Hell, Pete Wernick's Jam Camp, Kaufmann Kamp, and Joe Val. She also runs Fiddleheads Acoustic Jam Camp (in its 26th year), now with Melissa. Also an admired and in-demand player, she has played with High Range (20 years), Sweet, Hot & Sassy!, Honest Millie, Stone Country, and the Hot Skillet Club. Her education includes an MEd and BS in Business/Music. Ellen taught middle school math for 15 years, is a member of the NH State Council on the Arts Education roster, and was in the Leadership NH Class of 2020.            

Melissa Bragdon Caron         

Melissa is the co-director of the New Hampshire Fiddle Ensemble. She is a Maine-based fiddler known for playing and teaching many different styles of music. Classically trained, she received a degree in Music Education at the University of Maine and has experience teaching string programs and general music at various grade levels in the Maine public schools. Melissa is a member of the Portland-based bluegrass bands "Jerks of Grass" and “Cumberland Crossing.” She also performs often with the old-time group “Sugar Hill Stringband” and recently recorded an album with “Fiddlers Three.” She runs a successful music camp each September with Ellen Carlson, called Fiddleheads Acoustic Jam Camp. Melissa was greatly involved in the development of 317 Main Community Music Center in Yarmouth, Maine, where she taught fiddle and acoustic ensembles for twelve years. Melissa also offers a welcoming bluegrass jam in her community, teaches at her home studio in Scarborough, Maine, and enjoys spending time with her two young sons, Daniel and Aidan.

Amy Chipman

Amy finds great joy in helping her clients achieve their financial goals. She takes the time to listen to and review her clients’ financial situations and helps them develop investment strategies to pursue their objectives. She makes sure her clients are well educated on their wealth management plans so they can make well-informed financial decisions. Her goal is to empower them so they can go out and enjoy their lives knowing they have a solid plan in place. She also delivers significant value and service to her clients. Amy has been working in the financial services industry since 1986. She joined RBC Wealth Management in 2009 after 20 years of working as a Financial Advisor at Smith Barney. In 1985 she graduated from Wheaton College where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and economics. Amy was born in Portland, Maine and currently resides in Cape Elizabeth. She has two grown boys, Matthew and Sam. Matthew is currently working with a Civil Engineering firm and Sam is working in sales for a local TV station. Fortunately for Amy, they are both local. Amy has been a long-standing member of the Portland Rotary Club. She has been a past president, board member and is currently chair of community services. She enjoys skiing, tennis, pickleball and jamming on the fiddle with her friends.

Diane Collier

Diane has been a member of the NH Fiddle Ensemble for ten years and a member of the Board since inception. For 25 years she has run her own type design and development company specializing in non-Latin scripts. Diane works with Microsoft, other software companies and individual designers and calligraphers worldwide. It is type that brought her to "fiddling" after a conference in Dublin where she fell in love with the fiddle. After returning she bought a violin, found Ellen and the Ensemble and has not looked back.
She is greatly inspired by Ellen and Melissa and dreams of being a great player some day! While most of her time is spent on the computer, she likes to get her hands "dirty" by teaching pottery at a local art school where she has been on the faculty for many years. When not working, Diane would rather be outside swimming, hiking or running. She also enjoys sailing and has chartered boats in the BVI. She has traveled extensively in Africa, Europe, Central and South America and some in Asia. She raised a niece who is now married with four children and Diane loves being a "grand-mother."

Ted Danforth

Ted is a licensed professional engineer operating a successful environmental consulting practice for over 40 years. Ted discovered music late in life while in the process of retiring his practice and now plays every chance he gets. A participating member of the NH Fiddle Ensemble, he enjoys the opportunity to play with others, learn new instruments, genres and introducing others to this pastime. Ted has his BS from Penn State University and an MBA from St. Joe's University in Philadelphia. He is a licensed engineer in PA, NJ, MD, NH, DE and several more. Ted resides in North Yarmouth, ME with his wife and 16 yr old daughter and 3 pups.

John Garrigan

John is a practicing attorney who has spent ten years representing various New Hampshire state agencies in criminal prosecution, civil litigation, and administrative regulation matters. Though a casual guitar player since high school, John has spent recent years focused on playing mandolin as well as tenor banjo, octave mandolin, and bass. He has been a playing member of the Ensemble since 2022. John is a lifelong resident of New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA and the University of New Hampshire School of Law in Concord, NH. 

Dan Guliano

For the past 47+ years Dan devoted his professional life to the fields of Learning, Organizational Development and Human Resources. Those skills were honed by delivering support to a range of organizations including large, sophisticated multi-nationals to agile, high growth unstructured ones. Technologies included plastics, machine tools and aerospace engineering. Environments included organizations that were rapidly growing to those contracting. Additionally, for more than 15 years Dan was a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Southern New Hampshire University’s Graduate School.

Throughout those years Dan focused the educational experience on the concepts of critical thinking, leadership, decision making and development – both personal and professional. In so doing participants were encouraged to challenge themselves to explore new perspectives on the issues and matters before them. This allowed them to take concepts out of the realm of theory and put them into practice.

While not a native New Englander, Dan has worked and lived in New Hampshire for more than 45 years. During that period he had the opportunity to support a number of non-profit organizations. Included among them is the Strawberry Bank Museum, where he was a member of the Board of Directors, and currently as a member of the Board of Directors of the Gloucester Adventure, Inc. the parent organization of the Schooner Adventure, a National Historic Landmark.

Leigh Levine

Leigh is a long-time transportation professional now working for the Federal Highway Administration in Concord, New Hampshire, where he also lives with his family. He has been an Ensemble member for 4 or 5 years now – he can’t keep track, and he is a guitarist/vocalist. He has loved music since childhood, and once had a job in college being an accompanist for ballet and dance classes. He has also performed with a working old time string band in Ohio, playing for contra dances, festivals, etc. He loves Old Time, Bluegrass, Traditional Blues and Country, and many other genres of music, and he also enjoys motorcycling New England backroads, hiking and spending time with friends and family. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Poland, and is a graduate of Miami University (of Ohio), and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. He and his family recently adopted a rescue Siamese kitten and Leigh named him “Doc” after one of his heroes, Doc Watson.

Cindy Robertson        

Cindy is a long-time resident of New Hampshire, having moved here from Maryland to attend Franklin Pierce Law Center (now known as UNH School of Law). Like many people, Cindy fell in love with New Hampshire and has made it her home for the past 40 years. Prior to retiring, Cindy represented individuals with severe disabilities specializing in elder law and Medicaid. Cindy currently serves on the EngAging NH board, an elderly advocacy organization, and has served on the Hooksett Conservation Commission for nearly 20 years, currently serving as the Chair. She also became a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels of Hillsborough County in April of 2020 when the pandemic forced many to remain at home. Cindy loves music and dancing and has been a member of the NH Fiddle Ensemble for eight years.        

Francis Xavier Smith              

Francis has 45 years of industrial experience in pharmaceutical formulating, testing, manufacturing and business management for the development of new drug products. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, a M.S. in Chemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Medicinal Chemistry from SUNY at Buffalo.

He founded Bio-Concept Laboratories, Inc. to provide contractual laboratory services for new drug product development. He successfully managed the operation and until its acquisition.  While operating Bio-Concept, he established FXS Ventures LLC to generate patented intellectual property of health care product concepts for external license arrangements. He currently provides insight and supplemental oversight into drug product development efforts in the field of ophthalmic, parenteral and related drug products through FXS Consulting LLC.

Francis Smith has raised two daughters and two grand-children with his wife Claire in Salem NH. Fiddle music and 18th century reenactments are among his hobbies. He donates his time and resources to non-profit and charitable organizations.

Paul Smith

Paul worked for twenty five years sailing the world as an engineering officer on many different ocean going vessels and finished his career as a Chief Engineering Officer aboard tankers up in Alaska and the US West Coast. Since retiring from sailing he has been teaching high school math.

He started playing the violin in his childhood. However, the violin sat idle for many years. When his daughters started playing, he found a renewed and robust interest in playing music. He played in the New Hampshire Fiddle Ensemble for several years with his two daughters and his wife. His family played as a band until his daughters went away to college. He is also in the Chickenshack Bluegrass Band with his wife, which has played many venues and fairs in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts.

Kevin Thacker

Kevin, a native of Ridgeway, Virginia, has called New Hampshire home for almost 19 years.  Shortly after graduating from high school, Kevin enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he spent the next 24 years serving in various assignments at home and abroad, eventually retiring in the rank of Major.  Kevin currently serves as a Department of Defense (DoD) Program Integrator, providing DoD acquisition insight and program surveillance on multiple major military defense systems.

 Although Kevin enjoys many musical genres, his life-long love for bluegrass and country music runs most deep, and from which most of his musical influences originated.  Shortly after Kevin retired from military service he started playing the fiddle, followed thereafter by the acoustic guitar, and has been jamming with fellow enthusiasts ever since.  Recently, Kevin’s love for music evolved into songwriting.  Kevin’s additional hobbies include training his bird dog Charlie and woodcarving. 

Kevin earned his B.S. from Wayland Baptist University and his M.A. from Webster University.  Kevin and his wife Rebekah reside in Barrington, New Hampshire.