Olof Misgeld
Olof Misgeld is a folk musician, fiddle player, and Senior Lecturer at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH). His playing, rooted in Swedish traditional styles, emphasizes the close interplay between music and dance. As a performer, he works across ensembles, theatre, and stage dance, collaborating with dancers, choreographers, and pedagogues, and exploring improvisation and interaction through the expressive resources of the folk music tradition.
He has recorded with Fri Form Folk, Oleman, BLM, and Stockholm Vodou Ensemble, collaborated with choreographers Anna Öberg and Martin Forsberg, and performed with Teater i Haga, Cirkus Cirkör, and Riksteatern.
At KMH, Olof is Program Director for the bachelor’s and master’s programmes in folk music. In 2025, he earned a Ph.D. from KTH Royal Institute of Technology with the dissertation Music-Dance Mediations – Performance Explorations into an Asymmetrical Type of the Swedish Polska.
Emilia Lajunen
"Plays like a village full of haunted fiddlers", wrote the leading Finnish newspaper about Emilia Lajunen.
Emilia Lajunen (born 1979) is a well-known professional Finnish folk musician, known for her personal, strong, and modern style of playing the violin. Her style of playing claims its origins in archaic heritage and fiddler music. Lajunen’s instruments are the 5-string fiddle, kontrabasharpa and nyckelharpa. She is a member in such groups as Emilia Lajunen & Eero Grundström, Juuri & Juuri (Celtic Connections / Showcase Scotland 2019 artist), Suo, Spontaani vire, Duo Emilia Lajunen & Suvi Oskala, (WOMEX 2019 official showcase artist) and folk music metal band Ritva Nero.
Lajunen has performed at various stages in Finland and abroad in the Nordic countries, India, USA, Canada and South Korea. She has released two solo albums, Turkoosi Polkupyörä (Texicalli Records 2012) and Legacy of the Dead: Deep in the Dregs (Nordic Notes 2023) which raises a whole village full of possessed fiddlers from their archival graves. Lajunen explored in depth the expression of the dancing musician-composer and the tradition of the contemporary professional folk musician in her doctoral studies. Now she has a doctor’s degree in fiddle and nyckelharpa (University of Arts Helsinki, Sibelius Academy). Lajunen has succeeded in many solo competitions in folk music. She won 2nd prize of solo class in NORD 08, Scandinavian Master Competition in 2008, in Sälen Sweden. She has won twice Konsta Jylhä -competition at first as a soloist in traditional serie in 2011 and in 2012 with Duo Emilia Lajunen & Suvi Oskala also in traditional serie. Emilia Lajunen was awarded artist of the year 2024 in Eläköön Folk -gala at Folklandia cruise.
