FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

Maureen started as Concert Manager of Somerset in 2009. She took over as Director from Kathy DeAngelo after the 2022 festival. She received her MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick under the guidance of Micheal O Suilleabhain. She also played in the Delaware Valley Celtic Harp Orchestra and has an MA in Music Education from Columbia University. She now teaches music and directs youth theater in NJ and the Lower Hudson Valley. She plays in local Irish Traditional Music Sessions. She launched a harp-focused podcast in 2020, interviewing many of our presenters and performers. See her HarpSong® podcast website.

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Kim Adamson has been a part of Somerset since its inception. From coordinating the set up of the exhibit hall, running the harp tastings, and assisting at the concert stage, Kim is busy making sure that the festival runs smoothly. When she's not at Somerset she gigs as a harpist and works in Veterinary Medicine.

CONCERT MANAGER

Nyx (they/them) is a musician, songwriter, and composer. This year they are stepping into the role of Concert Manager after working with the festival for a number of years. They first began playing the Irish lever harp over 15 years ago with Kathy DeAngelo and have attended Somerset for as many years. Through their BM at Berklee College of Music they expanded into a wide variety of genres. Now, they primarily perform alt, punk, and prog/math rock on their electric lever harp. Their journey with their mental health has taught them the power of music to transform lives. Now, as a proud Indian American and transgender non-binary person, they strive to share that gift to uplift their community. Nyx has released one studio album, Funeral Afterparty, with their band The Dead Friends Club (@tdfcmusic) with more on the way.

Concert Sound Engineer - Dave Eisner

Our festival attendees rave about the sound quality at our concerts and it's all due to the expertise and professionalism of our tech crew headed by David Eisner. Dave joined the festival in 2008 when it was in Alexandria, VA.

When he's not working at our festival, Dave is behind the House of Musical Traditions and Institute of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD, the center of the folk music world in the metropolitan Washington DC area.

Kathy took over management of the Somerset Folk Harp Festival in July 2008 with the retirement of founder/director Gerry Serviente and passed the crown to Maureen Buscareno in 2022. She performed in the first Somerset and had been part of the festival as concert manager since 2002.

Kathy has been playing the harp since 1984 and performing traditional Irish music since 1972. She has been actively engaged in the folk music scene in New Jersey since her Douglass College days, starting the Mine Street Coffeehouse in New Brunswick in 1973 and being the music director at the first New Jersey Folk Festival in 1975. In 2006 she rejoined the New Jersey Folk Festival as its music director, retiring from that position in 2014.

Kathy teaches harp and runs 'You Gotta Have Harp Productions'. She organized the annual Harpers Escape Weekend for 24 years, which has now morphed into the Harpers Escape Harp Tour of Ireland. She created and taught at the You Gotta Have Harp Summer Camp with Gloria Galante for some years.

When she is not teaching harp or performing with her husband Dennis Gormley in McDermott's Handy or working on the festival, she's a booking agent and concert producer. She and Dennis were inducted into Mid-Atlantic Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame in 2015.

Gerry Serviente founded the Somerset Folk Harp Festival in 2001 and directed this major harp event until 2008. She has been a tireless promoter of the many facets and styles of the folk harp and we're indebted to her for her long years of service.