Meet the EVS staff

Founder of the Feast

D. Blaise Kielar began his electric violin journey in the mid 1980's, when he sold Zeta violins through Hillmusic Fine Violins, in Chapel Hill, NC. He left that business to play and teach more in the mid 1990's. Over the years, he has taught many styles - classical, Irish, Old Time, jazz, gospel, country, Middle Eastern, free improv, etc.

When he started his world music instrument store, Music Explorium, in 1999, he considered stocking electric violins to be his fun indulgence. He added acoustic violins due to demand from his former violin shop customers! Through the wonders of the Internet, people began calling him for advice about choosing an electric violin. His combination of violin shop skills and comfort with electronics and improvising appealed to players from as far away as Bali and Israel. Now, with Electric Violin Shop, he (and a staff of specialists) can provide a higher level of service to bowed string players who want to be heard in an amplified setting. Contact Blaise at 919-806-3311 to chat about your amplification desires.

Blaise's detailed biography is here.

Fiddle Fashionista

A native of Fayetteville, NC, Chris Guin took up the violin when he was nine years old, because it got him out of math class. Throughout his school years, he played in local and regional youth orchestras, as well as the community symphony orchestra. At 14, he took up guitar, because he wanted to play in a rock band. If Electric Violin Shop had existed back then, this unfortunate necessity would never have occurred. With a decent amp and an effects processor, he could've played all the Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen, and Yngwie Malmsteen tunes he wasn't quite good enough to play on the guitar.

Chris worked construction, sold cars, telemarketed (so much for that whole immortal soul thing), worked for an inventory company, wrote resumes, and even co-authored a novel. (You'd probably think someone who wrote an entire novel would have no trouble with a little web bio -- you'd be wrong). After serving way too much time as a mall-zombie and general retail drone, much of it spent as an Evil Corporate Bookseller, he finally found his way to Electric Violin Shop. He has since become a brand evangelist for the store, and for the electric violin in general. As the Fiddle Fashionista for EVS, he sometimes helps customers find not only the instrument with the right tone, but the electric violin and bow to perfectly match, contrast, or compliment the player's wardrobe. His math skills have never fully recovered, but he is still playing the violin.

Susie Hicks

Susie grew up in Raleigh, NC playing classical and fiddle music. After a number of years in graduate school in Geography and various retail jobs she realized that she has always been pursuing her musical passions in one way or another. She plays acoustic and electric violin in a number of bands and musical styles, from old time and bluegrass to blues and rock.

She's been a member of Rootzie, the Slim Pickers, and the Marla Vickers Band. Currently she plays with Penny Prophets, a rock band out of Chapel Hill, and the JayBirds, a Durham-based duo. Along with violin, she plays electric bass, keyboard and sings. Besides music, Susie enjoys horror movies, cooking, hiking and good swimming holes.

Ted Hardin

Ted started playing cello at age eleven, and began guitar at age twelve, although his musical development had begun much earlier. His grandmother was a pianist, and his father was an operatic tenor, and they taught him from an early age the rudiments of music.

Ted pursued cello through high school, and after attending Governor's School in 1992, went to Appalachian State University to study cello under Dr. Kenneth Lurie. During that time he also honed his skills as a lead guitar player, and began performing in his hometown with a local band at the age of twenty-one.

Since that time Ted has accumulated numerous recording credits for guitar, dobro, and cello. He has performed for audiences from Anaheim, California to Hurricane, West Virginia. His understanding of electric, acoustic, and classical string instruments, as well as the rigors of live performance and studio work give him a valuable perspective for supporting players of electrified bowed instruments.

Ted lives in Durham with his wife and dog, and gigs regularly with his band Downtown Senate. He also occasionally performs with American Idol finalist Anoop Desai and Survivor contestant and country singer Chase Rice.

Duncan Monserud

Duncan currently plays Principle Second Violin in the Houston Civic Symphony. He has previously performed with symphony orchestras in Iowa, Washington and North Carolina and teaches violin and piano lessons.  Classically trained on the violin and piano, for years his only outlet for non-classical styles came in teaching himself to play the guitar...that is until his discovery of the electric violin! Electrified strings have not only renewed his interest in violin playing, but also opened a new realm of possibilities to him as a composer. Duncan studied Music Composition as an undergraduate at the University of Northern Iowa and earned a Master's degree at the University of Idaho's Lionel Hampton School of Music where he also taught Music Theory. Duncan's compositions for strings include a Sonata for Violin and Piano and a String Quartet. Click to read "Duncan's Dream Rig" and see his favorite electric violin products.

Blaise Kielar's detailed Biography

David Blaise Kielar grew up playing violin in orchestras and clarinet in marching and concert bands at Sun Valley High School, Aston, Pennsylvania. He received a degree in music from West Chester University in 1974, where he explored everything from Baroque performance practice to electronic composition with Moog synthesizer. Being told he did not have the technique to play professionally (by a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, back in the Eugene Ormandy days), he pursued a doctorate in music history at NYU. There he specialized in interdisciplinary Baroque arts and the 19th century New York composer George Frederick Bristow. Not finding a college teaching job, he changed career paths (with a bunch of help from the book What Color Is Your Parachute?) and learned the skills of bow rehairing and restoration at William Moennig & Son in Philadelphia.

In late 1978, his Southern roots (born in Virginia) called him to a more laid back lifestyle, and he opened a violin shop in Chapel Hill, NC. His partner in Hillmusic Fine Violins, R. Nowell Creadick, taught Old Time, and Blaise began to realize a long-standing dream to fiddle. Soon there were weekly Celtic sessions at Hillmusic, and a group formed of the regulars. They called themselves "De Mhairt," which is Gaelic for "on Tuesday," the night of the gathering. Shortly after that, Blaise formed a swing trio, where he got to play clarinet also. He began to get more comfortable with improvising, and found that his classical playing was more relaxed. He taught classical violin as well as various fiddle styles.

For 15 years he helped beginners and professionals find the perfect instrument or bow. He even studied the classic French methods of bow making with William Salchow. His electric violin journey began around 1986, when his violin shop was an early dealer of Zeta violins. Blaise retired from Hillmusic in 1993, after rehairing over 3000 bows!

Participating in one of Paul Winter's Living Music Villages changed his life. Besides further freeing up his improvisational abilities, he got hooked on gathering players (and non-musicians) together to make spontaneous music. The beauty of the music created, and the closeness of the community of those participating, inspired him to develop a course called "Improvising Music For Everyone." This was when David Darling's workshops were called "Music for People. Designed to help people get comfortable with the infinite possibilities of vocal and instrumental improvisation, Blaise's course has created a community of those liberated from the need to "play it right."

He has strolled for banquets, played weddings, had a world music band, as well as a jam band with four percussionists! He has improvised for belly-dancers, for meditation, and even with a group of Belgian techno DJ's at Burning Man 2006!