THE NEWS FROM BRUNER’S BROOD - WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2026: THE CANADIAN FIDDLE AND STEP DANCE CHAMPIONSHIP IN PEMBROKE, ONTARIO, AND THE MOURNING OF A KING’S PASSING

Hi everyone! As this article was written on route from Ottawa, Ontario to Bergen, Norway via Toronto and Frankfurt, and edited at Osterøy, I trust all is well with you and that the Labour Day weekend was a good one for you. In Canada, the first Monday of September is Labour Day, which is a national long weekend. For those who have recently liked and followed my artist page since my last posting, thank you very much for your interest and kind support, as I warmly welcome the new followers who have come onboard. Please share this page with others, tell those you know that this page and website exists, and let them know that activities and events are lining up for fall and winter 2026. Here’s the latest for my Facebook pages and www.trentbruner.com. After completion of the 36^th Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition in High River, Alberta, Hannah Moira and I took some family holiday time in Lake Louise, Banff, Calgary and Ottawa before travelling to Pembroke, Ontario for the 48^th Pembroke Fiddle and Step Dance Contest, which is now renamed “The Canadian Fiddle and Step Dancing Championship.” This competition is open to any contestant from anywhere in the world to compete, unlike the Canadian Grand Masters, which is for Canadian citizens and permanent residents only to determine Canadian national fiddle champions. I returned as one of the house accompanists alongside Melika Lemelin of Val Therese, Ontario. The fiddle contest judges in 2026 were Shane Cook, Scott Woods and Raymond Schryer. Tiffany Fewster Salt, Kerry Fitzgerald and Maria Peppler were the step dance judges. Robbie Dagenais returned as house fiddler for the dancers, while Art Jamieson and Paul Lemelin shared duties as weekend Masters of Ceremonies. It was also an opportunity for Hannah Moira to receive an Ottawa Valley fiddle lesson with Brian Hebert before the contest, a chance to renew friendships made at earlier Canadian fiddle contests, and make new friendships with other fiddle followers, fiddlers and step dancers as well. She was also able to participate in two jam sessions at Riverside Park, as well as experience and learn Canadian fiddle tunes that were old for many, but new to her. She also recorded additional Canadian fiddle tunes to add to her personal repertoire. What I grew up knowing as the championship class in Western Canadian fiddle contests is called “The Open Class Fiddle” in contests Ontario and eastward, which was the fiddle class Hannah Moira entered at Pembroke. In a preliminary class of 12 contestants, she was selected as one of the five Saturday night finalists. According to what the judges told me, she gave a wonderful performance of her selected contest tunes over both rounds in a very competitive class and was getting better at Canadian fiddling every round she played. They also encouraged her to pursue more Canadian fiddle performances in the future as opportunities allow. She also received her first “Ontario step dance lesson” from Toronto’s Emily Yarascavich backstage during the Saturday night finals, which will broaden her Canadian fiddle and dance background. The results from the Open Class Fiddle were: 1 – Anna Smilek, Waterloo, Ontario 2 – Emily Yarascavich, Toronto, Ontario 3 – Kyle Burghout, Winnipeg, Manitoba 4 – Jane Cory, Winnipeg, Manitoba 5 – Hannah Moira Midtboe-Bruner, Valestrandsfossen, Osterøy, Norway Before her return to Norway Sunday morning from the Ottawa Airport, Hannah Moira had one last jam session at the Schryer tent after the contest was finished, which was a wonderful way to conclude her 2026 Canadian visit. Upon our return to Norway, I will be back at church music work, choir conducting and substitute piano teaching in the Bergen area, as well as rejoining my wife at home. Hannah Moira has returned to her post secondary music studies in Oslo. In fact, our two daughters, Hannah Moira and Ingrid Sofie, are both studying traditional Norwegian folk music performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. This means that Hilde and I are officially “empty nesters,” which will be a different experience for both of us. But there will be occasional visits over school breaks and holidays, we will make trips to Oslo as well for visits, and the grandsons will be coming over for visits and sleepovers with Grandma and Grandpa. It’s amazing how life goes on, doesn’t it?

We are also returning to a country that has been in mourning as King Harald V passed away at 6:35 am Norway time, on Friday, August 28^th, 2026, at age 89. His funeral was broadcast across Norway from Oslo on Wednesday, September 9^th. Many locations had open churches for prayer and reflection, books of condolences for signing, and the day King Harald V had passed away, the church bells throughout the country from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. Towns and cities also had outdoor locations where flowers were laid by the Norwegian populace, and large crowds gathered outside the Royal Palace in Oslo, where Ingrid Sofie gathered with thousands in mourning King Harald V’s passing. The late king will be remembered as a king of the people who insisted that everyone live in kindness, tolerance and respect for all people, which many Norwegians appreciated and have held dearly with this monarch, who was also a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. When Hannah Moira was asked on the Friday of the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition to perform two selections on Norwegian hardanger fiddle after the 2026 preliminaries for the Junior and Senior classes, she performed Bjorn Ole Rasch’s instrumental piece, “Psalm”, in memory of the King’s passing. Her performance of this piece can be found on YouTube under the following link of the 2026 Junior and Senior class preliminaries after the three hour mark: https://www.youtube.com/live/T9MTPnNwTJE The next report will come in October when the Osterøy Fiddle and Dance Troupe will give a special concert and book launch at Riksscenen, the Norwegian national folk music centre and performance stage, in Oslo on Friday, October 9^th to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of their founding. Until then, see you somewhere down the musical trail! Musically yours, Trent