Een is a founding member of the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America.[4] In 2002, she was awarded St. Olav's Medal by H.M. Harald V of Norway for helping to reintroduce the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle tradition to the United States.[5] She received the Ole Bull Award, from the eponymous academy in Voss, Norway, in 1987, and was accredited as a Master Folk Artist Teacher by the Minnesota State Arts Board in 1998.
In 2004, she released an album of traditional and original compositions for Hardanger fiddle titled From the Valley. One work from the CD, "President Thomforde's March,"[6] was written for and premiered at St. Olaf College Inauguration Weekend in April 2000.[5]
Een earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in violin performance and literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied with Paul Rolland. Her dissertation "Comparison of Melodic Variants in the Hardingfele Repertoire of Norway" was advised by ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl.
On January 20, 2007, Een demonstrated the Hardanger fiddle at the Highview Lutheran Church.[7]
Personal life
Een is the granddaughter of Norwegian and German immigrants and grew up in Mankato, Minnesota. Her brother is the composer and cellist Robert Een. She has one son.
Awards
1987 Ole Bull Award from Ole Bull Academy Voss, Norway
1998 Master Folk Artist Award from Minnesota State Arts Board
2002 St. Olav's Medal from King Harald V of Norway
Discography
Hardanger Fiddle
Norwegian-American Music from Minnesota (1987), Minnesota State Arts Board