Mariel Vandersteel (’19)
Mariel Vandersteel is a musician, educator, graphic designer, and visual artist living in Boston, Massachusetts. Since graduating from the Berklee College of Music, Mariel has established herself as a folk musician of multiple styles and recorded her first solo album, Hickory. She lived in Norway while studying the hardingfele, and has performed nationally and internationally with Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards. In 2014 and 2016, they were selected by the U.S. State Department and American Music Abroad to tour as musical and cultural ambassadors to perform, collaborate with local musicians, and give workshops in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, Bangladesh, Estonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, and Greece. Mariel’s interest in world culture and hand-crafted folk art, along with obsessing over the process of watching Hickory’s artwork come to life, has led to an interest in graphic design. She has worked with several New England-area musicians and music venues on CD design, posters, and other promotional material. Mariel has performed and taught nationally and internationally with Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards, Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers, the Three Irish Tenors, Emma Beaton, Annalivia, and Putnam Smith. She has participated in the Savannah Music Festival’s first Acoustic Music Seminar, working with artists Zakir Hussein, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, Tony Trischka, and Chris Thile. In the fall of 2016, she will begin a Master’s degree in arts administration at Boston University.
I am thrilled to be joining Boston University’s Arts Administration program this fall! BU’s program stood out to me for a number of reasons, including their unique study abroad opportunities, as well as welcoming musicians and artists to be a part of the program while continuing to practice their craft. Music, connection, culture and community are my passions. After completing BU’s program, I hope to create an organization that connects musicians on an international level to engage in a cross-cultural musical collaboration.