Project resonance

Project Resonance is a multifaceted collaborative endeavor between contemporary music specialists Bergamot Quartet and composer/fiddler Dan Trueman, with the Hardanger fiddle music of Norway at its center. Bergamot Quartet plays a set of four Hardanger instruments made by Lynn Berg, one of the only sets of its kind in the world. Under the auspices of Project Resonance, Bergamot and Trueman are creating new repertoire for the quartet of instruments, working with both traditional tunes and experimental/modern musical language, as well as recording, touring, commissioning, and providing a variety of educational opportunities. “Resonance” speaks not only to the five sympathetic strings on each Hardanger instrument which give them their unique sound, but to Trueman and Bergamot’s pursuit of discovering the ways in which the project can resonate across folk traditions, modes of performing, and beyond. 

The collaboration began in 2022 as a set of music entitled “Cross-Quartets” which Trueman composed for Bergamot playing their standard classical instruments in a series of scordatura, or cross-tunings, inspired by Norwegian folk music. The set quickly grew to include “Cross-Quintets” with Trueman joining Bergamot on Hardanger fiddle and Hardanger d’Amore, as well as sextets with Logan Coale on bass; this music is set to be released in late 2025 as an album titled “Memory Field”. In 2023, Bergamot and Trueman’s collaboration continued with the support of a grant from Chamber Music America. Bergamot’s dreams were fulfilled in 2024 when they learned that Lynn Berg would be donating his set of Hardanger instruments to Princeton University and that Bergamot would be given permission to play them on long-term loan. Project Resonance was officially launched in March 2025 with an event in NYC sponsored by MATA (Music at the Anthology), which coupled premieres of music by Dan Trueman with a public workshop of brand-new music by composers across the country who had submitted sketches to Bergamot. Trueman and Bergamot expanded Project Resonance as faculty at the contemporary music festival New Music On the Point in June 2025, where Bergamot workshopped and performed pieces written by students with the mentorship of Trueman. Since then, Bergamot has been workshopping both traditional tunes and new, more experimental music with Trueman as mentor and composer/arranger, and has performed on their Hardanger quartet across the East Coast. Future plans include a graduate seminar in Fall 2026 at Princeton University, led by Trueman with Bergamot as artist collaborators. The seminar will focus on composing for any and all of the quartet’s instruments (Hardanger quartet, Hardanger d’Amore quartet, and standard string quartet), and will culminate in multiple performances as part of the renowned Princeton Sound Kitchen concert series.

Hardanger d’Amore Quartet

Project Resonance’s next phase, the creation of a Hardanger d’Amore quartet, is currently in development. Bergamot and Trueman have deep relationships with two esteemed luthiers, the Norwegian luthier Salve Håkedal (who created the first Hardanger d’Amore in collaboration with Trueman) and the American luthier David Finck (maker of Ledah’s violin and Irène’s cello, and father of Ledah). Håkedal and Finck are currently in the workshop crafting the instruments for the Hardanger d’Amore quartet, with the completion of the set planned for May 2026. This quartet will be the first and only one of its kind and will include the first ever 5-string Hardanger d’Amore cello. These instruments will be tuned lower than the traditional high-pitched Hardanger fiddle and offer a range of new expression and compositional possibilities, including enormous flexibility with scordatura. The Hardanger d’Amore quartet will greatly expand the scope of Project Resonance for creating repertoire, recording, touring, commissioning, and educating.