Get ready to stomp your feet, laugh, cry, and hear sounds you’ve never heard before with this electrifying and genre-defying chamber-folk band. Wielding a sound that could turn classical music scholars to stone, these four folk innovators are reimagining the Western string quartet. Medusa Quartet cross-pollinates traditional music from around the world with original tunes, classical pieces, engaging stories, and their one-of-a-kind stringed instruments to create a “must-see live show!” (Sam Boer, Exclaim!).

Medusa Quartet is truly unique in Canada, distinguished by its rare and compelling combination of instruments. Marta Sołek plays the Bilgoray Suka and the Płock Fidel from Poland, instruments that were made completely extinct and reconstructed in 1980 based on paintings from the 19th century. There are less than 50 people in the whole world that know how to play these instruments. Saskia Tomkins plays the Nyckelharpa from Sweden, a medieval-age fiddle that almost died out in the 20th century, but was resurrected by Erik Sahlström in the 1960’s. There is no other group in the country, and likely the world, that blends the sounds of these particular instruments together.

By inviting back voices previously regarded as too ugly for “polite society,” Medusa tempts us to redefine what is beautiful. One of the most misunderstood figures in ancient mythology, Medusa was wrongfully punished and cast out for being the victim of a violent act, but is remembered solely for her frightful ugliness and lithifying gaze. As a band made up of female, 2SLGBTQ, BIPOC, immigrant, and neurodiverse artists, they resonate with Medusa’s story and hope to amplify the voices of these communities.

With their debut EP, nominated for a 2024 Canadian Folk Music Award, Medusa harnesses the sounds of Middle Eastern, Scandinavian, Celtic, Appalachian, Classical and Eastern European music, as well as original compositions, to create something previously unheard. With this debut release, they connect audiences across dividing lines of culture and identity to reveal the common threads beneath. In the last several years they have toured across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, including shows at Roy Thomson Hall, Calgary Folk Festival, Hugh’s Room Live, Calliope House, the Rogue Folk Club, and many more. Their music has been featured numerous times on CBC, CKUA, and Polish National Radio, and their EP was featured as one of Roots Music Canada’s favorite new discoveries of 2023.

As individuals and as a group, Medusa Quartet has extensive experience teaching children and adults of all ages. They teach individual lessons, group workshops, and community events across Canada, the US and the UK and are in demand as instructors and guest clinicians for festivals, schools, fiddle orchestras, camps, residencies, and events.

Medusa’s first full-length album, “Weaving Gold in Broken Places,” will be released in February 2026 and they will be embarking on a release tour of Canada, the US, and Europe.

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Individual Biographies

Marta Sołek (she/her) is a multi-instrumentalist from Poland. She was essential in the creation of a folk music revival program at the Krakow Academy of Music, which allowed her to be the first musician in the world to hold a master’s degree in the Suka from Bilgoray and Płock fiddle, alongside classical cello. She was a part of the restoration of these unique traditional Polish instruments from the 17th century, and flew to Pakistan to study with sarangi masters in order to revive a lost fingernail technique needed to play these instruments.

Marta has performed all over the world with classical orchestras, jazz, pop, rock and world music bands. She has recorded 14 CD’s in total, as well as music for TV shows, games, and theater. She is the winner of several awards and grants including a grant from the Ministry of Culture of Poland, the Fryderyk (the Polish JUNO Award) for the best debut jazz album of the year (2015), and the best jazz album of the year with Nikola Kolodziejczyk (2016). She has also won several awards at “Nowa Tradycja” and ”Mikolajki Folkowe”, Polish Folk Festivals.

She was part of the band Same Suki and founded the knee-fiddle duo InFidelis, whose Projekt Kolberg CD was awarded a full 5 stars in Songlines Magazine. She currently performs and tours with Labyrinth Ensemble, Polky, Moskitto Bar, KUNE Global Orchestra, and Meesha Shafi. She was the winner of the Orillia & District Art Council Emerging Artist Award in 2020 and received 4 Canadian Folk Music awards nominations for Polky and Medusa Quartet.

Marta has a degree in teaching, psychology and pedagogy from the Music Academy in Krakow, Poland. She has over 15 years of experience teaching in Europe and Canada, giving workshops in classical and world music, and currently teaches cello at the Orillia Music Centre, Ontario. She is committed to raising awareness about these rare forgotten fiddles.

Saskia Tomkins (she/her) is a multi-instrumentalist (Nyckelharpa, Violin, Viola), a master educator, fiddle innovator, and a composer. Born in the UK, she is classically trained with a folk background and an Honours B.A. in Music (Jazz). She is an All-Britain Champion Irish Fiddler, and in 2022 received an award for services to Irish Music in Canada. She is also a member of multiple JUNO-nominee global roots band the Sultans of String.

Saskia was the official Artist in Residence in 2022 with Folk Alliance International, and is currently Artist in Residence with British-based organization The Mixed Museum, which works to preserve and share the social history of racial mixing of Black and ethnic minorities for future generations.

Over the years, Saskia has worked with many acclaimed musicians, including: The Chieftains, Sultans of String, Jabbour, Uriah Heep, Ken Whiteley, Jimmy Bowskill, Ron Korb, David Newland, Donald Quan, Lotus Wight, her husband Steáfán Hannigan and son Oisín Hannigan, and numerous others.

Her theater work includes spending two years working closely with the composer and music director of the Broadway hit “Come From Away”, as a special consultant, to ensure the Celtic roots and traditions were communicated in an authentic way through the score. She has also worked with The English Shakespeare Company and Michael Bogdanov, 4th Line Theatre in Ontario, and Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London UK.

Saskia’s current personal projects include Sultans of String, Steáfán & Saskia, Medusa Quartet, 2ish, Cáirdeas, and Marsala and the Imports. Saskia is principal 2nd violin for Quinte Symphony, and is in high demand as an educator, including at El Sistema Peterborough, Jenny Whiteley’s Old Time Camp, Lakefield Music Camp, and Goderich Celtic College.

Lea Kirstein (they/she) is a multi-instrumentalist (fiddle / violin, viola, and cello), educator, and concert presenter based in Toronto, Ontario. They grew up in Victoria, BC, immersed in many different traditional and contemporary fiddle styles, studying with Daniel Lapp, and Oliver Schroer while in the national youth fiddle project, the Twisted String, and went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education. Collaborations with other musicians have led them on tours across Canada, the US, and Europe, with: Medusa, iskwē, Citizen Jane, Roaring Timber, the Folk Arts Quartet, and Balfolk Toronto.

They have recorded with JUNO nominees Teresa Doyle, Leif Vollebekk, and with Nuala Kennedy, and currently freelance in the Toronto music scene with new classical, jazz, pop, singer-songwriter, and folk music groups, including Medusa Quartet, Polky, and Erik Bleich.

Lea is the current Artistic Director of World on a String, a Toronto-based Folk Fiddle Collective and Music School, presenting concerts, jams, and group classes for fiddlers of all ages. WOS puts focus on traditional folk tunes from around the world, facilitating workshop connections with experts in their respective traditions.

Lea is in demand as a workshop clinician, arranger, and classroom teacher, in communities ranging from the Yukon to Halifax and the U.S., most notably: Bulkley Valley Youth Fiddlers, Bad to the Bow Youth Fiddle Groups, AlgomaTrad, World Fiddle Day Toronto, Vancouver CeltFest.

Georgia Hathaway (they/them) is a Toronto-based violinist, fiddler, songwriter/composer, and educator with over 30 years of training. They grew up learning both classical violin from the Suzuki Method, and Celtic and Canadian fiddle with Oliver Schroer, Anne Lederman, and Emilyn Stam. In 2011, their passion and interest in global roots music led them to study abroad at the Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar, Tanzania, with violinist Mohammed Issa Matona. They have continued to study Arabic and Turkish music for the past ten years, learning from renowned Egyptian violinist Alfred Gamil, and have toured across Canada with the Canadian Arabic Orchestra, including performances with the acclaimed Oud player Naseer Shamma.

Always fascinated by the connections between musical traditions, Georgia has also studied Eastern European, Balkan, and Klezmer music since 2015 and has been a member of several bands in Toronto, including the CFMA-award-winning Polky and Queen Kong. Several of their arrangements, and one of their original compositions, “Under my Skin,” were featured in Polky’s debut album Songs from Home.

Georgia has recorded and shared the stage with JUNO nominees and award-winners such as Leif Vollebekk, Sultans of String, Susie Vinnick, and Lemon Bucket Orchestra, and guested with the hit international roots band The Turbans. They have composed for and performed in award-winning stage productions at the Toronto Fringe Festival and the Festival de Circo in Mazunte, Mexico.

Georgia teaches fiddle and violin from their home studio and has taught at the Suzuki Summer Music Camp, Strings Across the Sky, and the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music. They are also a singer-songwriter in the blues and folk traditions, and they hold a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and a Master’s in Psychology.