Kevin Long (with guitar)
Tommy Kochel (with mandolin)
Victoria Visceglia (with silver flute)
[Photo by Nancy Pearce]

The Knotwork Band

     Celtic knotwork is an art form particular to the ancient peoples of Ireland and Scotland (highly influenced by the vikings) wherein cords or lines are woven into intricate patterns and highly stylized designs.  Like Celtic knotwork, our music is an intricate whole formed by simple individual lines.  In The Knotwork Band, the talents of the band members are interwoven to form each piece of music.

     The Knotwork Band is a trio that performs Celtic folk music from Ireland, Scotland, England, and Brittany, as well as American and World music with ties to Celtic folk music, either musically or historically.  The band’s music has the strong influence of such modern groups as The House Band, Lúnasa, Old Blind Dogs, and Silly Wizard (as well as Andy M. Stewart solo). The wide spectrum of musical styles (ranging from beautiful airs and waltzes to sprightly jigs and reels) and the variety of instrumentation (silver flute, high and low whistles, wooden flute and piccolo, guitar, resophonic mandolin, hardanger mandolin, banjo mandolin, cittern, bodhráns, bones, and vocals make The Knotwork Band at home performing at all venues imaginable.

The Knotwork Band at the Lititz Public Library, April 2023 [photos by Nancy Pearce]

Meet the Members of
The Knotwork Band

Victoria Visceglia:
• silver flute & piccolo
• wooden whistles & Irish flute
• sundry percussion & occasional piano
• vocals

Victoria has been in The Knotwork Band since 2017. She also plays her flute with the Central Pennsylvania Symphony and the National Christian Choir (but only in December, when they perform "Celebrate Christmas" in Lancaster). You can find her with any of these groups or gigging at central PA churches.

But the story began in 2003, when Victoria started playing the flute and, before long, resolved to continue for the rest of her life. She studied music education at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA and learned from Damian Bursill-Hall, former co-principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Victoria played in Duquesne’s wind symphony, symphony orchestra, and flute choir. She also premiered several student compositions with ad hoc chamber groups and performed with the Triptych Piano Trio around the city in the summers of 2014 and 2015. After graduating in 2015, Victoria played with the Spring Garden Band, the York College Community Orchestra, and a flute and cello duo, each for a few years.

Within months of joining The Knotwork Band, Victoria began her Master of Arts in Ethnomusicology (the anthropology of music, essentially) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her thesis examined the performance of gospel music at St. Augustine, the "Mother Church" of Black Catholics in Washington, DC, and she graduated in 2019. While at UMD, Victoria presented her research as part of the Smithsonian Year of Music Tuesday Talks, the Annual D.C. History Conference, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, and at Collington, an assisted living community in Bowie, MD.

Victoria currently teaches elementary general music in Carlisle Area School District. Previously, she taught at Helen Thackston Charter School and Deerfield Elementary School in Edgewood, MD. Victoria also served as a graduate teaching assistant during her time at UMD. She has her Level I certification in the Orff-Schulwerk approach.

Outside of performing and teaching, Victoria has worked with several arts organizations, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She also volunteers at the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg and has a freelance writing business.

Kevin Long
• 6- & 12-string guitars
• fretted & fretless bass guitars
• vocals

Kevin started playing guitar at the age of nine, and no one has been able to make him stop. Raised on an eclectic mix of music, almost all styles provide him with musical interest.  While he can play tunes exactly as needed, Kevin especially enjoys jazz or any form of music that enables musicians to listen to each other, improvise, and make new music in a live setting.
Kevin has had the pleasure of playing with a large number of talented musicians in a variety of genres.   After filling in on bass with a two day notice, he has become a regular participant in the Cumberland Valley Sampler. He plays regularly at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Chambersburg, and wherever he is needed.
In addition to guitar, vocals, bass, and mandolin, Kevin does threaten to play keyboard, but this is likely an empty threat.

Tommy Kochel:
• wooden flute & piccolo and high & low whistles;
• cittern and Hardanger-, resonator-, & banjo-mandolins;
• bodhráns & bones;
• vocals;
• original composition and arrangement

     Tommy has been musical throughout his life.  He appeared in a Hempfield High School production of "Bye Bye Birdie" when in third grade and took part in many musicals thereafter.  He took the stage for the lead in "Amahl and the Night Visitors" in seventh grade.  He worked his way up through County, District, and Regional choruses in high school while performing in the Lancaster Opera Workshop's production of "Die Fledermaus."  

     However, Tommy’s life with Celtic folk music began in 1987 in Ireland.  Watching session players in pubs play the bodhrán was fascinating.  When he returned to his senior year of college, he was exposed to the music of Silly Wizard and Andy M. Stewart, and managed to catch Silly Wizard on their final world tour.

     From 1990 to 1992, he performed whistle, mandolin and vocals for two bands he founded: Celtic Chaos and Greengrass Harvest.  He studied guitar under Ged Foley and performed with Ged and with his band, The House Band, on several occasions.  Tommy then became the bodhránist for Ged’s ceilídh dance band, The Deadbeats.  He has appeared on stage as a guest percussionist with Norwegian ex-patriot Lief Sorbye’s Celtic rock band, Tempest, in California and recorded with Crofter’s Heir in Central Pennsylvania.  During his six years living in Northern California, Tommy formed The Knotwork Band, which quickly became the area’s most sought after Celtic folk music act.

     In addition to the wide variety of instruments he plays, Tommy is a trained linguist, and his love of the Irish and Scottish cultures tends to reveal itself when he sings or banters with the audience.  He began playing the Northumbrian smallpipes not long ago - a sound he loved early on from the music of The House Band.  He picked up an interest in playing the hurdy gurdy through listening to Scandinavian folk revival groups like Hedningarna and Hurdy Gurdy.  His current study of the pipes and the gurdy will result in the addition of those distinctive sounds to the band’s audio catalog in the near future.  

     In addition to handling the business end of the band, Tommy arranges the music and writes original Celtic folk songs and tunes.  He currently has nine songs and tunes copyrighted, several of which are currently in the band's canon.  He has taught bodhrán, bones, and whistle in Central Pennsylvania.  In the past, Tommy has performed with many Celtic folk groups in Central Pennsylvania, including Across The Pond.  Tommy is a Professor of English as a Second Language at Harrisburg Area Community College. In his free time away from work and the band, he enjoys preparing his Victorian era magic act, cooking (especially Indian food), knitting Norwegian sweaters, and listening to Prog Rock music.