Shows
Masters of the Fiddle Concert
Featuring fiddlers Alistair McCulloch, Scotland, and Catherine Fraser, Australia, with USA cellist Renata Bratt, and pianist Duncan Smith. Fresh off the back of teaching and performing at the Southern Hemisphere International School of Scottish Fiddle (www.shissf.com), these four outstanding international musicians will present a diverse and vibrant programme of Celtic fiddle repertoire from Scotland and beyond. In Adelaide for one show only, don't miss this unique opportunity to see a truly extraordinary concert!
Alistair McCulloch
Former national fiddle champion Alistair McCulloch, is one of the busiest and best-known fiddlers in Scotland, in constant demand as a performer, teacher, adjudicator and composer. He studied music at the University of Strathclyde where he graduated with first class honours, and was a soloist with the renowned Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, with which he performed in some of the UK 's major concert halls. He works widely as a session musician having performed, toured and recorded with many Scottish artists. To date, Alistair has appeared on 35 commercial albums and regularly broadcasts for the BBC. Alistair also leads the band 'Coila', has toured extensively, and is a renowned composer; his first book of compositions 'The Alistair McCulloch Collection' was recently reprinted. Alistair's teaching roles include being Scots Fiddle tutor at both the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and the University of Strathclyde and musical director of the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra and the sensational young string group, Innovation.
Catherine Fraser, Australia
Scots/Australian fiddler Catherine Fraser is a world-class performer and teacher who presents the music of her heritage with finesse, passion and sensitivity. Constantly in demand for concerts and workshops and acknowledged for her ability to combine a high level of technical skill with a rare depth of emotional expression, Catherine has gained the respect of audiences and students alike. She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including Open Fiddle Champion, Kirriemuir, Scotland, and the South Australian Music Industry Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Folk Music. Most recently she won the Golden Fiddle Award for Best Fiddler as Soloist, Australasia 2010.
Performances include concert tours in the UK, Canada, North America, New Zealand, Germany, and Australia. Her teaching credits include the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp USA, the Boston Harbor Fiddle School, USA (three times, including Music Director in 2013), The Scots Fiddle Festival, Edinburgh, and the 2006 and 2009 Australian National String Teachers Conference. She has released six albums; her most recent, Rhymes & Reasons was praised by reviewers in Australia, the USA and Scotland, and named as one of FolkWorld Europe's Top 10 recordings.
Renata Bratt, USA
Cellist Renata Bratt tours with Reel of 7, New Almaden Trio and rocker Cindy Lee Berryhill, performs weekly in a church jazz and gospel band, teaches cello, chamber music (including small combos) and beginning string orchestra in Santa Cruz, California and is a founding member of the ASTA Alternative Styles Advisory Committee. She is the 2012 and 2013 Kuumbwa Jazz Artist in Residence, writes books for Mel Bay as well as jazz, fiddle and rock string orchestra, quintet and quartet arrangements for Alfred Publishing and String Letter Publishing in her spare time. With a thriving career in classical music performing with symphony orchestras and chamber music groups she turned to jazz, fiddling and bluegrass music in the late eighties. She has taught classical styles, jazz improvisation and fiddling at national string workshops, camps and clinics in the USA and New Zealand, and has performed with luminaries such as Liz Carroll and John Doyle, Darol Anger and Alasdair Fraser and played back-up with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, David Sanborn, Lyle Lovett, and Dionne Warwick. Her original CDs, "A Slice of Summer" "Great Big Taters" and "Jazz Trio 2006" are available through CD Baby.
Duncan Smith is known as a performer and teacher of Scottish music and dance throughout Australia and New Zealand, and across North America. A multi-instrumentalist and singer, he has performed in a wide range of musical styles including medieval and renaissance acapella vocal music, baroque chamber music, rock and roll, jazz and bluegrass. Duncan began playing piano in the Scottish idiom in 1980. In recent years he has specialised as an accompanist and teacher of accompaniment for Scottish music and dance. Since starting to work with Catherine Fraser in 2001, he has developed a unique improvisational approach, fusing multiple musical styles to create a sensitive and imaginative backdrop for the rich emotional range of the Scottish fiddle repertoire. Duncan has taught accompaniment workshops and residential courses in Scotland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, helping participants explore the interplay of rhythm, harmony, mood, and story as they develop and refine their own personal style of accompaniment.
