Catriona Macdonald is a musician and teacher from Shetland and is considered to be one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players.

Background

Macdonald started studying fiddle with Dr

Tom Anderson Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is an American technology entrepreneur and co-founder of the social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe. He was later president of Myspace and a strategic advis ...

MBE in 1981 at age 11 (she considers herself to be a late starter), was a founding member of Shetland's Young Heritage and won the Shetland

Young Fiddler of the Year Shetland's Young Fiddler of the Year is an annual competition held over two days organised by the Shetland Folk Society. It is open to fiddle players 16 or under from Shetland with around 80 entrants each year. The most entries ever received we ...

competition in 1983. In 1992 Macdonald won the BBC Radio Two Young Tradition Award and went on to study voice for four years at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

in London. She lives in Scotland and focuses both on an her international music playing and an academic career . Macdonald is an active teacher with a passion for sharing her knowledge of traditional fiddle techniques and

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

. Professionally she is Head of Music Performance and Degree Program Director for British Folk at Newcastle University as well a Doctoral candidate. Catriona has worked as a tutor and course assessor for the Scottish Music Degree at th
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
in Glasgow, and has taught at Universities in Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Canada and Australia as well as Stirling and Highlands and Islands in Scotland. Catriona regularly tutors at a variety of summer schools and residential courses around the world including "Burwell Bash", "Shetland Fiddle Frenzy", "Folkworks" and "Blazin' in Beauly" (

Blazin' Fiddles Blazin' Fiddles are a contemporary Scottish fiddle band from the Highlands and Islands. They formed in 1998 to showcase Scotland's distinct regional fiddle styles. The band have a number of awards, including; the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards L ...

' own summer school). Catriona tours and performs at many International Festivals such as

Celtic Colours Celtic Colours International Festival is a Celtic music festival held annually in October in communities on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. First held in 1997, the festival has featured musicians from the Celtic world and attracted vi ...

Kaustinen Folk Music Festival Kaustinen Folk Music Festival ( fi, Kaustisen kansanmusiikkijuhlat), celebrated yearly in July in Kaustinen, Finland, is the biggest folk music and dance festival in the Nordic countries. It was first celebrated in 1968. The festival originated in ...

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of tra ...

and many others As well as her own band, Macdonald currently plays with international members of fiddle band

String Sisters String Sisters (or The String Sisters) are a folk supergroup made up of six of the world's leading female fiddlers. History Formation In January 1998 at the world-renowned Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, Scotland, Shetland fiddler Catrio ...

(

Annbjørg Lien Annbjørg Lien (born 15 October 1971) is a Norwegian musician, playing the hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle), violin, and nyckelharpa. Career She first came to national prominence in 1986. Shortly afterwards got a recording deal with the Heilo ...

, Liz Knowles

Liz Carroll Liz Carroll (born September 19, 1956) is an American fiddler and composer. She is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship Award. Carroll and collaborator Irish guitarist John Doyle were nominated for a ...

Emma Härdelin Emma Härdelin (born 26 September 1975) is a Swedish musician. She is a violinist and lead singer in folk-rock band Garmarna,Dupont, Linn.Tystnaden gav Garmarna ett nytt sound (in Swedish), Helsingborgs Dagblad, November 27, 2017. which she joi ...

and

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (; born 26 July 1959) is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish folk music band Altan, which she co-founded with her late husband Frankie Kennedy in 1987. Today, Mairéad is recognised as a leading exponen ...

) as well as touring in duo with

and also Timo Alakotila. She has been a member of The Unusual Suspects and was a member of Scottish fiddle band

until 2011.

Discography

Solo albums

* 2000 — Bold * 2007 — Over the Moon

Groups and collaborations

* 1994 Opus Blue (with Ian Lowthian) * 1998 Hodden Grey Ian Bruce * 2001 A Shot at Glory soundtrack (with Mark Knopfler) * 2004 The Old Style (Blazin Fiddles) * 2005 Magnificent Seven (Blazin Fiddles) * 2005 Live in Scotland The Unusual Suspects * 2006 Strange But True Kathryn Tickell * 2007 Blazin' Fiddles Live (Blazin Fiddles) * 2007 Live - String Sisters * 2008 Stramash Colin Steele * 2010 Big Like This The Unusual Suspects * 2011 Thursday Night in the Caley (Blazin Fiddles) * 2013 Vamm (Vamm - Patsy Reid, Catriona Macdonald and Marit Fält) * 2017. Between Wind and Water (String Sisters)

Awards

1992 BBC Radio Two Young Tradition Award for Best Musician in Britain Polls 2001 "Top 5 World Music Albums of the Year" fRoots Magazine 2001 "Top 10 Folk Albums of the Year 2000" MOJO Magazine 2001 (Folk Album of the Month, April 2000) MOJO Magazine 2001 Recognised artist "Album of the Year and Musician of the Year" BBC2 Folk Awards 2001 (Included in the released compilation cd The Folk Awards on Topic records) "Scottish Folk Album of the Year" CD NOW Scottish Traditional Music Awards' 2004 Live Band (Blazin Fiddles) 2005 Album of the Year (Blazin Fiddles)

References

External links

Official MySpace page

Catriona Macdonald profile
at

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Catriona People from Shetland Scottish folk musicians Shetland music Shetland fiddlers Living people Blazin' Fiddles members String Sisters members 21st-century violinists Year of birth missing (living people)