Laura Risk is a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-born

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist. She specializes in performing and teaching the diverse

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

repertoire of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Risk performs both solo and in collaboration with such artists as

Sandy Silva Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

, Ken Kolodner, and Paddy League. She has been part of the band Cordelia's Dad. In addition to performing, Risk was a music instructor at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in

Applied Math Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical ...

from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. In 2006 she joined with Kieran Jordan and Paddy League to form the band "Tritych". Their eponymous album was released in 2011.

Discography

Solo recordings

* ''Two Thousand Miles'' (RISK0401) with Eric Beaudry (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

), Rachel Aucoin (

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

), Michel Donato ( bass), Eric Breton (

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

) * ''The Merry Making'' (Dorian 90282) with Susie Petrov (piano), Dennis Cahill (guitar), Christopher Layer (

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

and

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

), Brian Melick (percussion) * ''Celtic Dialogue'' (Dorian 90264) with Jacqueline Schwab (piano) (Top 10 CDs of 1999—The Boston Globe)

In collaboration with Ken Kolodner

* ''A Roof for the Rain'' (Dorian 90295) with Keith Murphy (guitar) and Joseph Sobol (guitar and cittern) * ''Greenfire'' (Dorian 90265) with Robin Bullock (guitar, piano, cittern) * ''Walking Stones'' (Dorian 90248) with Robin Bullock (guitar, piano, cittern) (Top 15 Bestsellers—BMG Record Club) (Allegro Corporation's #1 World Music Title)

With other bands

* ''Journey Begun'', Laura Risk and Athena Tergis (Culburnie 105) with Steve Baughman (guitar), Peter Maund (percussion), Pat Klobas (bass); produced by

Alasdair Fraser Alasdair Fraser (born 14 May 1955, Clackmannan, Scotland) is a Scottish fiddler, composer, performer and recording artist. Fraser operates Culburnie Records and is a leading artist on the label. He has founded five summer fiddling programs: ...

* ''Spine'', Cordelia's Dad (Appleseed 1023) with Tim Eriksen (vocals, guitar), Cath Oss (vocals, lap dulcimer and accordion) Peter Irvine (vocals and percussion); produced by

Steve Albini Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...

* ''Host of the Air: Contemporary Music for Scottish Country Dancing'' with Susie Petrov (

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

), James Gray (piano)

Recordings produced by Laura Risk

* ''Some Melodious Sonnet'',

Hanneke Cassel Hanneke Cassel (born April 14, 1978) is an American folk violinist. She was raised in Oregon and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at Berklee College of Music in 2000. Hanneke is the 1997 United States National Scottish Fid ...

(Cassel Records 2004) * ''

My Joy ''My Joy'' (russian: Счастье моё) is a 2010 internationally co-produced Russian-language road film directed by Sergei Loznitsa. It is set in the western regions of Russia, somewhere near Smolensk. ''My Joy'' was the first Ukrainian fi ...

'', Hanneke Cassel (Cassel Records 2001)

Guest appearances

* ''Petit Fou'', Matapat (Borealis 113) * ''The Honey on the Mountain'', Rob Laurens (Attic Light 339-002) * ''

'', Hanneke Cassel (Cassel Records 2001) * ''Different Game'', Lissa Schneckenberger (Footprint Records)

Compilations

* ''The Road from Erin: Ireland's Musical Legacy'', (Dorian 90021) various artists * ''Commuter Classics: Drive Time A.M.'' (Dorian 90018) various artists * ''Visions of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

: Transcriptions and arrangements inspired by Bach'' (Dorian 90016), various artists * ''Christmas Gift'' (Dorian 90321), various artists

Books

* ''Fiddler Magazine's Favorites: Tunes from and Interviews with 36 of the World's Greatest Fiddlers'' (book and CD set), various artists

References

External links

Laura Risk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Risk, Laura Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American fiddlers 21st-century violinists