Natalie MacMaster picked up a fiddle at age nine and never looked back. She’s passionate about what she does and it shows. Known worldwide for taking Celtic music to new heights, MacMaster brings her feverish fiddling to DeVos Performance Hall for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Fox Motors Pops Series concerts March 20, March 21 at 8 p.m. and March 22 at 3 p.m. The concerts are led by Associate Conductor John Varineau.
Adept at setting the house on fire with her exceptional talent, when she appears with a top-notch orchestra, such as the Grand Rapids Symphony, two musical worlds converge and the music undergoes a breathtaking metamorphosis. Her fiddling fireworks on traditional and contemporary Celtic melodies, combined with the silky string sections of the Symphony, generate a fusion delivered with ferocious energy felt by the musicians and audience alike.
This eclectic concert program includes selections from MacMaster’s extensive canon of fiddle tunes including evocative ballads, fiery jigs, quieter waltzes and contemporary tunes. A talented dancer, she also delights audience members with her step dancing. Two duet pieces on the program feature MacMaster playing with Symphony concertmaster James Crawford and the Symphony will be showcased during four Celtic-inspired selections.
You might say the music is in her blood. She’s the niece of famed Canadian fiddler Buddy MacMaster and the two recorded an album together in 2005. Constantly in demand, she’s appeared with dozens of major symphony orchestras throughout the world and collaborated with popular artists, among them Carlos Santana, The Chieftains, Paul Simon, Luciano Pavarotti, Alison Krauss and Mark O'Connor.
After winning numerous East Coast Music Awards for her early traditional recordings, she began taking Celtic music to new audiences with albums like “In My Hands,” which featured elements of jazz, Latin music and guest vocals by Alison Krauss. She’s recorded and released seven albums and received both a Grammy nomination and Juno Award for Best Instrumental Album for “My Roots Are Showing,” another Juno Award for Best Instrumental Album for “In My Hands” and several Canadian Country Music Awards for Fiddler of the Year. Two of her CD’s have charted on Billboard’s Top 20 Selling World Music charts and four have been certified ‘gold’ (50,000 + sales) in Canada.
Natalie has also performed on ABC Television’s New Year’s Eve broadcast at the special request of one of her greatest fans, the late Peter Jennings, also a native of Canada.
Tickets start at $18 and can be purchased by phone through Ticketmaster at 1-800-982-2787, online at ticketmaster.com, in person at the Symphony office or any Ticketmaster outlet. For more information online visit grsymphony.org.
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