Join us for a rousing evening of fiddle magic steeped in talent and tradition: the 27th annual Freight Fiddle Summit. You’ll be in excellent company with host Alasdair Fraser & cellist Natalie Haas, Swedish fiddler Anders Hall, Adam Johansson, tambourine wizard Jens Linell, Dublin fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, singer and composer Moira Smiley, cello master Rushad Eggleston, and dancer extraordinaire Nic Gareiss.
Scots Magazine has called Alasdair “one of the finest fiddle players Scotland has ever produced; his name is synonymous with the vibrant cultural renaissance transforming the Scottish musical scene.” His richly expressive playing transports listeners across a broad musical landscape including haunting laments drawn from the Gaelic tradition, classically styled airs, and raucous dance tunes, all delivered with sincerity, flawless virtuosity, and the sweetest of sounds.
Natalie, a Juilliard graduate, is one of the most sought-after cellists playing traditional music today. She’s toured with Mark O’Connor as a member of his Appalachia Waltz Trio and played as a guest artist on over 50 albums, including those of Irish super-group Solas. Alasdair and Natalie have recorded four scintillating albums together, including their latest, Abundance.
Anders comes from Arbrå, Hälsingland in Sweden and plays fiddle, viola, and Hardanger fiddle. He has worked with such artists as SVER, Taus, and Sigrid Moldestad, and co-founded Nordic Fiddlers Bloc. His music melds the traditions of Sweden, Norway, and Shetland with his own innovative ideas.
Adam plays guitar with the folk group Firil, which interprets the traditional folk music of the Hallingdal region of Norway. He plays with a light and distinctive touch that accentuates the freshness of the music.
Jens plays tambourine, drums, and old suitcase for the rollicking Swedish and Norwegian folk band SVER. He, Adam, and Anders are all featured on the band’s latest album, Fryd.
Caoimhín plays traditional and contemporary folk music on Hardanger d’Amore and other fiddles in duos with Kerry accordion player Brendan Begley, Dublin uilleann piper Mick O’Brien, and composer Dan Trueman, in a trio with Martin Hayes and Peadar Ó Riada, and in the groups The Gloaming and This Is How We Fly. His original compositions explore the territory where tradition ends and something entirely new begins.
Moira Smiley is a singer and composer who creates and performs new work for voices. A musical polyglot, and vocal shape-shifter, her music is heard on feature films, BBC & PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 60 albums. When she’s not leading her own group, moira smiley & VOCO, Moira tours with Indie artist tUnE-yArDs, Irish music powerhouse, Solas, The Lomax Project and Billy Child’s “Laura Nyro Re-Imagined”. Moira’s recordings feature spare, vocally driven collections of warped traditional songs, original polyphony and body percussion. In addition to her performing work, she is in high demand as a choral clinician, composer and arranger.
Rushad Eggleston is a cello whisperer—he communes with the instrument and follows where it leads. It’s anyone’s guess what may happen when he takes the stage, but you can always count on fabulously inventive, supremely virtuosic, endlessly surprising music. Rushad has played with Fiddlers 4, Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, the beloved folk/bluegrass group Crooked Still, and his current group, the rocking ensemble Tornado Rider.
Michigan native Nic Gareiss is, according to the Irish Times, “the human epitome of the unbearable lightness of being,” and “more fleet of foot than an Olympian sprinter and more buoyant than a helium-filled balloon”—his “freeform flight is inevitable.” Which is to say he dances with 4TET, This Is How We Fly, and in a duo with Scottish harpist Maeve Gilchrist.
