Solo Fiddles Concert at Birnam Arts

A concert of solo fiddle players (and perhaps a duo too!) featuring Ryan Young; Liam Manion & Jake Paterson; Charlie Walden, Pete Clark; and Cailean McKerron

Ryan Young

2022 MG ALBA Musician of The Year nominee Ryan Young brings new and exciting ideas to traditional Scottish music, receiving international praise for his spell-binding interpretations on the fiddle. His debut album was recorded with four time GRAMMY winner Jesse Lewis and launched at Feakle Traditional Music Festival in County Clare, accompanied by renowned guitarist, Dennis Cahill (Martin Hayes; The Gloaming).

Focussing on traditional Scottish music, Ryan brings new life to very old, often forgotten tunes by playing them in his own unique way. His fiddle playing is brimming with fresh melodic ideas, an uplifting rhythmic drive and a great depth of dynamics and precision. His sound is very distinctive and takes the listener on an emotional and adventurous journey in any performance.

Ryan holds both a first class honours and a Masters degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He was twice a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards and twice a finalist in the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of The Year. He was awarded ‘Up And Coming Artist Of The Year’ at the Scots Trad Awards in 2017, nominated for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018 and awarded Folking.com's Musician Of The Year title, also in 2018.

Pete Clark

Pete is a former tutor on the Scottish Music degree course at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and continues to teach, compose and record.

He directs his own biannual fiddle courses in the village of Birnam, coaches and conducts the Dunkeld & District Strathspey & Reel Society and is co-founder of the annual Niel Gow Festival. Pete has taught and performed in many countries including the USA, Canada and Japan, is visiting lecturer on the fiddle music of Scotland at the University of St Andrews, and writes a regular contribution for “Fiddler Magazine”, published quarterly in the USA.

In 1998, Pete recorded an album in the ballroom of Blair Castle, playing the Niel Gow fiddle which is on display there. In 2017, he made another recording, this time using the fiddle which was Niel Gow’s personal favourite in his later years.

Charlie Walden

We’re delighted to have Charlie Walden visiting from the USA. Charlie grew up listening to and playing traditional mid-western fiddle music. Charlie learned as a teenager at the feet of some of Missouri’s finest old time fiddlers, including Pete McMahan, Taylor McBaine and Cyril Stinnett and was encouraged by countless others. Along the way he developed an interested in Canadian fiddle tunes as the fiddling in the Ottawa Valley is similar in style and shares some common repertoire with Missouri. As such, other important influences through recordings were Graham Townsend, Don Messer and Ned Landry. He is also a big fan of Kenny Baker, Chubby Wise and Joe Meadows where Bluegrass is concerned.

Liam Manion and Jake Paterson

Liam Manion and Jake Paterson are two fiddle players from Perthshire, and both grew up immersed in Scottish and Irish music. They first met in Perth Youth Orchestra in 2014 and have been playing music together ever since. They form two of the four members of the newly formed band, Rohallion. They both studied music at University - Liam completed his studies in 2019 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Jake graduated from Newcastle University in 2020. Liam and Jake form two of the four members of the newly formed band, Rohallion, which plans to debut at the Viru Folk Festival in Estonia later in 2023.