Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

Thursday, March 22rd

7 pm

Reception at 6:30 pm

The Lovatt room

Free tickets available

The Sublette County Library has partnered with the Pinedale Fine Arts Council (PFAC) to present Scottish music legend Alasdair Fraser and his cellist partner Natalie Haas.

Free tickets are available Thursday, March 8th at the Pinedale and Big Piney Libraries. Tickets are available on a first-come, first serve basis until supplies last.

About the duo   |   What the critics are saying   |   Videos & sound clips

About the duo

A former physicist for an oil company, Alasdair Fraser had a definitive moment in his office more than 20 years ago when he realized that he must pursue his childhood love of music. He left his job to explore the traditional ways of the Scottish fiddle. He was teaching a fiddler's workshop when he met then 11 year old Natalie Haas. Fraser was impressed by Haas's ability to adapt to anything he threw at her and they began performing together while she was just a teenager. Haas, now in her twenties and a Juilliard School of Music graduate, has recorded several albums and performs with Fraser regularly.

Alasdair Fraser has released several award winning albums and has been featured on over 100 television and radio shows in the UK, and on several nationally-broadcast programs in the U.S., including CBS Sunday Morning, NPR Morning Edition, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Thistle & Shamrock. Fraser has performed at The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS TV) in honor of fellow Scott actor Sean Connery. Alasdair has also made guest appearances with groups such as The Chieftains and as a featured soloist with Itzhak Perlman at New York's Lincoln Center. His music has appeared in films such as The Last of the Mohicans and Titanic.

In 2004, Alasdair and Natalie’s music was named the Album of the Year by the Scots Trad Music Awards for their Fire & Grace recording. Their recent work, In the Moment has received rave reviews from across the globe.

Visit Alasdair Fraser's website: www.alasdairfraser.com

Natalie Haas is an accomplished musician and teacher, performing with Alasdair in Europe and in the U.S., most notably at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Alasdair Fraser says that she "unleashes textures and deep, powerful rhythms that drive fiddle tunes." Natalie has also recorded and toured with Mark O'Connor as a member of his Appalachia Waltz Trio. Their Crossing Bridges (2004) CD has received rave reviews.

Read about Natalie Haas: www.nataliehaas.com

What the critics are saying

"The musical chemistry between Scottish fiddle legend Alasdair Fraser and young cello ace Natalie Haas is a rare, felicitous thing".

—Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald

"Alasdair Fraser is ... one of the finest fiddle-players Scotland has ever produced."

—Bruce MacWilliam, Scots Magazine

"...Sparky understanding and mutual inspiration make Fraser and Haas such a classy, self-sufficient pairing."

—Rob Adams, Herald Scotland Review

"...The expressive gamut from deep Celtic melancholy to joyful jig, [Alasdair's] fiddle imitations of the bagpipe almost unbelievable, the whole rendered with a humble sincerity, flawless virtuosity and just about the sweetest sound since Fritz Kreisler."
—Bruce Burroughs, Los Angeles Times

"Stating that Alasdair Fraser is a fiddle player is a bit like saying Pavarotti can sing." —Living Tradition

"He's what the music is all about — traditional music as an avenue to your soul, it wakes you up from the inside and gets you in touch with ethnic roots and deeper cultural images."
—Honolulu Star-Bulletin

"[Alasdair Fraser is] the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling..."
—San Francisco Examiner

Videos & sound clips