Claudia Edwards

As a fiddler, Claudia uses her background as a classical violinist to support her enthusiastic, energetic approach to Scottish, Irish, American, and Scandinavian traditional music. Prior to moving to Scotland to attend the RCS for her Masters, she studied predominantly 17th and 18th century Scottish dance music (aided by attending the Jink and Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling, and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute). Her final recital at Florida State University featured a unique programme of Beethoven, Amy Beach, William Marshall, Robert Mackintosh, and Niel Gow--a combination which probably hasn't been performed since then.

Since attending the RCS, Claudia's focus has shifted to contemporary trad music and original compositions. In addition, she spent her second year on the Masters course completing and in-depth study on interactive performance and audience participation. The culmination of this study was a final recital that included storytelling and audience reflection, and invited audience members to participate in the music-making by learning a melody and singing along--transforming a solo fiddle performance into a full ensemble experience.