FIDDLE FEST!!!!

Winifred Horan was born in New York City, New York, to Irish parents and studied piano   (taught by her father, a carpenter and musician) and Irish fiddle, playing at   a young age. She graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston,   Massachusetts, where she studied classical violin, and at the Aspen Music   Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado. She played with multiple orchestras,   including the Boston Pops Orchestra, and with string quartets, before joining   the all-female Celtic music ensemble, "Cherish the Ladies" in 1990.   She co-founded Solas in 1994, performing on fiddle and as a vocalist. On her   participation in Solas and, in particular, touring with the group, Horan   expressed in a 2008 interview: "Traveling the world with Solas has been one   of the best things about being in the band."

Outside   of her work with Solas, Horan was a member of and toured with The Sharon   Shannon Band, and also performed with Irish singer-songwriter Pierce Turner.   She was "featured fiddler" on "When Juniper Sleeps", a   1996 solo album by Séamus Egan, and co-writer of certain tracks for the 1995   film "The Brothers McMullen". She is also a nine-time champion   Irish stepdancer and an All-Ireland fiddle champion, having won an   All-Ireland Junior Championship at age eleven. In a December 2001 interview,   Horan identified Liz Carroll, Seamus Egan, and Sharon Shannon as her top   musical influences.

Horan   released her first solo album, "Just One Wish", in October 2002 on   Shanachie Records. In 2006, she and fellow Solas member Mick McAuley, an   accordionist, released "Serenade" on Compass Records, with covers   of "After the Gold Rush" by Neil Young and "Make You Feel My   Love" by Bob Dylan. Siobhán Long, writing for The Irish Times, listed   "Serenade" as fifth on her list of top five Irish traditional music   albums released in 2006. Horan composed two of the album's tracks:   "Little Mona Lisa" and "A Daisy in December", which was   featured during the third season of the American reality television   competitive dance series "So You Think You Can Dance".

Horan lives in Dover, New Hampshire and is currently a member of the faculty of The New England Conservatory.

Such is the versatility of the   Consort that not only make that work, but they pull it off with style. This unique violin octet performs on eight scaled violins from the tiny treble   violin, tuned one octave above the standard violin, to the large bass violin,   tuned one octave lower than a cello. That broad palette of instruments helps   the ensemble produce an astonishing range of sounds.

With performances in Corona   del Mar and Encinitas,   this program is sure to please the whole family. Don´t miss it!