Fiddler Bonnie Rideout to Rant at Paramount

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

October 6 , 2006

With a unique style of Scottish fiddling and a vast array of traditional Scottish dance tunes, Highlands bagpipe music, and ancient Gaelic melodies, Bonnie Rideout has charmed audiences worldwide as she shares the rich musical tradition of her heritage.  Rideout will be in full and spirited Scottish rant mode when she is joined by her trio ensemble -- John Doyle, guitar; Matthew Bell, percussion; and Jerry O’Sullivan, pipes -- and the musicians of the City of Washington Pipe Band for a Paramount Theater concert on Saturday, October 21 at 8 pm.  

This event is sponsored by Renee and John Grisham.

The only American to have the honor of representing Scottish fiddle music at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival, Bonnie Rideout is the first woman to hold the national Scottish fiddle title.  She is also the youngest to have garnered the US Championship, which she won for three consecutive years.  While her competition days quickly segued into a career as an adjudicator and professional recording artist, Rideout has maintained a consistently high profile in the international Celtic music scene for over twenty years.   She has appeared on stages from Scotland to the Kennedy Center, and been featured on the BBC, CBS News Sunday Morning, and NPR’s Performance Today, Morning Edition, and The Thistle and Shamrock. 

Rideout has recorded over a dozen solo albums and appeared as a guest musician on as many more.  Her CD A Scottish Christmas became a New York Times “Top Ten Holiday Best Seller” and is now a successful touring show already booked into 2008.  Her popular recording Gi’Me Elbow Room received the coveted “Parent’s Choice Gold Award.”  Rideout has received two Grammy nominations, and was recently chosen by Mel Bay Publishing Company as one of America’s most influential traditional fiddlers.

Born in Dublin, John Doyle has combined the influences of his extended family of musicians and singers into a deeply traditional, yet modern, style. A founding member of the Grammy-nominated Solas, he has performed to sold-out audiences nationally and internationally and appeared on NBC’s The Today Show and various NPR/PRI programs including A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, E-Town, and World Café.  Highly sought-after as a studio and touring musician, he has recorded and/or performed with a virtual “who’s who” of musicians of Celtic and other genres, including Béla Fleck, Iris DeMent, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, The Chieftains, Donal Lunny, Sharon Shannon, and Paul Winter.  His solo recordings include the albums Evening Comes Early and Wayward Son.

Percussionist Matthew Bell is known for his versatility and varied sonic palette.  Previously, Bell was a member of the Army’s 3d United States Infantry (The Old Guard) Fife and Drum Corps, and played with the City of Washington Pipe Band.  As a Professional Class Pipe Band Snare Drummer, he has won prizes throughout North America, and is in demand both as a private teacher and as a clinician in the metro Washington, DC area.

Jerry O’Sullivan has been widely hailed as America’s premier uilleann piper.  His reputation for technical and melodic mastery of the instrument, an Irish bagpipe known for its subtlety and expression, is unsurpassed in the United States and is demanding considerable attention overseas.  He is also widely recorded on the Irish flute, the tin whistle, the low whistle, the Highland bagpipes, and the Scottish smallpipes.  O’Sullivan has appeared on more than 90 albums and performed or recorded with artists including John Williams and The Boston Pops, Don Henley, James Galway, Dolly Parton, and Eileen Ivers.   His solo albums include The Gift, The Invasion, and O’Sullivan Meets O’Farrell. 

The City of Washington Pipe Band has been one of the finest pipe bands in North America for over 30 years.  In August of 1999, the band won First Prize in the World Pipe Band Championships and the World Drum Corps Championship in Glasgow, Scotland.  The Band draws its roots from the U.S. Air Force Naval Pipe band, whose mix of American rudimentary-style drumming and traditional Scottish piping in the late 1960s had a strong influence on the young piping and drumming students who became the core of the City of Washington.  The Band has performed on National Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, for Presidents of both parties, and for audiences at the Kennedy Center and the National Geographic Explorers’ Hall.  The Band consistently appears at major North American Highland Games and Gatherings, winning praise and applause for their high-energy performances.

With jigs, reels, hornpipes, and more, this collaboration of high-powered musicians will result in an all-out, non-stop energetic performance.  Seats for the October 21 concert are $45, $40, $37, and $34.    Tickets and further details are available online, or through The Paramount's Box Office at 434.979.1333.

 For more information about Bonnie Rideout, please visit www.bonnierideout.com.