Fiddle & Melody Program

Alasdair White is an exceptional exponent of west coast Scottish music and is widely regarded as one of the foremost Scottish fiddler players of his generation. He was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, a chain of islands of singular importance to Gaelic Scotland’s musical heritage and is perhaps best known as having been a member of Scotland’s seminal Battlefield Band for over 16 years, touring extensively in that time throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Now resident in New York, Alasdair has performed and recorded as a guest with many of the best-known names in Scottish, Irish and Breton traditional music including Kathleen MacInnis, Julie Fowlis, Eddie Reader, Allan MacDonald, Manus Lunny, Nuala Kennedy, and Arnaud Ciapolino. Current ongoing projects include Daimh, the Alan Kelly Gang and of course, Battlefield Band. Alasdair also recently premiered a major commission at the Hebridean Celtic festival in Stornoway, an hour-long original piece entitled An Iuchair.

Katie McNally grew up playing Scottish and Cape Breton music near Boston, Massachusetts and currently tours with her own projects, Pine Tree Flyers and the Katie McNally Trio. A member of the cross-genre fiddle supergroup, Childsplay, Katie has also toured with Karan Casey, John Whelan, and Galician bagpiper Carlos Núñez. ​ Equally at home on the concert stage or in the dance hall, she has appeared at Celtic Colours, Celtic Connections, Newport Folk Festival, and The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, as well as countless folk venues throughout North America and Europe. In addition to her busy touring schedule, she is the artistic director of the Boston States Fiddle Camp at Potash Hill in Marlboro, Vermont and is a devoted educator who teaches regularly at fiddle camps across the country and gives private lessons at her home in Portland, Maine.

Megan is multi instrumentalist and singer hailing from the West Highland town of Fort William and is currently ‘Musician of the Year’, as awarded at the 2022 Scots Trad Music Awards. Growing up in a household with 6 older siblings all immersed in music, her path to becoming a musician was almost inevitable. Her early musical training was received through local Feisean and the Lochaber Musical School. Megan went on to study Classical Violin at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where she gained her degree and valuable experience in performance, composition and arrangement. Traditional Scottish music always remained a strong passion and shortly after graduating she joined highly respected Scottish folk group Breabach. In her 12 years with the band, Breabach have carved out international recognition as one of Scotland’s most innovative and creative acts. 6 time winners at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, they have performed for Radio and Television, co-curated cross cultural collaborations and released 7 albums alongside a hectic touring schedule which has seen them play at venues including the Sydney Opera House.