Alasdair Fraser is one of Scotland's most influential tradition-rooted fiddlers. After emigrating to California in the 1980s, he became a two-time winner of the open competition of the Scottish National Fiddle Championship, and has since spent his career studying and expanding the musical traditions of his homeland through various performances, solo albums, and highly regarded collaborations with longtime pianist Paul Machlis and his band Skydance, among others. Beginning in the early 2000s, Fraser and American cellist Natalie Haas formed a musical partnership that yielded critically acclaimed albums like 2004's Scots Trad Award-winning Fire and Grace, 2011's Highlander's Farewell, and 2017's Ports of Call. In addition to founding successful fiddle camps in California and Scotland, appearing countless times on BBC radio and television shows (and, in the U.S., on A Prairie Home Companion), Fraser has been featured on the soundtracks of such films as Titanic, Braveheart, and The Last of the Mohicans.
Natalie is one of the most sought-after cellists playing traditional music today. She and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser have toured as a duo for over twenty-three years, wowing audiences at festivals and concerts worldwide with their unique sound. Their first album together, Fire & Grace, was awarded Best Album of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards 2004. Natalie has also toured with Mark O'Connor as a member of his Appalachia Waltz Trio. She and O'Connor premiered his double concerto for violin and cello, ¨For The Heroes¨, with the Grand Rapids, East Texas, and San Diego Symphonies. As a studio musician, Natalie has been a guest artist on over 100 albums, including those of Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster, Irish greats Altan, Solas, and Liz Carroll, and Americana icon Dirk Powell.