Natalie MacMaster

Born in Troy, in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Natalie MacMaster is part of the Cape Breton fiddle tradition, a style at the crossroads of Scottish heritage, dance music, and the Celtic repertoire. A violinist trained early in a family environment marked by this culture, she first released Four on the Floor in 1989 followed by Road to the Isle in 1991, before reaching a wider audience with Fit as a Fiddle in 1993 on Rounder Records. Over the 1990s and 2000s, Natalie MacMaster broadened her musical frame without moving away from her roots, incorporating into her playing elements from Ireland, Scotland, North American folk, and at times bluegrass, with an approach centered on rhythm, ornamentation, and the energy of dance. Her discography includes No Boundaries (1997), In My Hands (1999), My Roots Are Showing (2000), Blueprint (2003), Yours Truly (2006), Cape Breton Girl (2011) and Sketches (2019). Present on folk and Celtic stages in North America as well as Europe, Natalie MacMaster has also collaborated and toured with artists such as The Chieftains, Alison Krauss, Carlos Santana, and Yo-Yo Ma. Her path also intersects with that of fiddler Donnell Leahy, with whom she records One in 2015, A Celtic Family Christmas in 2016, and Canvas in 2023, in a dialogue between Celtic traditions, acoustic music, and family arrangements.