Bowfire
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Bowfire is a Canadian musical show featuring multiple violins, formed in June 2000. They perform an eclectic mix of classical music, jazz, bluegrass music, celtic music, rock music, and world music.
In addition to the group's nine violinists/fiddlers, Bowfire also features a solo played on the Chinese erhu, played by the Toronto-based performer George Gao.
One of the group's most popular compositions is "Fiddler in the Hood." They also perform covers of well known tunes such as Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir."
Formed in June 2000, Bowfire made its debut performance the following month at Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany. Audience response was wildly enthusiastic, and the group was subsequently invited to perform on the Governor-General's Awards telecast, the Canadian equivalent of the United States' Kennedy Center Honors.
The ensemble made its American debut in a series of performances during the summer of 2001 in New York City, and embarked on their first U.S. tour during the 2002-2003 season. In December 2003 Bowfire made its Asian debut with performances in Taiwan. Bowfire has enjoyed many highly successful touring seasons since then and is currently touring North America, with over 100 performance dates scheduled for 2008.
Bowfire also filmed an HD concert special in conjunction with WLIW Public Television in New York, which airs on PBS stations throughout the United States
[edit] Performers
- Stephane Allard - Quebecois jazz violinist
- Bill Bridges - guitar
- Stephanie Cadman - Celtic fiddler
- Shane Cook - fiddler
- Bogdan Djukic - classical violinist
- George Gao - erhu
- Yi-Jia Susanne Hou - violinist
- Ray Legere - bluegrass fiddler
- Lew Mele - bass
- Jon Pilatzke - Celtic fiddler
- Ben Riley - drums
- Bernie Senensky - piano
- Wendy Solomon - cello
- Lenny Solomon - jazz violinist/founder/Artistic Director
- Kelli Trottier - Celtic fiddler