Like migrating birds flying home to roost, from Tasmania a few weeks ago & ACT last week, Master Fiddler Chris Duncan and his wife Catherine Strutt on piano are giving the residents of their home town a chance to hear their superb Scottish music in concert.
This captivating duo are in huge demand Internationally as well as across Australia. Individually they have spent most of their lives on the stage with traditional music. Catherine, with her family and sister Jennifer, were part of Coalbrook Ceilidh since she was just 14. The family now have changed genre to playing Scandinavian music. Chris was heard to say he would need another lifetime to do justice to that music.
Perhaps he was joking! If you listen to his 2 CD’S released by ABC Classics – the earlier being ‘Fyvie’s Embrace’ and the second ‘Red House’ – you can not imagine anything being past this astonishingly talented man. To hear them together is to be in the presence of an intimate conversation, fiery one minute, gentle and flowing the next.
Chris Duncan is passionate about his art offstage as well as on and dedicates one evening a month [when he isn’t away touring] to helping local fiddlers achieve their best. Tunes are learned in the old way without notation and with constant little repetitions until the tune is fully learned. This commitment to the music of this city is already bearing fruit in the form of quality young musicians with great technique and high standards.
Chris Duncan and Catherine Strutt are not to be missed in this rare opportunity to hear them perform.
The duo will be appearing at the Wesley Hall centre, 150 Beaumont St Hamilton, on behalf of the Newcastle Hunter Valley Folk Club, 5th May at 7.30pm. They will be ably supported by Paul Regan from Lakeside Folk Circle who always has a wealth of warm, funny songs to share with us.
