![]() Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy have received both industry-acclaim and a loyal fan base by combining their magnificent individual talents, giving audiences an unforgettable musical experience every performance. Since marrying in 2002, two of Canada’s brightest stars have been captivating audiences all over North America with their exceptional musical skills and obvious joy at playing the fiddle together. Tickets are $18-$65 and available by calling (435) 655-3114 or by visiting. "Masters of the Fiddle," with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, will come to the Eccles Performing Arts Center, 1750 Kearns Blvd., on Saturday, April 2. "Maybe that will be my next book ‘Parenting and Fiddling: You Can Have It All.’" "Now, if only someone would help me figure out how balance everything," MacMaster said with a laugh. "That’s what we hope our children get from us as we continue to do what we do. "I would hope they learn about practicing and dedicating oneself to something worthwhile," she said. Hopefully, the couple’s children, which also includes a five-, three- and two-year old, will see the harmony in the home as well as on stage, MacMaster said. "I think, I elevate him, too, because what I bring to the stage is different," she said. MacMaster said Leahy’s approach to music is more technical than hers. "Every time I hear him play, I’m in awe," she said. "He’s brilliant and his technique is amazing. "Donnell is just an incredible fiddler," she said. In 2006, MacMaster was made a member of the Order of Canada, a personal gift from Canada’s Governor General-in-Council.Īccolades aside, MacMaster said she is content playing live shows to anyone who will listen, and having her husband as a fiddling partner only makes the sets more memorable. Since then, she has performed with the Chieftains, Carlos Santana, Yo-Yo Ma, Alison Krauss and Faith Hill, to name a few. MacMaster signed to Rounder Records in 1992 and released "Fit as a Fiddle," which sold more than 500,000 copies, making it a certified gold record. Her second album "Road to the Isle" was released in 1991. When she was 16, MacMaster released her debut recording, "Four on the Floor." ![]() "I got a teaching degree and thought I would play fiddle on the side, but I haven’t taught one class, yet." "I didn’t even know that was something you could do, because even the most popular fiddlers in the town at the time had other jobs. "No one else in my family played for a living," she said. Still, MacMaster never though about making music a career. "The music is alive a well in Cape Breton, and I was in the thick of it," she said. There’s a tough natural beauty that is unrefined, and the story is about my upbringing in a musical place. "You can see how Cape Breton is so beautiful, but it’s also very rugged. ![]() MacMaster’s upbringing is the subject of "Cape Breton Aire," but said the photos, taken by Eric Roth, were the real highlight of the book. My cousins and relatives and uncles and grandparents and great grandparents, and so on, all played the traditional music of Cape Breton, which is Scottish in origin. "I’m Canadian, of course, and there’s long history of musicians in my family. MacMaster’s devotion to family and music stem from her upbringing in Cape Breton. We also just got a horse, and this baby is not going back to sleep." "We just moved into a new house and have four children. "Seriously, the stuff I have here is stuff that I’ve honestly dreamed of," she said while trying to quiet her newborn. Regardless of the demands, MacMaster said she’s "living her dream." It isn’t suppose to be smooth, but it’s full and rich and hectic and crazy." "We go day by day and learn from our mistakes and keep plugging away. "I’m looking for that answer myself," MacMaster said during a phone call from a bank on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Can. On top of all this, she’s on tour with her husband, and fellow fiddler, Donnell Leahy, of the Celtic group Leahy. A few months earlier, she published her biography, "A Cape Breton Aire: the Story of a Musical Life and Place," and later this year, she’s going to release a new CD. Twelve weeks ago, fiddler Natalie MacMaster gave birth to her fourth child.
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