FIDDLE TUNES AND WESTERN BALLADS With An Applachian Highland Flavor

Virtuoso performer MARIE RHINES presents lively and thrilling performances that inspire audiences to toe tapping rapport and standing ovations. Her composing inspiration is drawn from her studies of traditional Highland reels and Appalachian hoedowns. This spirited music appeals to audiences of all ages. MARIE RHINES American Fiddle Music's Finest Marie Rhines is, like so many talents that deliberately skirt the edges of America's highly commercial mainstream music, a pioneer. She has refused to limit the development of her instrumental technique and has brought the backwoods and Western folk fiddle from the barnyard and the cattle trail to the prominence of concert auditoriums. First you appreciate Marie's virtuosic technique, then the complex rhythms, melodies and harmonies. Next you discover the depth of the thought, feeling, knowledge and sensitivity and her own impressions of life, which become shared experiences with her audience. Add her dry wit, her charming presence and the haunting beauty of her solo vocals, and all the ingredients for an unforgettable evening of entertainment are added in the exact proportions. Marie possesses that rare ability to entertain, educate and captivate an audience with each performance. Although she has applied her gift of talent to that which is closest to her heart, traditional American fiddle music, another talent is composing music. She has expanded her eclectic musical pursuits as instrumentalist, arranger and composer in her "American Folk Concerto for Violin and Symphony Orchestra" winning several ASCAP and Rockefeller Awards. Marie's very personal contemporary Western compositions with epic lyric poems combine her vocal talents with her focus on Western folk traditions and her devotion to the chronicling of the rapidly shrinking American West of the 20th century. Her perspective of today's pioneers will add material for generations to enjoy in the decades ahead. Marie is a fiddling extravaganza who has won first place awards in trick and fancy fiddle divisions, but don't expect her to break bows or to utilize other diversions during her performances. Her dazzling and spellbinding performances are created solely on her amazing ability on the fiddle. She also plays the viola and the piano, not at the same time, however one believes that if anyone could, it would be Marie. Marie has brought respect for American fiddle traditions to audiences across the country and around the world. Appearing solo, with her own backup or with orchestras across the country, Marie has performed to packed concert halls from San Francisco to Great Britain and to audiences of 35,000 in Poland and of 30,000 on tours in 1990 and 1991 with the Air Force Band of the Golden West. She has also performed in England and Scotland and at the Grand Old Opry and Lincoln Center. This champion of traditional American fiddle music has researched archives in Scotland, England and the Shetland Islands and has studied with traditional fiddlers in America. Since moving to Sedona, AZ in 1987, Marie has focused on the musical traditions of the American West. At home, with the grandeur of the towering red rock face of Grayback Mountain in front of her, she has fulfilled her dream to live in the West and to express her love for it's music. Marie, like Ruth in "A Cowgirl's Heart" and like many of us, understands her calling and appreciates the opportunity we all have to "perform."

Marie was a faculty member at the University of Colorado and at King's College Choir School in Cambridge, England - conducted the Mozart Orchestra of Harvard, founded and produced "The Folk Heritage" program for National public Radio on WGBH-FM in Boston, has been a Composer-Artist-in-Residence for Tennessee, a Composer-in-Residence and Guest Soloist touring with the USAF Band of the Golden West and is a member of the Nashville Association of Musicians and of the Arizona commission on the Arts. Listed in "Who's Who in American Women" she has won twelve awards from ASCAP, New York City, for performing and composing. "Today there isn't much to remind us of what America used to be like. This music is part of our national heritage, and I have taken it as part of my life's work to bring this music back to the people." -Marie Rhines "Marie Rhines assures a performance that is absolutely spellbinding." -Robert J. Lursema, National Public Radio "The astonishing Marie Rhines..." -Robert Sherman, New York Times "Marie Rhines has become one of the premier interpreters today of the rich traditions of American fiddle music." -Colorado Daily "One of the finest fiddlers in the country." -Jeff McLaughlin, Boston Globe "Perhaps the most authentic concert fiddler in America today...Marie is a breath of fresh air. She can fiddle the socks of most old time fiddlers and creates a rare explosive joy wherever she plays." -Portland Evening Express "...dazzling and spellbinding performances of hypnotic music... performed with a depth of thought, feeling, knowledge and sensitivity with her own impressions of life, with its reactions to joy and sorrow which become shared experiences with her audience. ...an unforgettable evening of entertainment featuring the virtuosity of Marie Rhines, American Fiddle Music's consummate performing champion. ...incorporating her accomplishments on the fiddle, the viola and the piano with her unique vocal expressions, Marie Rhines presents American fiddle music at its finest, intertwining her arrangements of the fiddle classics with her own original compositions for solo violin. ...Marie Rhines offers a night to remember for as long as you live, regardless of what style of music you prefer. Ranchers, lawyers, cowboys, bankers, homemakers, musicians and everyone who witnesses a performance by Marie Rhines all agree on one thing...Marie is the best! Every now and then a musician comes on the scene whose inventive, original, even revolutionary style can be appreciated not only by aficionados of the instrument, but by audiences of all ages and tastes. Marie Rhines has become one of the premier interpreters today of the rich traditions of American fiddle music." -Colorado Daily. "It was a joy to share with the audience a reaction that shifted from respect, through amazement, to incredibility and finally to a thunderous demand for more. The combination of the keen ear and the technical facility of Marie Rhines assures a performance that is absolutely spellbinding." -Robert J. Lurtsema, WGBH Nat'l Public Radio Suite For Fiddle and Orchestra, world premiere: "Ms. Rhines has taken the soliloquy of the country fiddle and transformed it into a simultaneous conversation for orchestra...a joyful outpouring of hometown American voices...Marie Rhines displays a fiendish virtuosity on solo fiddle". - New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club Newsletter Special Attractions | Dance | Visual Theatre | Theatre | | E-Mail | Booking/Performance Information | This site developed and maintained for Arthur Shafman International, Ltd. by Performing Arts Network. ©1996-99, All rights reserved.