Bozeman Magazine

Fiddler, composer, producer and educator Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. Exceptional among modern fiddlers for his versatility and depth, Anger has helped drive the evolution of the contemporary string band through his involvement with numerous pathbreaking ensembles such as his Republic Of Strings, the Turtle Island Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Montreux, his Duo with Mike Marshall, and others. He has performed and taught all over the world with musicians such as Dr. Billy Taylor, Bela Fleck, Bill Evans, Edgar Meyer, Bill Frisell, Tony Rice, Tim O’Brien, The Anonymous 4, Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, Mark O’Connor, and Stephane Grappelli. 

Today, Darol can be heard on NPR’s “Car Talk” theme every week, along with Earl Scruggs, David Grisman and Tony Rice. He was also the violinist on the phenomenally popular Sim City computer games. In addition to performing all over the world, he has recorded and produced scores of important recording since 1977, is a MacDowell and Ucross Fellow, and has received numerous composers’ residencies and grants. He has been a featured soloist on dozens of recordings and motion picture soundtracks. He is an Associate Professor at the prestigious Berklee School of music. He recently began an ambitious online Fiddle School, ArtistWorks - CLICK HERE to check it out! He's interested in 5-string violin technology and has built two. 

Raised on a small farm in Spokane, Washington, Joy Adams began playing the cello at age 15 and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Despite a string of classical adventures that included winning Musicfest Northwest, attending the Aspen Music Festival, soloing with the Spokane Symphony, and touring with the Selden String Quartet, Joy ultimately returned to her roots, joining an old-time band, the Windsor Folk Family, during her last year at Eastman. Recipient of a Mancini Fellowship at the Frost School of Music (where she also taught bluegrass songwriting, contemporary improvisation, and led the Frost Fiddle Band), Joy completed her Doctorate in 2016. 

Adams teaches for the American Music System and Denver School of the Arts, and has been on the faculty of fiddle camps in Boston, Charleston, Maine, Connecticut, New York City, and Sandpoint, Idaho. She has made over a dozen concerto appearances and has shared the stage with major artists such as Bruce Hornsby, Ben Folds, Bobby McFerrin, and Chic Corea. Recent highlights include releasing Trifecta (a CD of Indian fusion music), publishing Fiddle Club Favorites for Cello, touring the Northwest with fiddle-cello deo Half Pelican, and performing at the 2017 Big Sky Big Grass festival with Darol Anger and the Furies. In her spare time, Joy enjoys eating pie and climbing on things. 

Andy Reiner, an award-winning fiddler, composer and educator originally from Lexington, MA, began playing at age five with the Reiner Family Band. He has since developed his own style featuring creative, rhythmic melodies, and thoughtful fusing of world styles. Earning his Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston launched Andy into a flurry of touring and teaching around the globe – including Heavy Metal with Devil in the Kitchen, Folk/Hip-Hop with FiddleFoxx, Swedish/Appalachian with Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers, Electronic/Celtic with Firecloud, and Bluegrass with The Earth Stringband, which toured Southeast Asia on the 2011 American Music Abroad tour for the State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center. 

Known as the “Skiing Fiddler,” Andy skis every month of the year and many of his compositions are influenced by mountain and nature. Andy currently tours both as a solo artist and with groups Half Pelican, Whitewater Ramble, and Andy Reiner and Jon Sousa; he composes fiddle tunes, songs, new works, and arrangements for string orchestra. Reiner teaches improvisation, composition, and fiddle styles privately, as wells as teaching at schools, universities, and music camps across the United States.