Stéphane Allard

Stéphane Allard is a renowned violinist in the field of classical music as well as jazz and all genres of popular music. He graduated from the Music Conservatory of Québec and Berklee College of Music in Boston.

In recognition of his outstanding achievement during his studies at Berklee, he was presented with the Stéphane Grappelli Jazz Masters Award

Throughout his career, Stéphane has been awarded numerous grants from Canada Arts Council to study, to compose for electric cello, electric violin and tape recorder, as well as to undertake research on the different techniques for electronically processing the sound of stringed instruments (e.g. electric string quartet).

Stéphane Allard has toured extensively in Canada, USA, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil, Germany and France with different ensembles and orchestras including the Montréal Symphony Orchestra and the contemporary jazz ensemble Icarus. From 1995 to 2001, he was the front man and violinist of the well-known ensemble Quartango. The group performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops. Since 2000, Stéphane is a member of the very exciting group Bowfire. The show presents the worlds critically acclaimed violonists & fiddlers from Canada. Stéphane was asked to join the Cirque du Soleil, participating in the research and creation of the music, as well as performing in the production Varekai. The world premiere of this production was on April 24, 2002.

He has also performed on more than thirty recordings of classical, popular music, tango and jazz, and can be heard on numerous movie sound tracks.

Stéphane's recent recording projects are Astorias and Top Hat Trio, both recorded by the well established Dorian Recording. Newest recording, Jazz Epicure, features Stéphane in a trio performing Broadway hits.

Bill Bridges

Bill Bridges has accompanied Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt, Franky Lane, and Ella Fitzgerald,among many others. He can be heard on numerous television and film scores, and has appeared on his own CBC special,The Magic of the Guitar. He has released two solo CDs, Dreaming of You and Sweet Dreams.

Stephanie Cadman

Stephanie Cadman has been performing since the age of four, delighting audiences with her top-notch celtic fiddling and dazzling footwork.

She appeared as a lead in Swingstep, combining her considerable talents as actor, dancer, singer and fiddler. She then went on to perform in the celtic review Needfire, with John McDermott in Monte Carlo, and with the National Tour of 42nd Street. This year Stephanie is again performing in Anne of Green Gables and Canada Rocks at the Charlottetown Festival.

Steph's new show, Classically Celtic, was a hit at the Boris Brott Music Festival this summer where she wowed the audience with her vocal, celtic-fiddling, and dance numbers.

As a dancer and choreographer, Stephanie is accomplished in tap, celtic stepdancing, ballet and jazz. She was the top female solo tap dancer at the 1998 World Tap Dance Championships and has won three Canadian stepdancing titles. Her unique choreographies continue to achieve top honours at competitions in Canada and the U.S.

She has appeared as a dance soloist and celtic fiddler with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Edmonton, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Seattle and Portland Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Kennedy Center's National Symphony Orchestra. Recently she participated in a Canadian Forces show-tour where she performed for the troops at several bases in the Middle East.

Stephanie's latest project is her new demo CD, "Unleashed". For more information please visit Stephanie Cadman's website at: www.stephaniecadman.com

Shane Cook

Shane Cook "rates at the top of the short list of the finest fiddlers in the world today", says the Canadian Fiddlers' Hall of Fame. At 23 years of age, Shane is already a master of several fiddle styles including Canadian old-time, Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian and Texas-style, and is Canada's most highly awarded old-time fiddler. He has earned the top honor at all four of the most prestigious fiddle competitions in North America: Canadian Open National Champion (two times), US Grand National Champion, Canadian Grand Masters Champion (three times) and Grand North American Champion.

In concert, Shane performs as a member of Bowfire; The Brian Pickell Band, a collection of Canadian virtuosos of traditional music; and leads his own band with whom he has recently released his fourth solo CD. This self-titled CD is a collection of hot-swinging standards from the Canadian old-time fiddle tradition and features some of the finest musicians in the tradition.

Bogdan Djukic

Bogdan Djukic Born and raised in Yugoslavia, Bogdan studied at the Music Academy of Belgrade where he won first prize in three national violin championships. After receiving a grant to study music in Canada, Bogdan moved there permanently in 1999. He is currently studying classical violin performance on scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He has extensive performance experience in klezmer and Yiddish music, classical music, Mexican Mariachi music, and Serbian folk music. Bogdan has been playing with Beyond the Pale since fall 2000, and joined the band permanently in fall 2001

George Gao

George Gao is a master of the traditional two-stringed Chinese instrument, the erhu, who is regarded as one of the top virtuosos in the world. After winning the first prize in the Beijing National Erhu Competition, George launched a truly international performing career. He has toured the United States, Canada, France, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China extensively, and has been a featured soloist with such orchestras as the Toronto Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Taiwan National Chinese Orchestra, National Arts Center Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Edmonton Symphony and I Musici. He has composed soundtracks for several films and documentaries and is featured on the Emmy Award-nominated soundtrack for the popular science-fiction television program Earth: Final Conflict.

Susanne Hou

Yi-Jia Susanne Hou is a Canadian violinist garnering much attention on the international music scene today by capturing 3 Gold Medals at major violin competitions: Concours International Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud, Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition and Pablo Sarasate International Violin Competition. Ms. Hou's CD Fire & Ice featuring the Sibelius Violin Concerto and works by Sarasate has captured a glowing reviews. Ms. Hou has performed and toured internationally as soloist with orchestras including Toronto Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Shanghai Broadcasting Orchestra. Ms. Hou would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts for their support through the loan of the 1729 "ex-Heath" Guarneri Del Jesu . This instrument is coupled with a bow made by her father, Alec Hou.

Ray Legere

Ray Legere is one of today's most honored Bluegrass fiddlers. His many awards include five-time winner of the Eastern Division Bluegrass Awards in the categories of Mandolin and Fiddle, winner of two Open Mandolin Championships and finalist in Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championship. Ray's extensive tour schedule includes backing artists like Michelle Shocked, Tony Rice, John McDermott, Alison Brown and Rita McNeil. He has recorded for hundreds of sessions and graced world-renowned stages such as Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry.

Lew Mele

Lew Mele has toured with CBS recording artists The Tenents, Capitol Records artists Zappacosta, and RCA recording artist Roger Whittaker and performed in a variety of theatrical productions as well as symphonic orchestras and freelance performing. Lew is a composer of original theme music for television shows and composer and producer of original songs and themes for film and corporate videos.

Jon Pilatzke

Hailing from the Ottawa Valley of Ontario, Canada, Jon Pilatzke has been fiddling and step dancing for over two decades. With his original training in Canadian Old Tyme fiddling style, Jon garnered himself countless awards across Canada in the competition scene. Along with influences from classical, bluegrass, French Canadian, and Scottish music, he has spent the last five years concentrating on Irish fiddle.

Jon has had the pleasure of performing in many different musical and theatre productions, the most recent being Bowfire. Jon also created his own ensemble called Quagmyre - a group of 6 musicians/dancers who creatively meld Celtic styles with contemporary themes such as funk, reggae, rock, and blues. Quagmyre was honoured in 2005 when their sophomore release Of Cabbages and Kings was nominated Best Instrumental Album for a Canadian Folk Music Award.

For the past five years, Jon has been ecstatic to tour the world as a permanent fixture with The Chieftains. As recognition for their talents, Jon and his brother received an Emmy Award-equivalent Canadian Gemini Award in 2005 and performed alongside The Chieftains for the 2006 Grammy-nominated album The Chieftains Live From Dublin: A Tribute to Derek Bell.

Ben Riley

Ben has been actively engaged in the Canadian music scene for over ten years. He has played alongside many luminaries such as Bruce Cockburn, Holly Cole, Michael Burgess, Molly Johnson, Joe Sealy, Doug Riley, Jake Langley, NOJO, Marc Jordan, Amy Sky, Moe Koffman, Domenic Troiano, and Joshua Nelson (gospel singer/ Oprah Winfrey guest) among others. He has toured extensively across Canada, Europe and the U.S. with pianist Michael Kaeshammer as well as with Bruce Cockburn. For seven years running Ben has been co-leading an original soul/R&B project in Toronto, Planet Earth, which has opened for Maceo Parker as well as for the Toronto International Film Festival two years in a row.

Having played on dozens of albums and hundreds of commercials, Ben is also pursuing his passion for composition in many areas including classical, jazz, singer/songwriter and R&B. He has composed works for string quartet, world music ensembles as well as for symphony orchestra. "That’s What Happens", a song co-written by Ben with Courtney Farquhar, was included on Warner’s Women and Songs 7 compilation CD which has gone platinum in Canada.

Most recently, Ben has played as part of the "house" band for both the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and the Canadian Songwriter Hall of Fame Awards, and has produced an upcoming CD release with Courtney Farquhar.

Bernie Senensky

Bernie Senensky, one of Canada's most sought-after jazz pianists, has been nominated for three Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy), was twice named Best Acoustic Pianist by The Jazz Report Awards, and has won the Socan Award for Best Jazz Composition (Blues for Clifford). Bernie has released twelve albums, consisting almost entirely of his own compositions, and has recorded with countless other artists. He has performed with Chet Baker, Herbie Mann, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Joe Williams and numerous other jazz greats, and has appeared on the public radio program Piano Jazz.

Wendy Solomon

Wendy Solomon has been a recitalist in Canada, the United States and Europe. Among her awards are a first prize in the 1990 Atlanta Young Artist Competition, and 1992 Heliconian Young Artist of the Year. Having studied with Bernard Greenhouse and William Pleeth, Wendy has played with numerous orchestras and shows and is a busy studio musician. She is not only the featured cellist in Bowfire but also a musical arranger.

Lenny Solomon

Over three decades and on five continents, LENNY SOLOMON, Bowfire's founder and Artistic Director, has built a strong reputation as one of the world's most skilled and innovative jazz violinists. Hailed as a "pleasure to discover" by LA Jazz Scene, his performances are "packed full of swing, polish and enthusiasm." His three jazz violin CD releases, After You've Gone, The Gershwin Sessions, and Transparency have received critical acclaim, one reviewer dubbing him, "the heir apparent to Joe Venuti." He has toured extensively in the United States, Canada Japan with The Lenny Solomon Trio and was a three-time winner of the annual Violinist Of The Year Award presented by The National Jazz Awards and has appeared as featured guest jazz soloist with many prestigious orchestras.

As a member of the pop duo Myles And Lenny in the 1970s, he recorded two albums for Columbia Records, toured widely, and won a Juno Award. Lenny went on to found the pop string quintet, Quintessence, collaborating with Bill Bridges, and established himself as a versatile and much sought after studio musician, Lenny also put together a very unique ensemble, The Galaxy Trio combining classical and jazz styles on the violin.

Starting out the millennium with, "TrioNorté" , Lenny won a SOCAN #1 Award for the Video of his composition "Fernanda" which was shown on BRAVO. With "Bowfire", Lenny is hoping to achieve a new direction in entertainment and performance, combining varied styles and great musicians. During his prolific career, Lenny has also enjoyed writing and arranging and continues that on his most recent jazz violin CD Transparency.

Lara St. John

Lara St. John, the Canadian-born violinist, has been described as "something of a phenomenon" by The Strad magazine and has performed as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the symphonies of Montreal, Toronto, Hong Kong, Paris, Lisbon, Budapest, Tokyo, the NDR, and the Boston Pops among many others, as well as recitals around the world. The L.A.Times has said "… St. John brings to the stage personal charisma, an unflagging musical imagination and genuine passion." Also an exceedingly successful recording artist, Lara St. John has been number one on iTunes. Her debut CD of Bach works sold over 30,000 copies, and the Chicago Tribune described Lara as "... having superb technique and irresistible vitality." The Montreal Gazette headline for her 2nd CD, Gypsy, was "Lara St. John is out on the edge, with captivating results." Her 3rd disc, Bach: The Concerto Album, has Gramophone Magazine strongly recommending it and saying: "It is difficult to argue with such a technically dazzling and unfailingly musical interpretation." The Strad magazine selected her as one of the 10 stars of the next decade.

Kelli Trottier

Kelli Trottier, Born in Carleton Place and raised in Dunvegan, Ontario. Kelli Trottier displays a mastery of Scottish/Celtic fiddle tunes and the French Canadian art of Stepdancing, which reveals her family's heritage. She started step dancing at age 5, and playing fiddle at age 9. She has performed as a soloist on various Canadian military Tours and spent eight months as the female lead in the New Musical Swingstep at the Ford Centre in Toronto. Kelli is featured on five independent recordings, which include both fiddle and vocal selections, and has been nominated three times for fiddle player of the year by the Canadian Country Music lndustry.

Richard Wood

Richard Wood has performed for audiences at concerts and festivals across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom and has won countless championships as a step dancer and fiddler. He has appeared as a guest artist with Shania Twain on the David Letterman Show, Good Morning America, and on Parliament Hill in Ottawa; with Rita MacNeil and friends for the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), the Wolf Trap Theatre in Washington D.C., and the Canadian High Commission in London, England. Richard also appeared in the Celtic Electric CBC special with Jean Butler of River Dance along with many top artists from around the world, and appeared on a BBC television special in Scotland. He has been featured in several magazines, including Billboard and Maclean's. Richard recently returned from a tour in Bosnia for the Canadian Armed Forces.