Tweet
From Cape Breton to Tokyo, Dallas to Denmark, Edinburgh and back to the Glencoe Dance Hall, Kendra MacGillivray has play them all. She's one of Nova Scotia's busiest young performers. She has played and danced her way into the hearts of audiences with her Scottish/Cape Breton style fiddling, from one Canadian to the other, throughout the United States, Europe, the UK Iceland Scandinavia, Mexico, Barbados and Japan.
Her music is lively and her high spirited, smiling personality shows through on every note, a true ambassador for the Scottish music and Nova Scotians. Because of her success within the entertainment industry, Kendra was designated a notable grad from her alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University.
Brought up in a rich musical family Kendra began playing fiddle at the ago of nine. She was influenced from the very beginning by her grandfather, Hugh A. MacDonald, a pioneer in recording Scottish fiddle music in the 1930's. To this day, she plays and records tunes which he popularized across Canada such as The Crooked Stovepipe and the Honeymoon Polka.
Kendra's musical career began at a very young age with playing fiddle, piano, step-dancing and highland dancing at concerts and square dances around home with her family and she continues to perform at local events.
Her piano accompanist is her younger brother, Troy MacGillivray, also an accomplished fiddler and step dancer. At ceilidhs and concerts, they each play fiddle solos, accompanying each other on piano and they often play double fiddles, sometimes step-dancing at the same time! Whether they're playing together or with a full back-up band, the traditional music of Nova Scotia's Highland Scots shines through.
They also entertain at national conventions and over the past ten years, Kendra has produced and hosted a number of main stage shows. They have also wowed audiences at major Celtic/Folk Festivals and Highland Games including the Fiddles of the World International Festival (Halifax, NS), Celtic Colors International Festival (Cape Breton, NS), Stan Rogers Folk Festival (Canso, NS) Celtic Roots Festival (Goderich, ON), Glengarry Highland Games (Maxville, ON), Canmore Highland Games (AB), Mid-Winter Celtic Festival (Regina, SK), New Brunswick Highland Games (NB), Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival (NS), Washington DC Irish Folk Festival and Festival by the Sea (Bristol, Eng).
Kendra has performed with musicians such as John Allan Cameron, Evans and Doherty, as well as her contemporaries, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, and Richard Wood, to name a few. Kendra also had the opportunity of opening for international acts such as the Crash Test Dummies, The Rankins, and Great Big Sea.
Along with performances, Kendra has instructed fiddle and step dancing workshops at many of the festivals and highland games she has attended. Her experience comes from a decade of teaching fiddle in her hometown of Antigonish and presently at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, a highly respected music and dance school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Kendra has also been a favorite workshop instructor at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts & Crafts in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
On compact disc and cassette, Kendra has recorded Antigonish's Own at the age of seventeen. In the fall of 1996, she released her second recording, Clear the Track, which caught the attention of noted musicians and producers. This independent project also earned her a roots/traditional showcase at the 1998 East Coast Music Awards Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to the showcase, Kendra was featured on the Nova Scotia tourism commercial which was aired nationally on CBC television during the Gala Awards Show and numerous times since then.
Kendra has also made television appearances on programs such as Breakfast Television (ATV/ASN), What's for Dinner? (Life Network), Mike & Mike's Cross Country Adventures (Much Music), and was featured on television documentaries such as the one by Mr. Nova Scotia Know-it-all on CBC's First Edition. Kendra has also been featured in Air Canada's enroute magazine.
The only video I could find is...
There is an audio recording available at
https://archive.org/details/iuma-kendramacgillivray
Alastair
Her music is lively and her high spirited, smiling personality shows through on every note, a true ambassador for the Scottish music and Nova Scotians. Because of her success within the entertainment industry, Kendra was designated a notable grad from her alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University.
Brought up in a rich musical family Kendra began playing fiddle at the ago of nine. She was influenced from the very beginning by her grandfather, Hugh A. MacDonald, a pioneer in recording Scottish fiddle music in the 1930's. To this day, she plays and records tunes which he popularized across Canada such as The Crooked Stovepipe and the Honeymoon Polka.
Kendra's musical career began at a very young age with playing fiddle, piano, step-dancing and highland dancing at concerts and square dances around home with her family and she continues to perform at local events.
Her piano accompanist is her younger brother, Troy MacGillivray, also an accomplished fiddler and step dancer. At ceilidhs and concerts, they each play fiddle solos, accompanying each other on piano and they often play double fiddles, sometimes step-dancing at the same time! Whether they're playing together or with a full back-up band, the traditional music of Nova Scotia's Highland Scots shines through.
They also entertain at national conventions and over the past ten years, Kendra has produced and hosted a number of main stage shows. They have also wowed audiences at major Celtic/Folk Festivals and Highland Games including the Fiddles of the World International Festival (Halifax, NS), Celtic Colors International Festival (Cape Breton, NS), Stan Rogers Folk Festival (Canso, NS) Celtic Roots Festival (Goderich, ON), Glengarry Highland Games (Maxville, ON), Canmore Highland Games (AB), Mid-Winter Celtic Festival (Regina, SK), New Brunswick Highland Games (NB), Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival (NS), Washington DC Irish Folk Festival and Festival by the Sea (Bristol, Eng).
Kendra has performed with musicians such as John Allan Cameron, Evans and Doherty, as well as her contemporaries, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, and Richard Wood, to name a few. Kendra also had the opportunity of opening for international acts such as the Crash Test Dummies, The Rankins, and Great Big Sea.
Along with performances, Kendra has instructed fiddle and step dancing workshops at many of the festivals and highland games she has attended. Her experience comes from a decade of teaching fiddle in her hometown of Antigonish and presently at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, a highly respected music and dance school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Kendra has also been a favorite workshop instructor at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts & Crafts in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
On compact disc and cassette, Kendra has recorded Antigonish's Own at the age of seventeen. In the fall of 1996, she released her second recording, Clear the Track, which caught the attention of noted musicians and producers. This independent project also earned her a roots/traditional showcase at the 1998 East Coast Music Awards Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to the showcase, Kendra was featured on the Nova Scotia tourism commercial which was aired nationally on CBC television during the Gala Awards Show and numerous times since then.
Kendra has also made television appearances on programs such as Breakfast Television (ATV/ASN), What's for Dinner? (Life Network), Mike & Mike's Cross Country Adventures (Much Music), and was featured on television documentaries such as the one by Mr. Nova Scotia Know-it-all on CBC's First Edition. Kendra has also been featured in Air Canada's enroute magazine.
The only video I could find is...
There is an audio recording available at
https://archive.org/details/iuma-kendramacgillivray
Alastair
Comment