Hailing from Boston, award-winning fiddler Isabel Oliart has been playing the violin since she was 3 years old.
She began her musical journey with classical music, and then discovered Scottish and Celtic fiddling through Brian O’Donovan’s show, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn, where she was inspired by artists including Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Hass.
She started learning fiddle music for the first time in 2009, taking lessons with Anne Hooper, and has since worked with other world-renowned teachers such as Winifred Horan, Hanneke Cassel and Katie McNally.
Isabel studied with Lucy Chapman and Nicholas Kitchen at the New England Conservatory and with Bayla Keyes at Boston University, where she recently achieved her Masters of Music.
She now pursues a career in both classical music and Celtic fiddling. Primarily a Scottish fiddler, Isabel also has a love for the fiddle music of Ireland, Cape-Breton, as well as Contra dance music.
Isabel won the Junior fiddle competition at the New Hampshire Highland Games in 2013 and then went on to win the Open fiddle competition in 2023. In 2021 her tune The Top of the Mountain won the Scottish F.I.R.E Tune Writing Competition.
She has placed second and third in many other competitions over the past years, including the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, the New England Regional Open Competition, and the US Scottish Nationals. She was a finalist in the Dan R. MacDonald Scottish Fiddle Competition in South Carolina in 2022.
In addition to competing, Isabel plays numerous shows with many top musicians in the Boston area. For several years she played in a duo with cellist McKinley James, named Catching Sparks, as well as with cellist Giulia Haible, of the Scottish Fish. She regularly frequents The Burren Backroom Series in Somerville, Massachusetts, performing solo openings for artists such as Winifred Horan, and currently performs in a duo with cellist Sammy Wetstein.
Isabel has been featured on several radio shows, including GBH’s A Celtic Sojourn alongside Giulia Haible, as well as multiple appearances on NPR’s Says You, with fiddler Anne Hooper and with guitarist Calum Bell. She has also played Scottish country dances with Anne Hooper and fiddler Elizabeth Anderson. In the summer of 2022 she had the opportunity to perform her original tune Crow Over the Water at the Rockport Celtic Festival, accompanied by harpist Maeve Gilchrist. Isabel now performs in a new duo with cellist Sammy Wetstein. She can also be found playing at sessions in the Boston area and she regularly attends fiddle camps throughout the year.
A keen composer, Isabel’s original tunes can be found on her Facebook page and on her Youtube channel, Isabel’s Fiddling.
In late 2023, Isabel released her debut album Late Evening’s Dram. The album features Conor Hearn on guitar, Elizabeth Anderson on fiddle, Sammy Wetstein on cello, Elias Alexander on pipes, and Maeve Gilchrist on harp. Isabel worked with Scottish and Cape Breton fiddler Katie McNally to produce the album, and it was engineered by Antonio Oliart, with photography and design by Louise Bichan.
“Isabel is part of the new incredible generation of musicians who effortlessly rock back and forth between the fiddle and the classical worlds. Her rhythmic drive blends with her sweet, beautiful tone to create a percussive, expressive sound.
In addition to her amazing playing, Isabel is a prolific composer and continues to contribute to the living traditional Scottish-American music scene with newly composed yet traditional sounding tunes.”
“I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing, teaching, working with and performing with Isabel. She is one of those rare talents that comes along and immediately makes you take notice. Her violin playing is a thing of beauty.
She has straddled the classical and the folk music world for years and is equally comfortable and so very talented and capable in both genres. She was a student of mine at New England Conservatory in Boston and I have witnessed her growth as a violinist, fiddle player, composer and all-around musician over the years. Her work ethic is to be admired and her music is to be loved and enjoyed.”