Fresh Off Tour of Southeast, Saline Fiddlers to Play The Ark with Mark O'Connor

Fresh off a tour of the Southeast, the Saline Fiddlers will perform on Aug. 25 at the Ark in Ann Arbor with Internationally acclaimed violinist Mark O'Connor.  

This will not be the first time the Saline Fiddlers have performed with O'Connor. They hosted a Hometown Concert with him in 2005 in Saline. Some of the Saline Fiddlers' signature repertoire includes Mark O'Connor produced tunes.

Fiddler O'Connor started out as a Nashville session musician, moving through progressive bluegrass, old-time sounds, and classical music to create a unique style that's an apotheosis of American traditional music. He will be in the Ann Arbor area to speak to music teachers at a conference held at the Ann Arbor School for Performing Arts that same weekend of the show. The event is sponsored by Ann Arbor based Shar Music Company.Learn more about the event and O'Connor at http://theark.org/3234.html.

Fiddlers Mark Three States of Tour Map

The Saline Fiddlers, all high school students from Saline Area Schools, dub themselves "America's premier youth fiddling show band of music, song and dance!" They have performed all across the United States, overseas and even the Whitehouse three times. Earlier this summer they toured the southeast United States and performed in three new states not previously listed since their inception in 1994.  

The charter bus took the Fiddlers to performance venues in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

Somehow the Fiddlers managed not to run into any of the problems associated with the Mid-Atlantic storms that swept the area during the time they were touring. Performance venues included the historic Canton, GA Theatre and Duluth, GA High School, The historic Winyah Auditorium in Georgtown, SC, Colonial Williamsburg, VA, a 4th of July festival in Culpeper, VA and an awesome two days at Davis & Elkins College, WV in the Appalachian Mountains.

Warm Reception at Davis and Elkins College

A big highlight of the performance schedule was on the last gig at Davis and Elkins College. The 500 plus audience members included about 150 High School students who were part of a Governor's School of Arts study program.  The 150 peers of the Saline Fiddlers made it well known they were appreciated with lots of screaming and cheering as if the Beatles had just stepped off the airplane for the first time in the U.S.!  

A particularly interesting historical connection on this tour was the fact that Saline Fiddler twin brothers, JJ (sound and tech) and Eric Wharton (bass player), are 10th generation descendents of a Culpeper, VA (4th of July festival) ancestor. JJ is the 10th generation named "John Wharton." Their history is only traced back that far but the ancestor's estate Will is on file with the Culpeper Historical records dating back to 1751. 

Of course, there were also fun stops and plenty of activities along the way in Kentucky at the Cumberland Falls State Park, Stone Mountain, Georgia, Atlantic Ocean, and even some caverns in West Virginia to name a few. Summer tours for the Saline Fiddlers are one of the main rewards for all the hard work these fine young musicians do. 
Learn more about the Saline Fiddlers and see the photos from tour at http://www.salinefiddlers.com/