Isabel Oliart
Passim, 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA
Admission: $25
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 and Hanneke Cassel. 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. She is currently the National Scottish Fiddle Champion of 2025. In 2021 her tune The Top of the Mountain won the Scottish F.I.R.E…