It’s once again time for the annual California Scottish Fiddle Competition, which will be held on Saturday, October 8th on the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, CA. The event, part of the Seaside Highland Games for the seventh year in a row, is sponsored in part by CGA and is held in the memory of our company’s late founder, Colin Gordon. The goal of the competition is to further excellence in Colin’s most beloved art form: violins playing Scottish traditional music. Colin was an extremely talented and acclaimed fiddler, and was very active in judging and promoting Scottish fiddle competitions all across America. Two of the clan associations, Clan Donnachaidh (pronounced “DAWN-ah-hee”) and the Clans of the Highlands, have continued to support the competition throughout the years. Colin Gordon’s name is on several of the trophies that the Clans of the Highlands awarded back in the 1980s.
This competition is one of the sources of the world’s amazing fiddlers. Various categories include under-18s vying for the Junior class prize (and thence to onward to the Nationals Juniors), novices (all ages) who range from “just glad to be here” to “I’m new to this, but I’m going to knock their socks off!”, as well as the Open competition, whose glamorous winner just might go on to take the Nationals… or beyond to the coveted international prize, the Glenfiddich Invitational in Scotland. The Colin Gordon Memorial Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Novice Class.
The competition will be judged by the formidable Rebecca Lomnicky, who went from winning the national Junior class competition to being the youngest person ever invited to compete in the Glenfiddich, winning the competition at age 17! Rebecca is sanctioned as a judge by the international standards organization Scottish FIRE (which stands for Fidding Revival).
For more information on the Scottish Fiddling Revival, including competition rules, etc. see the organization’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Scottish-FIREScottish-Fiddling-Revival-Ltd-200675223284747/