Fiddleheads' Rhiannon Nachbaur Wins Regional 'Classical Artist of the Year Award' Two Consecutive Years

October 12, 2007, 9:00 PM · Violinist Rhiannon Nachbaur found herself on stage for an unexpected second time in Kelowna, BC, Canada on October 10.

The 30-year-old owner of Fiddleheads Violin Studio (http://www.fiddleheads.ca)brought home the 2007 Okanagan Musician Award for “Classical Artist of the Year.” Rhiannon won the Classical Award last year and the consecutive win is just as delightful as the first.

Rhiannon had played electric violin along with many other Okanagan musicians backing up singer/songwriter Rachel Warchol at the opening of the awards. Only thirty minutes later she was asked to return to the stage to receive an award, a surprise she had not anticipated.

"I am incredibly honoured to have been selected again," she said while accepting the award. "I'm speechless." The expectant mother was out of breath from the trek up to the stage and kept her thanks short and sweet.

Rhiannon didn't think she would be so lucky to win two years in a row and is still dazed from the good news. She feels incredibly validated having received the award again and is very grateful for the honour.

Her post-event thanks go out to the awards organizers, her family, friends and customers who have supported her music, business and projects and to the dedicated fans in the Shuswap/ Thompson/Okanagan who nominated her.

This year's nominations ballots surpassed all expectations, receiving well over 1000 nomination forms. A select few finalists in each category were asked to submit an MP3 music sample for the judges' panel to review.

The panel, made up of over a dozen Okanagan and area radio station and media professionals, voted on the nominee they believed was most deserving of the award.

Rhiannon's sample featured her violin playing on Celtic harpist Caroline Mackay's album "Tidings of Light" as well as thirty seconds of a Dvorak piece played in house concert with local pianist Anita Liebich. Also included were segments of a live jam session and a fiddle tune with guitarist Les Copeland. The duo had opened for Scotland's Shooglenifty at a Folk Music Society concert last January.

Incidentally, Rhiannon's eco-friendly violin business, Fiddleheads Violin Studio, has been nominated for the "Green Award" with the Shuswap Business Excellence Awards, to be held October 20 in Salmon Arm. Fiddleheads has been the recipient of two Excellence awards in past years as well as other two other BC business awards.

Replies

Pauline Lerner

October 13, 2007 at 05:02 AM · Please give my heartiest congratulations to Rhiannon. Her music sample sounded very interesting, and she must have played those diverse offerings beautifully in order to win the prize. Yay, Rhiannon!