Chris Stone began playing violin at the age of 10. His initial interest lay in Scottish fiddle music, and with the help of Australian fiddle icon Bob McGuinness and Aria award winning Scottish fiddler Chris Duncan, became the youngest ever recipient of the ‘Chris Whent Award for Excellence in a Young Musician’ at the Australian National Folk Festival in 1999. In 2001 he received a full scholarship and travel fund to attend premier Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser’s ‘Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School’ in California, USA.
Having been exposed to and challenged by a myriad of new musical styles in the USA, Chris was keen to extend his musical capabilities, and enrolled in the Australian National University (ANU). Mentored by Tor Fromhyr, head of the string department at the ANU, Chris introduced music from many traditions alongside more traditional Classical violin repertoire into his recitals and performances, including new acoustic music composed by Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor, Pekka Kuusisto, Renaud Garcia Fons and David Balakrishnan of the Turtle Island String Quartet. He completed his Bachelor of Music in violin performance in 2006, having been awarded a Chancellor’s letter of commendation in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and accepted an invitation to become a member of the Golden Key International Honours Society for Academic Excellence in 2005.
During this period, Chris joined Scots/Gaelic/Jazz band Eilean Mor, recorded their debut album ‘35 degrees south’, and toured the UK in 2006 and 2007, New Zealand and Tasmania in 2007, as well as performing at numerous festivals and concerts throughout Australia.
Chris has performed in a wide range of musical styles and environments. From an early age he has played for Scottish country dances with Australia’s top fiddlers, including Chris Duncan, Cathy Fraser and Bob McGuinness. He premiered ‘Indi’, a multi-media composition by Leanne Bear for Audio Tape, Photographic Projection and Two Violins, at the River Health Conference in Wentworth in 2005, and was orchestral leader for the premiere performance of ‘The Silk Road’ composed by Jane Brownlee, a multimedia presentation with 30 piece orchestra and video projection in 2006 at the Australian National Folk Festival. Chris has also performed extensively with the ANU Symphony Orchestra and ANU Chamber Orchestra. In August 2007, Chris performed a string of 6 concerts at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Edinburgh based singer songwriter Frank Burkitt. His most recent project has been producing and performing on Frank’s debut album ‘a little less care’.
He has recorded with the band Spoot o’Skerry on their album ‘Noxious Reeds’ and with the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club for ‘Reel Cool’ in 2001, on Ruth Lee Martin’s debut album ‘Mine Alone is the Land’ in 2005, with Eilean Mor for ‘35 Degrees South’ in 2006, with Helen Rivero for ‘Yes Capitan’ in 2007, and with Frank Burkitt for ‘a little less care’ in 2008.
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