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Slippery Selky 3:080:00/3:08
Selected Performance Highlights:
- King’s Theater
- Full Circle Music Festival
- Toronto International Film Festival
- Living Arts Center (w/Frog In Hand)
- Stanfest (w/Shreem)
- Halifax Exhibition Center (w/DRUM)
Hi! I'm Hayley Ryerson, a fiddle performer, composer, and educator.
My early musical roots are being surrounded by folk musicians, and being drawn to traditional fiddling. My musical interests have led me to perform and collaborate in jazz, folk, theatre, classical and improvisational realms. Under my own name, I've released two studio albums: Let The Fire Die (2018), and Both Sides of The Water (2021). I have published a tunebook of original fiddle tunes, Hayley Ryerson's Tunebook Vol. 1 (2022).
Recently, I have been composing my own tunes more and more often, and am finding a balance between my musical roots as a fiddler and my interests as a musicians. I was lucky to attend a composer's residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where I had time and space to develop a collection of compositions I had brewing for solo fiddle. Following this residency, I returned to Nova Scotia and arranged this collection for quartet of harp, drums, upright bass, and fiddle with the support of Arts Nova Scotia's Creation Grant. The result is a body of work called Natural Elements that reflects my identity as a fiddler and improvisor.
When I am not playing or writing tunes, I take great pleasure in teaching! I have taught in various contexts for the past decade, and in 2020 opened my own studio in rural Nova Scotia called Four Pillars Fiddle. My work teaching youth & adults the craft of fiddling earned a nomination of Educator of the Year by Nova Scotia Music Awards 2021/22.
Highlights from my freelance performance career to date include performing with JUNO-nominated production DRUM! (2018), immersive dance-theatre company Frog in Hand in Creature (2017) and Off The Wall (2016), CFMA award-winner Shreem X CelticRemixing (2018), and MNS Jazz Album of the Year recipient Samantha Wilson (2022). I have opened for Old Man Luedecke (2018), international Celtic band The Outside Track (2019), and modern Maritime trio Hauler (2022).
I have produced, arranged, and performed on Kitchen Orkestra’s debut album (2017) and recorded as a session musician with artists such as Claire Coupland, Purcell Project, Oscar Wilde, Juice, Tom Cummings, and Aijah White.
I hold a Bachelor of Music Performance (Hons.) from Humber College, where I studied jazz violin, composition, and improvisation. I continue my education at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland studying traditional Scottish music, and violin performance.