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Shawn MacDonald

Cape Breton

Shawn MacDonald has been playing the fiddle for 51 years. Born into a musical family, he picked it up at the age of four and never put it down. Shawn was a long-time member of the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association, taking lessons from the late Professor James MacDonald of North Sydney. In 1983, he became a member of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra and played with them for 11 years. After studying performance at Acadia University, Shawn started playing Celtic music professionally, touring the U.K., Scotland, Ireland, Brittany (France), and the U.S. with his family band, Scumalash. A former cast member of the Cape Breton Summertime Revue, he is now playing with one of Cape Breton’s most popular bands, The Privateers/High Society, and is Concert Master of The Cape Breton Orchestra. The semi-retired fiddle teacher of 31 years, returns to the Celtic Colours stage as part of this year’s special encore presentation of “Celtic Mass for the Sea”.

Festival Performances

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