No.Va. RSCDS Logo    Argyle Banner

Musicians

Liz Donaldson

Liz Donaldson

Liz Donaldson plays piano and accordion. She is known for her innovative back-up style, incorporating exciting rhythms, textures, and harmony lines in her music. Liz is a 2017 recipient of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society's Scroll of Honour. In addition to playing for Scottish, English, and American contra dances, Liz teaches all these styles and dances too! She is a member of Terpsichore, Waverley Station, Elegant Echoes and The New Hip Trio. Her recordings include A Dancer's Best Friend; Caledonian Muse; Terpsichore, Scottish Dance Music; Waverley Station - First Stop!; Memories of Scottish Weekend and More Memories of Scottish Weekend, as well as two English Dance CDs English Echoes and English Echoes II. Liz has two books of Scottish tune medleys and has taught and played at numerous dance weekends and music workshops, including Scottish Weekend, Pinewoods, and Asilomar. Her travels have taken her to Great Britain, Canada, France, and Japan.


Elke Baker

Elke Baker

Elke Baker is a veteran dance musician and concert performer. Since her first Scottish dance class in college, she has made Scottish dance music a central focus of her playing, and is a regular at Scottish dance weekends, camps, and balls across North America and indeed around the world. She's a former U.S. National Scottish fiddle Champion, Washington Conservatory of Music faculty member, Artist-in-Residence at Montgomery College, and Arts panelist at Harvard University, and has performed at venerable venues such as the Kennedy Center, Hylton Performing Arts Center, and the Birchmere. She teaches the joys of Scottish music to countless students, most especially through the Potomac Valley Scottish Fiddle Club, which she has taught for 25 years, and at the Ohio Scottish Arts School at Oberlin. She has recorded several SCD albums and a good number of listening albums. Playing Scottish music for dancers is one of her very favorite things, although dancing runs a close second.


Shona MacFadyen

Shona MacFadyen

Shona MacFadyen started playing violin at the age of 8 at school and later became enthralled with Scottish music when her sister, Susan, started learning the accordion. Shona was brought up with Scottish music around her and the family would always have Take The Floor on BBC Radio Scotland on a Saturday night playing. Shona has won numerous competitions all over Scotland including the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs festival, Perth accordion festival as well as in Banchory and Kirriemuir. Shona also competed in the prestigious Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship and the first ever Niel Gow Scottish Fiddle Awards 6 years ago. Along with her sister, Susan, Shona attended the MG Alba Na Trads Awards - the Scottish Musics version on the "Oscars" - where they walked away with the title of Scottish Dance Band of the Year 2018. Shona has played for country dances up and down the UK and further afield for the last 16 years. Shona has been involved with the RSCDS Summer and Winter Schools for a number of years, and is looking forward to working alongside her sister, Susan, teaching the musicians course this year.