JEREMY KITTEL
“(Kittel & Co.) takes the string band tradition to marvelously rarefied levels of collective virtuosity. Playing a repertoire from bluegrass to Bach to a strathspey and reel set… [they] sounded thrillingly spontaneous… Taking traditional music forward.” — Times UK
BIO
Jeremy Kittel is an American fiddler, violinist, and composer. Fluent in multiple musical genres, his original music draws from traditional roots, jazz, Celtic, Classical, electronic, and more. Kittel performs with his own band or trio, as a duo, and as a soloist with orchestras. In addition to his own projects, he has composed and arranged for such artists as Abigail Washburn, Aoife O’Donovan, My Morning Jacket, Camera Obscura, Jars of Clay, Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Laura Veirs, and the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet (of which he was a member for five years). He has also recorded with artists such as Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Mark O’Connor and Mike Marshall.
His most recent solo recording, Chasing Sparks (Compass), features original compositions with a stellar cast of musicians, including special guests Meyer, Thile, and Marshall. He is currently working on his fifth solo album. Kittel previewed some of his new compositions on the Oct 10, 2015 broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion,” (guest-hosted by I’m With Her).
In 2015, Kittel co-composed “Bull Frogs Croon,” a new orchestral work featuring himself and Aoife O’Donovan as soloists. This adds to a growing body of original compositions and arrangements for orchestra, which can be heard in concerts presented around North America. He has performed as soloist with the Detroit Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Britt Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, and more.
Committed to the belief that music and the arts are central to the human experience, he is a passionate clinician and educator. He has taught at such programs as Berklee College of Music, Belmont University, The New School, International Music Academy of Pilsen, Zurich University of the Arts, Mark O’Connor Strings Camps, the Swannanoa Gathering, and Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School.
Kittel has a master’s degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and received the 2010 Emerging Artist Award from his alma mater, the University of Michigan. He has received numerous other awards over the years, including the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship, six Detroit Music Awards and two ASTA Alternative Style awards. He was also the first recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin.