JUNO nominated, Canadian Folk Music Award winning fiddler, violinist, and Hardanger fiddle player Elise Boeur ties together diverse influences with a deceptively light touch – her velvety sound belongs to a world all its own. Whether exploring the outfields of contemporary folk music, or as a chameleonic collaborator in many genres, her playing is unmistakable.
Her extensive work as a sideperson with songwriters has shaped a sonic sensitivity and impressionistic approach to string playing, and worldbuilding with other musicians is her great love.
Boeur sharpened her fangs in performance programs at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and Vancouver Community College, and pursued a deep interest in folk traditions through a minor in American Roots Music from Berklee, and a certificate in Norwegian Folk Music from Høgskolen i Telemark in Norway. Her music is grounded in aural folk traditions, with a particular interest in the expansive forms and elasticity of time in Norwegian hardingfele music.
Beyond her own multi-faceted string journey, Elise has worked extensively on stage and in the studio, playing with Canadian artists including Emily Millard, Sarah Jane Scouten, The Element Choir, robertalanfuturehearts, Noah Derksen, Jenny Ritter, Ten Moon, O’Mally, Giorgio Maganensi / Vancouver New Music, Morlove, and David Newberry; and international acts including Eleanor Buckland, Babbu Maan, A.R. Rahman, Karthik, Anthony Braxton’s Sonic Genome Project, Dream Theater, Darol Anger & Allison Brown, Karim Wasfi, and Alejandro Sanz.
As a bandleader, she currently concentrates on her prog-trad quintet Aerialists, using the group as a playground to explore permutations of minimalist, classical, pop, jazz, and post-rock sounds and structures reflected onto traditional celtic and nordic fiddle music. Another current focus is a duo with fiddler / guitarist Adam Iredale-Gray - a more direct communication of fiddle traditions, born out of decades of social music making together.
I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
