Hanneke Cassel is known for being an effervescent and engaging performer whose music career spans over two decades. Her style fuses influences from the Isle of Skye and Cape Breton Island with Americana grooves and musical innovations. She creates a cutting-edge acoustic sound that retains the integrity and spirit of the Scottish tradition. Hanneke’s music is a blend of the contemporary and traditional, described by the Boston Globe as “exuberant and rhythmic, somehow wild and innocent, delivered with captivating melodic clarity and an irresistible playfulness.”

Cassel is a prolific composer who writes music from personal experiences of love and loss as well as to commemorate the joys and sorrows in the lives of her loved ones. Her latest release, Trip to Walden Pond, features traditional Scottish and Cape Breton tunes and seventeen new pieces composed in the Scottish idiom. Her lively style is very much evident on this album but it also carries a deep, soulful sound with songs of celebration and farewell. Cassel’s Oregon roots and background as a Texas-style fiddler led her on a journey to win the 1997 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship and her recorded music and live shows have captivated audiences the world over.

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Mike Block is a pioneering multi-style cellist, singer, composer, and educator. He has been hailed by Yo-Yo Ma as the “ideal musician of the 21st century,” and acclaimed by the New York Times for his “vital rich-hued solo playing.” Mike has joined Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble with which he has toured extensively throughout the world and won a 2017 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album. Mike is also an active recording artist of original material, folk music, and cross-cultural collaborations.

• Hanneke Cassel is an excellent player with a level of versatility that enables her to move between musical styles with great ease, and a sense of creativity that pushes the boundary of a straight traditional sound without trampling all over it. Irish Echo (June 2014)
• She is already a rising star in the Celtic skies . . . her musical ideas are savvy and sophisticated, but her throaty, gusting style is deeply banked in the Scottish and Cape Breton traditions. Boston Globe
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• Mike Block has a pedigree that few young musicians today have. He studied with the incredible cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whom he counts as not only a mentor but also a friend. Mr. Ma performed at Mike’s wedding to Hanneke Cassel (a fabulous fiddle player); how many people can say that? Suze Uttal, No Depression
• vital, rich-hued solo playing New York Times
• a true artist . . . a sight to behold Salt Lake City Deseret News

• Hanneke Cassel Band’s

• Website | Video | Interview

• Mike Block’s

• Website | Video | Interview