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Artist Bio

Saskia Tomkins plays violin/fiddle, viola and nyckelharpa. From near Canterbury, Kent in the UK, she moved to Ontario in 2007 with her family, bringing with them a wealth of musical talent and experience. Saskia’s musical abilities on bowed strings are wide ranging, from classical to Celtic, to Django-jazz, to songwriter accompaniment. After drinking wine with Stefan Grappelli and eaten curry with The Dubliners, she completed a BA in Jazz and popular music, which enabled her the freedom to explore music from all round the world.

She has played with countless artists in many genres, including Uriah Heep’s 30th anniversary concert, improvising with dancers at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and learning cello for Michael Bogdanov and the English Shakespeare Company. She has recorded on over 60 albums for other artists and several with her own groups. Saskia is also the All Britain Champion for Irish Fiddle. In Canada, Saskia has worked at 4th Line Theatre for 8 years.

Saskia was commissioned to co-write the music with Steafan Hannigan for Driving Miss Daisy at The Capitol Theatre, Port Hope, and developed the music for the Broadway hit, "Come From Away", also with Steafan. She is principle 2nd violin in Quinte Symphony Orchestra and frequently plays with Kim Doolittle, and David Newland in his band "Unchartered Waters".

Her personal projects include the duo with her husband "Steafan & Saskia" playing mostly Irish music with a twist of other stuff; the instrumental duo “2ish” who play almost all their own compositions; the Celtic-crossover band “Cairdeas” and the jazz trio "Marsala and the Imports".
Saskia currently has 3 albums on iTunes (and Spodify etc): with “2ish”, and with "Steafan & Saskia". She also has hard copies if you prefer to hold a CD in your hand.
In between gigs, Saskia spends time teaching violin and viola, reading books and watching the birds out of the window. She hopes to meet other Nyckelharpa players in Canada, so has started a "Nyckelharpa Canada" facebook page...if you know of anyone....