fiddlefaddle

	Dave May comes from a long line of Scottish Fiddlers and has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Celtic tunes at his fingertips, many of which were passed down from his father in the aural tradition. He began playing the fiddle at seven years old and after touring Switzerland he settled in Ireland for many years, developing his craft playing alongside the likes of Noel Redding of 'The Jimi Hendrix Experience' and various members of The Dubliners. Where John brings dynamism and charisma, Dave brings an equal measure of virtuosic flair and passion, bringing to the group the brilliance and brightness of the violin. He is a versatile player and can turn his hand to classical, swing and free improvisation. He has played with a range of musicians such as Denis Cahill and Martin Haynes, and has recorded for various bands and studios in Hong Kong. He has been performing along side John Hutton for 12 years.

John Hutton is a songwriter and swing guitarist specializing in Swing and Celtic music. He has a rich catalogue of music from the swing era. John started playing guitar as a teenager, after picking up a Buddy Holly songbook and learning by ear. He began his musical career performing at the Edinburgh fringe festival arranging and performing in a theatre production of Dr Faust. He toured Europe with a gypsy jazz-fusion band, The Gypsy Ramblers, and then went to live in France, coordinating the Edinburgh/Avignon Arts Festival exchange for many years. He has been performing in south-east Asia for over 20 years. He arrived in Hong Kong in 1990 as a solo artist, writing and performing original music for fringe theatre and his own projects. Since coming to Asia he has written, produced and recorded CDs of his own compositions; most recently The Blue Aardvark. He has arranged and performed the music for fashion shows in Shanghai and Germany, Musical Theatre at the Fringe Club, Hong Kong and arranged the music for headline gigs at various Asian festivals. He has written countless educational songs for children, educational CDs and books and spent the last 10 years touring with south-east Asia's premier Celtic music band. John also plays mandolin, ukulele, clarinet and harmonica. He has a charismatic stage presence as a front man captivating his audience with his energetic and imaginative delivery.

	Neil Art began his love of music at an early age, picking up the bass guitar and learning riffs and bass lines when he was still at school. He has always had a passion for music and performance working in theatre and television in his native country Canada, and working as a sound engineer for many years before immigrating to Hong Kong. He began live performance as a double bassist in the last decade with the Jewish ensemble Shakealeg. He studied bass privately. He has been involved with the band for the past 3 years after meeting and playing with Dave at an impromptu gig. Neil has an imposing stage presence, standing 6,6 and is a lively member of the quartet giving a variation of sounds and rich tones of the acoustic instrument from slap bass to deep sultry bowing.

Nina Plapp is a cellist and composer from South London and is the newest member of the band. She comes from a long line of musicians and began playing the cello at an early age of four, receiving lessons from her great aunt, also a cellist. At 16 she studied under Alexander Boyarsky and later studied chamber music with Alfia Nakipbekova of the Bekova Trio and Jazz cello with Alfia's partner, James Hesford of Cellorythmics from whom she still attains great inspiration. She then went on to receive her bachelors in Performance Studies at Trinity College of Music, London. After college she continued her studies privately in both jazz and classical cello, in Norway and later Egypt. Over the last 5 years Nina has performed with artists such as Rox, Angie Brown (Fatboy Slim,Bizarre inc.), Lifford (Artful Dodger) and Alison David (Red Snapper) and recently supported the highly successful Britpop band 'The Charlatans' with Hong Kong band 'Of Moths and Stars'. Nina worked as a session /theatre musician in London and has collaborated on various recordings and worked on productions such as the Royal court theatre's new production 'Rough Cuts' collaborated arrangements for the Philip Lawrence awards and many other shows. She developed a passion for composition and fusion music and began studying arrangement at college; particularly jazz and improvisational techniques. On her way she has collaborated with jazz musicians, actors, acrobats, dancers from the Royal Ballet School and LABAN, street performers in Paris, gypsies in Spain, Gnawa groups in Morocco, Georgian folk bands at festivals and Poets.

For enquiries and bookings contact: mail@prestigestrings.com