Founded in 1982, the Calgary Fiddlers Association is one of Canada’s most unique and celebrated youth music organizations, inspiring young musicians through the rich tradition of fiddle music while building confidence, discipline, teamwork, and lifelong friendships.

The Association offers four dynamic performance groups for students ages 6 to 18: Bow Valley Fiddle Cats, Bow Valley Fiddlestix, Bow Valley Fiddle Fusion, and the renowned Calgary Fiddlers, comprised of the organization’s older and more musically advanced performers.

Together, these ensembles perform at more than 80 events each year, including community festivals, fundraisers, seniors residences, schools, conferences, and special events. Their energetic productions blend exceptional musicianship, choreography, and showmanship, creating unforgettable performances for audiences of all ages.

The Association’s young musicians train through weekly group rehearsals, individual coaching, workshops, and many hours of personal practice. Their repertoire spans traditional Canadian fiddle music, country, bluegrass, Celtic favourites, big band classics, and contemporary crowd-pleasers—making every performance fresh, exciting, and widely appealing.

The Calgary Fiddlers Association runs a few programs that allow our students to create real impact in and around the Calgary community:

• Healing Through Music - performances for hospitals, hospices and palliative care centre to deliver music as therapy to those undergoing medical treatment or facing end of life.
• Spreading Fiddle Music - interactive performances for schools and educational centres to introduce young students to the art of fiddle music.

Annual free and ticketed concerts are also produced for Calgarians to enjoy:

• Fiddle Fantasia (in December)
• CFA Barn Dance (in March)
• Sweet on Fiddlin' (in May)
• Fiddle Frenzy (in June)

The Calgary Fiddlers are also proud cultural ambassadors. They tour throughout Alberta, across Canada, and internationally, with overseas tours every third summer. Recent destinations include Spain and Peru. Annual Fiddle Summit gatherings with other fiddle groups across Western Canada have taken place in Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, and Calgary.

Since 1982, the organization has performed for dignitaries and public figures around the world, including Queen Elizabeth II and Stephen Harper, and appeared on Live with Kelly during a special broadcast filmed in Banff.

Despite their international success, the Calgary Fiddlers remain deeply rooted in their community. Through their beloved Celebrate Canada seniors outreach program, they perform at more than 60 mobility-limited seniors residences each year, bringing joy, nostalgia, connection, and the healing power of live music to older adults across the region.

For more than four decades, the Calgary Fiddlers Association has proudly preserved fiddle traditions while shaping the next generation of leaders, performers, and community-minded young people.