Susan Aylard, violin/fiddle
Susan began violin studies at the age of three and was a consistent winner of local music festivals, culminating in first place in Senior Strings at the BC Festival of the Arts. Susan specialized in violin while pursuing a degree in church music at the Canadian Mennonite Bible College In Winnipeg. She continued her studies at the U of Manitoba, acting as concertmaster of the Universtity Orchestra for three years while completing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in violin performance. Her "Sabeon Trio" twice competed in the Canadian National Music competitions as Manitoba's representatives for chamber groups. After completing her studies, Susan spent 2 years as assistant concertmaster of the Prince George Symphony and as Musica Director and Suzuki Specialist at the Prince George Music School before making her move to the interior of BC.
It was in 1990, while with the National Youth Orchestra that Susan realized "how much I loved being part of a group". She admits to enjoying solo work, but much prefers the companionship and fun of playing with others.
The violin became the instrumnet of choice for Susan at an early age, so early that she hardly remembers why she chose it. "you'll have to ask my mom, but I assume it had to do with the fact that my older brother played violin."
Susan played four years, with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, three of which were as Concertmaster. The 1999/2000 season was her first as a core member of the Okanagan Symphony.
Susan currently resides in White Lake with her husband Kerry and two kids, Caleb (2 and 1/2) and Sarah (2 months). They live on a small acreage in the woods and Susan and the kids love gardening and landscaping. Favorite sports are watersports in the summer and skiing in the winter. Susan also plays competitive volleyball
The idea starting a fiddle band has been in my mind for some years, it just takes so much work getting the right musicians together. Anita and my sister, Sonja moved from Vancouver the same year and it just worked perfect. Having a strong piano player is really important with my style of music. Having a great violinist to add gives us a variety and sound that is hard to duplicate. We also all come from strong singing backgrounds and the challenge is figuring out 5 harmonies to best utilize all our voices. then finding a sound system that can accommodate us.
Adrienna MacKnee, drums
Musical background: piano lessons to grd.7, played oboe for 9 years. 2 years with the college orchestra, played trumpet in jazz bands for 3 years, played drums since 16 years old
sang in college choirs, in the car and while snowboarding down favorite runs in the sun
Musical taste: anything but pop, prefer punk, hip-hop/core, classical, celtic, swing and jazz
Favorite bands: Thousand Foot Krutch, MxPx,
Favorite soundtracks: Braveheart, Lord of the Rings
Favorite song: Adream is a wish your heart makes-Cinderella
Interest/hobbies: snowboarding, rock climbing, suntanning in a speed boat, animals(would like to go on a Safari in Africa
Work: 3 year, currently working at Silver Star Mountain Resort as a lift operator
Purple Springs tree farm in the Summer
Ness Lake Bible Camp in Prince George as a counselor and instructor for rock-climbing and skateboarding
Heather Harris, guitar
Born in Abbotsford, BC, raised in Armstrong on a vegetable farm(mostly garlic)
Formal music training: 1year piano, 2 classical guitar but had more interest in self taught guitar chords when I was 20. Now plays mostly on church worship teams
Other education: B.Sc in Agriculture(concentrating in plant diseases) and B.Ed(Secondary)
Lately have mostly worked as a science teacher at Kings Christian School in Salmon Arm but is on maternity leave right now.
Married July 2000 to Jim; first attracted by his willingness to learn new things and his range of talents/interests(and of course his red beard)
Son Alastair(born Aug.2004);a real cutie
Live in Enderby on a small farm on the Shuswap river, currently have one goat, a cow, a steer, a psychotic dog who likes cow patties and a mangy cat and a large population of maple bugs
Enjoy all types of music but especially celtic and 60/70's music(thanks to Jim)
Interest: reading, playing music, gardening and enjoying any sort of outdoor activity
Favorite weekly activity:dinner and bible study at Black's(they are very wacky people)
Anita Liebich, piano
Anita was born in Salmon Arm, where she grew up in a musical family. Some of her first memories are of singing with her family, often while working in the garden or on road trips. She began taking piano lesssons at the age of six, and after some initial frustrations it became one of her favourite ways to relax. Although her siblings insist that it was a cunning plan to avoid doing the dishes after supper, Anita maintains that her mother enjoyed listening to her play and was reluctant to interrupt. When her older brother began studying voice, Anita discovered the joy of playing music with other people, and after graduating from high school continued her musical studies at Capilano College. She focussed her studies on chamber music and accompaniment, and completed her Bachelor of Music Degree at UBC in 2002, graduating at the top of her class. Since then she has played with several choirs and soloists in Vancouver. In the fall of 2004, Anita returned to Salmon Arm to teach piano for the Shuswap Community Music Academy. She is happy to be back home, teaching, working as an accompanist, and expanding her musical experience playing with the Cats and the Fiddle.
Sonja Heide, violin
Sonja grew up the youngest of three siblings in a very musical family. She began studying piano at the age of six but switched to the violin after two years. Sonja wanted to play every instrument and added a few years of classical guitar studies, some cello and some clarinet. She also enjoyed singing in numerous choirs and ensembles.
During her years studying classical violin, her main instrument, Sonja performed with both the Intermediate and Senior Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestras. This gave her the opportunity to tour Europe and perform with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Sonja regularly won 1st place in area music festivals and twice competed at the Provincial level.
Sonja’s days are busy with caring for her 2 young children and running The Maples Waterfront Resort with her husband, Herb. She enjoys other artistic endeavours, especially crafting and scrapbooking.