A multi-award winning fiddle player and composer of more than 700 tunes will take to the Elder Citizens Rec Centre stage Thursday night before he moves on to the Quesnel Legion Friday.
Calvin Vollrath has released many fiddle albums and has been inducted into the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame for his efforts.
Vollrath has been to Prince George several times and remembers competing at the fiddle contest here in 1977 when he was just 17 years old.
"It will be nice to come and visit with old friends and new," Vollrath said, who is from St. Paul, Alberta. "I just released my 69th album and when I think about it it's just crazy. It's called The Gift and so we've called this tour The Gift Tour."
He just returned from touring in Ontario and Quebec for two weeks and now he's on the western portion of the tour, he said.
Vollrath, who is known around the world for his fiddle music, will be touring with Jeremy Rusu, who Vollrath said is a musical genius who can play any instrument put in front of him. Vollrath and Rusu will be accompanied by Vollrath's wife Rhea Labrie who will be along to step dance as part of the entertainment.
"When people hear it's a fiddle show people just think it's old time fiddle but we're more than that," Vollrath said. "We'll be doing everything from Don Messer to Elvis Presley, Tom Jones to Louis Armstrong - pretty much anything. We've got big influences in music and we can play pretty much anything."
Out of all his accomplishments one event stands out in his mind as a highlight of his career and that was when he was commissioned to compose five fiddle tunes to be performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 during the opening ceremonies that would represent the different styles of fiddling Canada enjoys.
"It was a great honour to be chosen - I know there are lots of fiddle players in the country," Vollrath said.
The Olympic committee spent two years touring the country and Vollrath said they realized that in pretty much every culture fiddle music held a prominent place.
"So the musical director did some research and found that I was a fiddle player in Canada that had been writing tunes and other fiddle players were playing those tunes so they contacted me and it was a huge honour," Vollrath said.
It was like a secret mission, he added. Vollrath was flown out to a recording studio in Vancouver about six months before the Olympics took place.
"I didn't know exactly what I was flying there for," Vollrath said. "They picked me up at the airport, took me to a recording studio, and when I got there they said we're going to get you to compose music."
Each piece was to be composed in a different style.
"So it was an amazing thing and I was there at the Olympics to play the music along with many other fiddle players," Vollrath said. "It was a great, great experience."
During the western part of The Gift Tour, Vollrath will be stopping in Salmon Arm, Williams Lake and Clinton. He said he enjoys playing at the smaller venues, as well as the big ones.
"I'm really looking forward to coming to Prince George and sharing the music," Vollrath said.
The Gift will be presented tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Elder Citizens' Rec Centre, 1692 Tenth Ave. Tickets are $25 at Books & Co. or at the door and Friday at 7 p.m. at the Legion, 262 Kinchant St. in Quesnel. Tickets are $20 at the Legion or at Circle S.
