Biography (Courtesy of the Artist�s site, 2006)


Celtic Fiddler, Kendra MacGillivray is the 2002 ECMA "Female Artist of the
Year" and "Instrumental Artist of the Year". MacGillivray has performed at
festivals & events around the world. From a square dance or Scottish
concert in Cape Breton to a main stage performance at the Glengarry Highland Games or Harrison Festival of the Arts or to a corporate event in Japan or Barbados, Kendra plays the music of her Scottish ancestors with energy and passion.

In the past year, Kendra has performed with Philip Glass & Friends in
concert at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Symphony Nova Scotia in the
"Maritime Pops Series", Atlantic Scene Festival in Ottawa, Villa Montalvo in
California and was a featured performer in DRUM!, the musical in Halifax.

MacGillivray was also featured in a CBS movie called, "Heart of a Stranger",
starring Jane Seymour and presented awards on the 2003 East Coast Music
Awards, a CBC production and the 2002 MIANS Music Awards.

She was also awarded the "Young Alumna of the Year" from her alma mater, St.Francis Xavier University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1995. Kendra has been a guest lecturer at St. Francis Xavier University, Business of Music course because she has been managing her own career and producing her own recordings.


Musically, she was influenced from the very beginning by her grandfather's fiddle music, Hugh A. MacDonald, a pioneer recording artist and recipient of the ECMA Stompin' Tom Award and a Nova Scotia Country Hall of Fame Induction. Although she was much too young to learn fiddle tunes from him while he was living, Kendra danced to his music at every chance and his playing has inspired the music she plays today.

Naturally, Kendra started taking highland dance lessons at the age of six, followed by classical piano lessons, fiddle lessons and then classical violin lessons. Music and dance were in her blood!

MacGillivray has three recordings. "Over the Waves", released in 2000, "Clear the Track", released in 1996, and "Antigonish_s Own" her debut recording in 1990.

Kendra is in the process of selecting, arranging and composing tunes for a new 2004 recording and show. At the same time she continues to perform her most requested selections, ranging from lively jigs, to hauntingly beautiful slow airs and rousing sets of strathspeys and reels - in theatres, festivals and corporate events - in venues nearby and far away...'Over The Waves'.

Kendra's main stage show features a very energetic full band performance (fiddles, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums) including choreographed stepdancing routines. Depending on the function, Kendra also entertains with smaller combinations and due to her performance flexibility, Kendra is in high demand for many functions.