Maine fiddler Hope Hoffman presents lively and inventive performances of original tunes and the traditional Maine music that inspired them.

She also performs as a soloist and recording artist, and with a variety of duos and ensembles including:

Country Duet & Bluegrass singing with Jim Tolles, and

Weddings & Events with the Bowdoinham String Band

Her musical style is noted for its evocative beauty and rough-and-tumble playfulness, with influences including Renaissance and early music and Maine dance fiddlers.

She is the director and fiddle teacher at the Free Grange Music Studio in downtown Bowdoinham, which offers music lessons in various folk instruments for ages 3 and up, and adults of all levels.

Hope's collection of original fiddle tunes was written while living in Maine surrounded by a community of farmers, artists and other independent-minded people, exploring and appreciating the varied landscape and unique personality of Maine. The stories behind the tunes are generally about farm foods, weather, and the related adventures of neighbors and friends.

Her live album "Infinite Winter Squash: New Maine Fiddle Music" was described by longtime Maine fiddler and teacher Greg Boardman as "Pure New England fiddle music, proud of its rural past, relishing the present ... the feeling of a warm kitchen above a well-stocked root cellar ... The performances are inviting, warm, energized and straight ahead, with a bit of mischief thrown in."

Hope's original tunes debuted at Johnny D's club in Somerville, MA, and she continues to give formal and informal performances from Presque Isle to Manhattan. With her fiddle, viola, guitar and voice, Hope shares a rhythmic and lyrical repertoire including Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, Welsh and Scandinavian tunes.

Known for her warm and personable performances, Hope has been a freelance professional musician in Maine since 2001, providing imaginative charm and good old-fashioned fun to dozens of downtown festivals, restaurants, weddings, and community gatherings.

Hope also plays for contra dances, as well as solo fiddle for barn dances, and leads sessions for children's museums and festivals featuring fiddle music, creative movement and folk dance.

Hope's audio samples and sheet music for her original tunes are at www.hopehoffman.org.

For a résumé of previous music performances, please click here.
(printable photos available at www.hopehoffman.org/publicityphotos.htm)

Short Version of Music Bio:

Known for her warm and personable performances, fiddler and singer Hope Hoffman has been a professional musician and music teacher in Maine since 2001, providing imaginative charm and good old-fashioned fun to dozens of downtown festivals, restaurants, weddings, and community gatherings. She is the director of the Free Grange Music Studio in downtown Bowdoinham, which offers music lessons in various folk instruments for ages 3 and up, and adults of all levels. Hope's musical style is noted for its evocative beauty and rough-and-tumble playfulness. Her album of original tunes, Infinite Winter Squash: New Maine Fiddle Music, was described by Maine fiddler Greg Boardman as "inviting, warm, energized and straight ahead, with a bit of mischief thrown in." Hope plays for contra dances, as well as solo fiddle for barn dances, and leads sessions for children's museums and festivals featuring fiddle music, creative movement and folk dance.

Hope Hoffman
(207) 332-3459
E-mail
www.hopehoffman.org