Calvin Cairns

Calvin Cairns is a well known Canadian fiddler and musical entertainer. He has toured extensively, as a solo musician and with various bands and theater companies, in Russia, Europe, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, the USA, and from coast to coast to coast across Canada. A graduate of Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, where he studied violin technique, arranging and composition, he has also received intensive private training on violin with teachers in Canada and England. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays Violin, Piano, Concertina, Accordion, Musical Saw, Bowed Psaltry and various percussion instruments. Calvin is perhaps best known for his wildly popular band, The Romaniacs.

Along with partner Steve Bengtson, he combined his Ukrainian background with other eastern European folk, gypsy jazz and pop influences to create a unique style of ethno-fusion. This non-stop tongue in cheek polka party performed at every major folk music festival in Canada.      Other highlights included the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. The Romaniacs appeared with the Halifax and Thunder Bay Symphonies, recorded two albums (a third compilation was released to critical acclaim in Japan) and toured Australia.

    He fiddled his way from Moose Jaw to Moscow with the Canadian folk music institution Stringband, a completely Canadian band that did many concert tours including performances in The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Moldavia, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and Baker Lake. Calvin has also performed and recorded with Connie Kaldor, Humphrey and the Dumptrucks, Don Freed, Ferron, Spirit of the West, The Bill Hilly Band, Bob Bossin, and even had the thrill of playing with Pete Seeger at the Orpheum Theater in Vancouver. Most recently he performed to sold-out houses across Canada with Stuart MacLean and The Vinyl Café.

     Calvin's career in theatrical music began with The Caravan Stage Company, touring in horse drawn wagons across North America in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He has since written, performed and directed for numerous companies including Welfare State International (England), Public Dreams (Vancouver), and the Caravan Farm Theatre (BC). In 1993 Calvin teamed up with comic genius Gina Bastone. They created The Suzy & Uncle Joe Family Show, a classic comedy team that left a trail of "I can't believe they did that!" everywhere they played. Calvin has composed, arranged and performed music for film, television and radio, including: The Peridichucks (CBC,TV); Max Glick (CBC,TV) and numerous radio and television appearances with the Romaniacs. Calvin's musical score for the CD ROM "Making History", about the 1885 Riel Rebellion, received national acclaim.

     In 1996 Calvin moved to Victoria BC. He teaches fiddle at the Victoria Conservatory of Music where he has established the Conservatory Fiddlers Orchestra, an ensemble of over thirty fiddlers aged six to eighty-six. He plays with the Victoria Civic Orchestra, and continues to work with the Caravan Farm Theatre in the summer season.

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