BURNING BRIDGET CLEARY

Rose Baldino - Fiddle, vocals, banjo Rose fell in love with the Irish culture at an early age. She began studying classical violin at age eight, and spent two years participating in the Young Musician's Community Orchestra. Since the age of thirteen, she has studied Celtic fiddle music, mainly with teacher/fiddler extraodinaire Deirdre Lochman of the Lochman Family Musicians and Dancers. Concurrently, she began attending traditional Irish music sessions and has studied with internationally known artists at Celtic summer music camps in Asheville, NC and Milwaukee, WI. Her most recent teacher has been Brendan Callahan of Philadelphia. Rose is now a senior at Temple University, studying Communications. In high school, Rose participated in orchestra, concert, advanced, and show choirs. For four years, she played with the Itinerant Fiddlers at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival in northern Montgomery County, PA. As part of a father-daughter duo, she and dad, Lou, provided musical entertainment for Civil War balls, living history events, local clubs, community, private and business venues in PA and DE for several years before the advent of "BBC".

Rose teaches fiddle lessons to students of all ages and is happily working as an intern for the Philadelphia Folksong Society.

Kat Watson - Fiddle, vocalsKat Watson lived most of her life in Texas, surrounded by Celtic music from an early age. Her Dad is a native Scot - and the Texas Watsons’ still make their traditional family shortbread - now in the shape of armadillos! Kat began studying violin at ten years of age and fiddle-style at eleven. During high school, her family moved to the mountains of central California where she continued playing both classical and fiddle styles as she studied with Mischa Lefkowitz of the L.A. Philharmonic and played with the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra. Fiddle teachers included Andy Stein (Prairie Home Companion), Sandy MacIntyre (Cape Breton), Natalie Haas (cello), and Alasdair Fraser (Scottish fiddle).

After graduating with a B.S. in Accounting in 2009, Kat landed an accounting job and moved to Harrisburg. Finding few Celtic musicians in the area, Kat played with several rock groups, polishing her audience skills and developing an exceptional, high-energy performance style.

Kat is excited to return to her Celtic roots and BBC looks forward to exploring new directions with her.

P.S. Kat's given name is Katherin (kath-AIR-in), but she's happy to let us shorten it to “Kat”.

Lou Baldino - Guitar, vocals Lou, a veteran in the music business, had a guitar in his hands at age 5 and began playing professionally at age 12. Throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's, he traveled and recorded with a variety of bands - including 3 years of travel with the famous Platters, as part of their backup band. Lou spent a good part of the 80's playing with the Michael Carney Orchestras out of NYC. With this orchestra, he had the honor of performing in Washington D.C., for the inauguration of President George H. W. Bush in 1988. Lou began backing up Rose's fiddle playing in 2002 and soon became immersed in a love for Celtic music. The rest is history.

Peter Trezzi - djembe drum

http://www.burningbridgetcleary.com/