Western Open Fiddle Championships

20/10/2023

18/10/2023

17/10/2023

Hustling around the community today promoting the WO Fiddle Contest!
Supervisors Meeting early this morning, Rotary club at Noon and City Council this evening. 🎻

17/10/2023

Thank you Dolling Insurance Agency for this wonderful article!!

15/09/2023

Looking to sharpen up your Contest Round before the 40th Annual Western Open Fiddle Championships. Join COSTFA, District 6, at The Palo Cedro Grange on Sunday October 1st, 2023 for our Western Open Practice Fiddle Contest. Where we provide the Full Fiddle Competition Experience without the stress!

• Practice and time your tunes.
• Get on stage practice with Experienced Accompanists
• Pre Register for the Western Open
• and More!

See You There!

24/08/2023

For more detailed information visit the Western Open website at www.WesternOpenFiddle.com.
There is an organized schedule, updated rules, and more!
Visit www.WesternOpenFiddle.com!

When we reflect upon the 35 years of the Western Open Fiddle Championships, it is the people who have made it so special. Many of the members of the Western Open Committee have been on board for every contest. We've watched some of our "fiddle kids" on their journeys as they competed all the way fro...

24/08/2023

Get ready for the Western Open Fiddle Championships!!
There will be a silent auction with various items for sale. Some of them being pieces painted by our very own Marj Brown!

22/08/2023

Looking to sharpen up your Contest Round before the 40th Annual Western Open Fiddle Championships? Join COSTFA District 6, at The Palo Cedro Community Hall on Sunday October 1st, 2023for our Western Open Pratice Fiddle Contest. Were we provide the full Fiddle competition Experience without the stress!

* Pratice and time your fiddle tunes.
* Get on stage and pratice with Experienced Accompanists.
* Pre register for Western Open
* And More!

31/05/2023

05/12/2022

*Friday, December 16,
Redding PAS concert at 7:30
at Pilgrim Congregational church

*Saturday December 17 at
5:00 pm in Weaverville at the TAPAC

*Sunday afternoon
December 18 at 3:00 pm in Red Bluff at St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church—free, with donations

French Gulch Hee Haw Fiddler Returns
JANA JAE TO BRING QUARTET CONCERTS TO
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA—Fiddling Meets the Classics!
Longtime Redding resident Cherie Gans welcomes her sister,
well-known violinist/fiddler and former Redding resident, Jana
Jae, home for concerts in the area. Jana joins Cherie to bring the Compass Quartet to Northern California, featuring Debussy and Prokofiev plus some hoedowns!
Jana Jae Greif was instrumental in the early success of the Redding string program, later earning widespread recognition for her work on TV series Hee Haw and Nashville Now, as well as international touring with Buck Owens, Roy Clark,
Chet Atkins, the Oak Ridge Boys and many other famed artists. Jana learned to fiddle at her grandpa’s knee, with schottisches in the kitchen, but her classical side lead to free education in Colorado, Interlochen, and Vienna, studying
under Anton Landler and Rafael Druian and graduating magna cm laude with a degree in Violin Performance and being concertmaster of the Boise Philharmonic.
Moving to California, Jana taught strings at Shasta College
and Redding elementary schools, growing the enrollment from 5 to 105. Her most famous area student was young Scott Joss, of Merle Haggard fame. Jana started our own Fiddlers’
Association in Redding, putting the area on the map as a music and fiddling hub. Clear Creek, her bluegrass band with fiddle, guitar, piano, banjo, and bass became a sensation at the French Gulch Hotel. When Buck Owens came to perform
in Redding, he asked Jana to play on stage with him, then later when his fiddler was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident, Buck remembered Jana and eventually hired her. She became a member of the Buckaroos and a regular on
Hee Haw with her blue fiddle, long black hair and short skirts. Later Jana formed her own band, Hotwire, with her own amalgamation of music and toured the entire country. Her
extensive solos with symphonies incorporated both Bach and bluegrass, returning home twice to Shasta Symphony. Her sister Cherie encouraged her to take up a new musical endeavor—chamber music. This new world for Jana saw her
quickly rise to the top of any quartet or quintet playing Beethoven to Ravel. Jana and Cherie started the Idaho Chamber Music Workshop on the shores of Payette Lake,
which naturally was followed by the Hells Canyon Fiddle Camp. They have played chamber music in Italy, France, England, Argentina, and Romania.
The sisters have teamed with Sherry Hanson of Fortuna and Barbara Johnston of Portland to create the Compass Quartet which has been together for three years. Coming from the four points of the compass—Tulsa, Scappoose, Fortuna, and
Redding--they still manage to have a great time perfecting the classical quartet repertoire.
Three concerts will be given:
The
Debussy and Prokofiev II String Quartets will be performed,
with hot fiddling and Christmas carols for the season.
Bach, blue & bluegrass? Northern California welcomes Jana,
Cherie, and the Compass Quartet for the December 16-18
weekend.

11/11/2022

http://www.coverbandcentral.com

07/11/2022

Congratulations to all the Contestants! 🎻

Western Open Results 10/22/2022

Peewee (age 8 and under) [7]
1. Tommy Pierce
2. Kyla Kozlowski, Chico
3. Jackson Benham, Redding
4. Trevor Jensen, Meridian ID
5. Rowan McNeil, Reno NV

Youngest Fiddler
Rowan McNeil, age 6, Reno NV

Junior Junior (age 12 and under) [9]
1. Adrienne Jensen, Meridian ID
2. Kambri Jensen, Meridian ID
3. Sophie McNeil, Reno NV
4. Robin Sorensen, Dixson
5. Kylan Malme

Junior (ages 17 and under) [13]
1. Kaitlyn Nejely, Caldwell ID
2. Lucy Crary, Fresno
3. Rachel Beck, Melba ID
4. Gracie Benham, Redding
5. Sevina Versales, Reno NV

Adult (ages 19-54) [5]
1. Ben LiaBraaten, Yuba City
2. Holly Sternberg, Reno NV
3. Tori Gillam, Chico
4. Eve McNeil, Reno NV
5. John Stucky, Sparks NV

Senior (ages 55-69) [3]
1. Ginger Vogel, Chico
2. Eric Malme, Sacramento
3. Rod Ballou, Redding

Senior Senior (ages 70 and up) [7]
1. Starr McMullen, Corvallis OR
2. Gus Garelick, Sebastopol
3. Nicki Carlisle, Bethany OK
4. Pat Scott, Red Bluff
5. Kathy Kampschmidt, Willows

Oldest Fiddler
Carl Malotte, Lincoln, age 89

Open (any age) [9]
1. Katrina Nicolayeff, Meridian ID
2. Tashina Clarridge, Forks of Salmon
3. Alex Sharps, Colombia
4. Tricia Ferguson, Redding
5. Eliza Beck, Melba ID
6. Eric Anderson, Lincoln
7. Joe Osborn, San Rafael
8. Liam McNeil, Reno NV
9. Lucie Benham, Redding

Junior Twin Fiddle (age 17 and under) [3]
1. Rachel and Eliza Beck
2. Liam and Sophie McNeil
3. Kyla Kozlowski/Kendall Harrigan

Open Twin Fiddle (age 18 and up) [6]
1. Katrina Nicolayeff/Kaitlyn Nejely
2. Holly Sternberg/Katharine MacMartin
3. Kathy Kampschmidt/Nicki Carlisle

Open Picking (any age) [5]
1. Jacob Akana, Redding
2. Robert Sorensen, Dixson
3. Eric Anderson, Lincoln

Junior Picking [8]
1. Lucy Crary, Fresno
2. Maxwell Sorensen, Dixson
T3. Liam McNeil, Reno NV
T3. Adrienne Jensen, Meridian ID

Open Jukebox (any age) [10]
T1. Lucie Benham, Redding
T1. Tori Gillam, Chico
T3. Jaydee McLean, Chico
T3. Eric Cornforth, San Francisco

Junior Jukebox (17 and under) [9]
1. Rachel Beck, Melba ID
2. Kyla Kozlowski, Chico
3. Aven & Ari Nercessian, Stonyford

Robert Strawn Waltz [19]
1. Katrina Nicolayeff, Meridian ID
2. Tashina Clarridge, Forks of Salmon
3. Eliza Beck, Melba ID

Swing Fiddle [6]
1. Katrina Nicolayeff, Meridian ID
2. Tashina Clarridge, Forks of Salmon
3. Rachel Beck, Melba ID

Celtic Division [19]
1. Katrina Nicolayeff, Meridian ID
2. Tashina Clarridge, Forks of Salmon
3. Holly Sternberg, Reno NV

Junior Piano (17 and under) [10]
1. Allie Braito, Cottonwood
2. Emmalyne Stultz
3. Isabel Cushman

Junior Junior Piano (9-12) [7]
1. Kambri Jensen, Meridian ID
2. Maxwell, Sorensen, Dixson
3. Adrienne, Jensen, Meridian ID

Peewee Piano (age 8 and under) [3]
T1. Kyla Koslowski, Chico
T1. Wayne Sorensen, Dixson
3. Ander Sorensen, Dixson

Accompanist [7]
1. Eric Anderson, Lincoln
2. Ben LiaBraaten, Yuba City
3. Al Myers, Redding CA
4. Jim French, Weaverville
5. Don Nichols, Shingletown

Piano Judges
1. Nathan Townley
2. Alisha Copenhaver
3. Tori Gillam

Fiddle Judges:
Tom Dillon, San Diego
Tim Hodgson, Idaho Falls ID
J’Anna Jacoby, Las Vegas NV
Dan Touchstone, San Diego
Roland White, Bend OR

Jukebox MC
Adrienne Jacoby, Redding

Contest MC
Tex Ash, Red Bluff
Jacob Akana, Redding

26/10/2022

Music is so much more than music!!

23/10/2022

The night show is just beginning! We’ll be playing music here at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge until 10pm or so with a lot of jamming at the after party 🎻🙌

ITS FREE!!!

23/10/2022

Friday Fun at the contest all day!!

21/10/2022

Come listen to the Celtic Division tomorrow, Saturday Oct 22nd at 4pm!

17/10/2022

https://californiabluegrass.org/remembering-our-friend-pete-hicks/

Pete Hicks passed away on October 9, 2022.

17/10/2022

39th Annual Western Open Fiddle Championships

October 20-22nd at the Elks Lodge, 355 Gilmore Rd. Red Bluff, Ca,

Everyone is welcome to come enjoy the music – admission is free!

It begins with the Gospel Sing-along 7 PM Thursday, October 20.
Questions www.westernopenfiddle.com [email protected], or 530-527-6127

When we reflect upon the 35 years of the Western Open Fiddle Championships, it is the people who have made it so special. Many of the members of the Western Open Committee have been on board for every contest. We've watched some of our "fiddle kids" on their journeys as they competed all the way fro...

17/10/2022

We’re excited to see everyone this weekend!
Thursday night, we kick off the contest with our annual Gospel Jam at 7pm.
Registration opens at 8am Friday morning with the contest beginning at 10. Saturday, the Jr piano division starts at 9:30 with the fiddle contest resuming at 10am. See you all there! 🎻

08/09/2022

I've been hacked so if you get a friend request from me... IGNOR!

08/09/2022

It appears that I've been cloned! So, PLEASE ignore.