London, Ont. musician accomplishes fiddle feat featuring young fiddlers from far and wide

London, Ont. -

How do you bring young musicians from across Canada together for a musical collaboration during a pandemic? Just ask Canadian fiddle phenom Shane Cook from London, Ont. He managed to pull it off for his new online concert and album release.

“I suppose when you hear it, it’s joyous music, generally,” said Cook, while reflecting on the more than 100 musicians, from ages four to 19, who came together virtually to help record the music and video for his new song Close Friends.

These groups of young musicians include Coastline from Victoria, BC; Iqaluit Music Society from Iqaluit, Nunavut; Dawson City Youth Fiddle Club from Dawson City, Yukon and Nova Scotia Youth Ambassadors from Halifax, NS.

“It was amazing to see the videos come in one at a time,” said Cook. “I got to see these videos from beginning to end, and I just got to see how much fun it is for these kids to be together again and play. Some of them, they had to get together in small cohorts, they couldn’t get together as a full group.”

The collaboration is part of a new online concert by the recording artist, who grew up in the small southwestern Ontario town of Dorchester, just east of London.

The concert features Cook’s own band, Shane Cook and the Woodchippers, along with the International Symphony Orchestra (ISO).

“And to see the finished project with so many friends from the ISO and my friends in the band and all that, it was just amazing.”

The concert can be viewed online until October 31. Ticket information can be found at www.theiso.org.