Isabel Oliart

• Celtic
• Fiddle

Hailing from Boston, award-winning fiddler Isabel Oliart has been playing the violin since she was 3 years old.

She began her musical journey with classical music, and then discovered Scottish and Celtic fiddling through Brian O’Donovan’s show, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn, where she was inspired by artists including Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Hass.

She started learning fiddle music for the first time in 2009, taking lessons with Anne Hooper, and has since worked with other world-renowned teachers such as Winifred Horan and Hanneke Cassel.

Isabel studied with Lucy Chapman and Nicholas Kitchen at the New England Conservatory and with Bayla Keyes at Boston University, where she recently achieved her Masters of Music.

She now pursues a career in both classical music and Celtic fiddling. Primarily a Scottish fiddler, Isabel also has a love for the fiddle music of Ireland, Cape-Breton, as well as Contra dance music.

Isabel won the Junior fiddle competition at the New Hampshire Highland Games in 2013 and then went on to win the Open fiddle competition in 2023. She is currently the National Scottish Fiddle Champion of 2025. In 2021 her tune The Top of the Mountain won the Scottish F.I.R.E Tune Writing Competition.

She has placed second and third in many other competitions over the past years, including the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, the New England Regional Open Competition, and the US Scottish Nationals. She was a finalist in the Dan R. MacDonald Scottish Fiddle Competition in South Carolina in 2022.

In addition to competing, Isabel plays numerous shows with many top musicians in the Boston area. For several years she played in a duo with cellist McKinley James, named Catching Sparks, as well as with cellist Giulia Haible, of the Scottish Fish. She regularly frequents The Burren Backroom Series in Somerville, Massachusetts, performing solo openings for artists such as Winifred Horan, and now performs with her band The Isabel Oliart Band, and with her duo with Sammy Wetstein. She also sometimes performs as a duo fiddle with Anne Hooper.

The Isabel Oliart Band consists of Isabel on fiddle, Anne Hooper on fiddle, and Sammy Wetstein on cello or piano. The trio recently debuted one of their first shows for a sold out crowd at the Newton free public library. The band will be performing regularly throughout New England and will be debuting a new album in the fall of 2026.

Isabel has been featured on several radio shows, including GBH’s A Celtic Sojourn , as well as multiple appearances on NPR’s Says You. She has also played for many Scottish country dances. In the summer of 2022 she performed her original tune Crow Over the Water at the Rockport Celtic Festival, accompanied by harpist Maeve Gilchrist. In 2026 she debuted at the New Hampshire Highland Games and in 2026 she debuted a set of her own original tunes at the Pure Dead Brilliant Fiddle camp concert at the Groton Hill Music center with artists such as Hanneke Cassel, Natalie Haas, Elizabeth Anderson and Conor Hearn. She can also be found playing at sessions in the Boston area and she regularly attends fiddle camps throughout the year.

A keen composer, Isabel’s original tunes can be found on her Facebook page and on her Youtube channel, Isabel’s Music.

In late 2023, Isabel released her debut album Late Evening’s Dram. The album features Conor Hearn on guitar, Elizabeth Anderson on fiddle, Sammy Wetstein on cello, Elias Alexander on pipes, and Maeve Gilchrist on harp. Isabel worked with Scottish and Cape Breton fiddler Katie McNally to produce the album, and it was engineered by Antonio Oliart, with photography and design by Louise Bichan.