Gail Poulsen
Gail Poulsen holds a BA, and received her ARCT in Violin Performance from The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she studied with Katharine Rapoport. Gail has acted as assistant to Ms. Rapoport in coaching students at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. Presently, Gail is a strings coach at Ridley College in St. Catharines and has an active private studio where she teaches both classical music and fiddling.
Gail also has extensive performing experience. In addition to performing in the first violin section of The Niagara Symphony since 1995, she has also been a member of l'Orchestre du Domaine Forget, The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and The Boris Brott Festival Orchestra. She also received scholarships to study chamber music with two international competition winners: The Colorado Quartet and The St. Lawrence String Quartet. While studying with the Colorado Quartet, she had the privilege of coaching some of the best young string quartets from the United States and Canada. She has performed fiddle solos with the band Barley Brae, the Niagara Symphony and Impulse Choir, among others.
Her love of chamber music led her to join two distinctly different trios: Trio Arabesque, a group that performs classical music, and Airfid, (Gaelic: "harmony") a celtic trio. In 1996, this trio featuring fiddle, bohdran and harp released its first CD, entitled Simple Gifts. This recording was met with great acclaim, including being selected as one of A Web of Fine Music's top picks for 2006.
Upcoming concerts include appearing as fiddle soloist with the group Spirit of Erin in a Caleigh-type recital for the Grimsby Concert Series in October, 2008.