Stewart MacDonald

Cape Breton

Stewart has spent most of his life on Cape Breton Island, in and around his local area of Sydney. He was first introduced to traditional Cape Breton music by his mother at the early age of three while attending the Bid Pond Festival. After experiencing the magical piano stylings of Dougie MacPhee, he was hooked. Years later, while attending Riverview High School, Stewart began participating in step-dancing lessons taught by Joe Sampson and Marie Currie-Wilson and shortly after he fell in love with and began to play his first fiddle. Now an accomplished Cape Breton instrumentalist on a variety of instruments, he has gone on to perform at Celtic Colours as a member of the Cape Breton Orchestra, sharing the stage with musical giants like Scott Macmillan, Phil Cunningham, Buddy MacMaster, Bruce Guthro, and Mary Jane Lamond. Stewart is as comfortable in a concert hall as he is in a friend's kitchen and thoroughly enjoys both aspects of performing equally. He is especially excited to be sharing the stage with his friend and collaborator Buddy MacDonald during Celtic Colours this year.