Jeremy Kittel is rapidly earning a reputation as one of the nation’s most creative young musicians, equally adept at a wide range of styles including Scottish, Irish, jazz, contemporary classical and bluegrass. Winner of the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship in 2000, Jeremy won the Junior National Scottish Fiddle Championship the previous two years and also qualified for the All-Ireland in Irish fiddling four consecutive years. He managed this while performing in two classical orchestras, a bluegrass group and an Irish band, and graduating from high school with highest honors at age 16. In 2003 he dazzled judges at the first Alternative Styles Competition of the American String Teacher Association/National Band and Orchestra Association, winning Best Improvisation, the Mark O’Connor Award of Merit, and the International Association for Jazz Education Award for Best Jazz Performance. In the following year Jeremy was the first recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, performed with the Turtle Island String Quartet; won the Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Acoustic/Folk Instrumentalist; and graduated from the University of Michigan with their highest musical honor, the Stanley Medal. In 2005 he was named Outstanding Folk Artist at the Detroit Music Awards, given the ASTA Alternative Strings Award for Music Traditions, and performed original music with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a series of pops concerts. In 2006 Jeremy won Detroit Music Awards for Outstanding Folk Artist, Outstanding Jazz Recording and Outstanding Jazz Composer, and performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently he won the 2007 Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Folk Artist and finished a masters degree in jazz performance from Manhattan School of Music.

Jeremy has performed over a thousand concerts and festivals including the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center, “A Prairie Home Companion,” Chicago Celtic Fest, Bethlehem Musikfest, Detroit Festival of the Arts & Milwaukee Irish Fest. His first CD, Celtic Fiddle, was called “one of the top 20 Celtic albums of 2000, and certainly the best by a new young artist,” by the syndicated radio show Celtic Connections. Jeremy’s second release, Roaming, received praise from a broad range of publications including Sing Out and Fiddler Magazine, and took 2nd place for Best Celtic Instrumental Album in the international competition Just Plain Folks. Jazz Violin was named Outstanding Jazz Recording at the 2006 Detroit Music Awards. As one reviewer commented, “It’s a much over-used cliché, but I really believe this is what genius sounds like.”

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

Jeremy grew up in Ann Arbor and Saline, Michigan, and started playing the violin at five, as did his brother and sister. It was just one of many activities and sports the children were encouraged to try, but Jeremy liked it almost from the start. Although his lessons focused on classical violin, his mother's love of folk music led Jeremy to begin learning fiddle tunes at 8. Her family is of Scottish descent, and by 12 Jeremy was competing nationally in Scottish Fiddling. He won the US National Scottish Fiddle Junior Championships in 1998 and 1999, and competed in the adult division at 16, winning the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship. During these years Jeremy was also learning traditional Irish fiddle styles, winning US regional competitions, and traveling to Ireland to study and compete in Irish fiddling. In 2000 he entered the jazz program at the University of Michigan, and graduated with highest honors at 20. Jeremy is now 23.

Discography:

In addition to producing his own CDs and performing with his own groups, Jeremy often guest performs with orchestras and other groups. He can be heard on William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience (William Blake) on Naxos American Classics, which won 4 Grammys; Mustard Retreat, "MR7"; Hanneke Cassel, "Silver"; Tally Hall, “Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum”; Seth Bernard, "Constellation"; Whit Hill and the Postcards, "We Are Here"; Aaron Jones "Window to the World"; John Nam, “Energy and Angular Momentum”; Dan Hazlett, "Water Over Stone"; Terry Farmer, "Terry Farmer"; Patrick Flanagan, "The Morning after the Night Before," and others. He also recorded parts of the sound track for two independent films, "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "Harvest Moon."