ABOUT
Clara Rose is an award-winning violinist and vocalist from Vancouver, Canada, and she grew up on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish People. With a background in Celtic, Balkan, Swedish, blues, bluegrass and jazz folk traditions, Rose effortlessly melds these disparate styles into her own passionate and groovy fiddle voice. A master improviser across many genres and disciplines, Rose’s joyous expression and skillful artistry has a transformative effect on all of her collaborations. Rose has studied with distinguished artists from across Canada and the United States, including Sara Caswell, Jason Anick, Darol Anger, Marc Destrubé and Moira Smiley. In 2025, Rose won the prestigious FreshGrass Fiddle Award for her performance at FreshGrass MassMoCA. She has a degree in violin performance from Berklee College of Music where she was also the recipient of the prestigious Fletcher Bright Scholarship Award, the Live Oak Fiddle Scholarship and the Berklee World Tour Scholarship. Rose performs with The Acoustic Nomads, Clara Rose & Raphaella Hero, a contemplative folk fiddle duo, and fronts the Clara Rose Band, performing her original compositions. In addition to her musical pursuits, Rose performs as a fire spinner, clown and stilt dancer and is a core organizer of Still Moon Arts Society’s Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I have immersed myself in Celtic, Balkan, Swedish, and North American fiddle traditions, as well as blues, New Orleans jazz and jazz Manouche. In the long tradition of musical innovation at the edge of genre, my artistic practice has evolved through deep study of these various traditions, using the stylisms from them to inform my own creative expression. I celebrate these highly developed arts practices and find joy in contemporizing them into my own voice and sharing the richness of folk artistry with modern audiences. It feels important to share the traditions in an intellectual capacity, but what I love most of all is bringing my audiences along in experiencing the emotions that I feel when I play. Contemporary expression of folk music comes in many forms for me, from quiet reverie, to trancing in an Old time fiddle tune, to just having a rollicking good time while wailing a virtuosic solo on a Brazilian chorro. Sharing those feelings with an audience is the highest privilege and pleasure.
In 2020 I co-founded the Acoustic Nomads, performing original works that celebrate the rich diversity of cultures from across the Americas through the common language of music. Cuatro player Maurizio Fiore Salas is a master of Venezuelan music, and teaches our North American bandmates the nuances of South American folk styles, while Ethan Setiawan and Noah Harrington share expertise in bluegrass and jazz, and I bring my own wealth of traditional music knowledge. As a band we thrive on pushing the limits of genre and our own musicianship with passion and ambition.
Much of my more recent work is oriented toward contemplation, and holding space for healing. My newest project Clara Rose & Raphaella Hero, explores the power of musical vulnerability with intimate audiences through improvisation rooted in American, Scottish and Swedish fiddle traditions. I am deeply influenced by Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer, and his solo album “Camino” which has inspired my practice of sacred violin improvisation.
