 Kai and Lia are invited to the Canadian Grand Master Championship competing and showcase their talent. they are 4 times BC provincial and 7 times Grand North American, 5 times John Arcand Fiddle Fest fiddle champions in various categories. In October 2012, they are invited to do a speech for Tedxkids@BC at Telus Science World to inspie other kids. And they are number 1 band on the ReverbNation Celtic charts for Abbotsford, BC, CA.
In 2010 they also had the honour of performing at 15 Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics games and had been featured on CBC TV commercial to promote the game entertainment! And they has been invited to perform with fiddle legend Calvin Vollrath on stage. Kai and Lia have performed repeatedly over the years, since Lia was 5 years old, at events internationally like Celticfest Vancouver, Vancouver Marathon, BC Heartland Game, BC Childrun, Seattle’s Northwest Folklife, Maple Sugar Festival, Maritime Festival Canada Day Celebration, even on the Great Wall of China and are always a hit.
Both Kai and Lia discovered fiddle music at a very young age. Toe tapping and upbeat fiddle music was a nice break from their classical training. Soon fiddle music has become a part of their lives and it shows with their multitude of talent in contests wins and performances.
Their second CD came out in 2010 and 3rd one in 2013, recorded at Astronomical Studios in St Paul Alberta with Calvin Vollrath, the fiddle master and composer in Olympics, who also played along with all backing instruments. They also had their own compositions on those CDs. And the first print of the second CD is almost sold out in one year. So they recorded "Biscuit in the Basket" on demend. They have been interviewed on CBC Radio and Dixie Boys Radio after their first recoding at 7 and 9 years old. Among their CD’s. The first in 2007 under their old name Old Time Fiddle Kids, they were only 9 and 7 years old, but already showing the expertise with fiddle music. A few years later, fiddle master Calvin Vollrath was amazed by their achievement on fiddling at such a young age and invited them to do a recording together at his studio.
About Lia
Lia won a four-year scholarship to study violin at Western University. And she won outstanding music award for plaing trumpet in school band. She competed in the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Competition since 2015, and in the previous year she become the showcase for Canadian Grand Master Championshp and she got the biggest bursary from Chiliwack Music Festival to encourage her persuate music careen and again became the most promising violinist in 2014. And she start teaching fiddle in the same year. When Lia started competed in the championship category (adult) in the fiddle contests at age 14, she placed in the top 3 at the first try. Before that, Lia had won trophies for the most promising violinist and gold medals for classical violin and the provincial strings run-up winner at age 13. She is also Prinvincial fiddle champion in the open category. and first place at Grand North American Fiddle Championship contest in the category which designed for people are capable but not willing to compete in championship level. And graduated from middle school with All Around Musician Award by playing trumpet. At 12 years old of age, she won first in youth class (17 and under) at all fiddle contests. This is also the first year she join the youth category. She plays 4 instruments, violin, cello, piano, trumpet, performed both violin and cello in advanced RCM level. She won music awards from her school forr her trumpet playing in the honour band too. Even with the busy music activities, she still managed to be in the academic honour roll as well as math honour class. She also got the roll of lead actress in school biennual musical among 700 students. With the multitude of talent, she is also winning international art contests since she was 4 and did all the art works on her first CD recorded with her brother. She is also training with black belts in Karate do jo. She was fond of cello when she started learning
music but there are no cello that can fit her small figure. So at 4 she started with violin following her brother’s foot step. Not take long for her to catch up with her brother’s skill and even go further. As easy as a snap, when she finally allowed to start cello lessons at 6, her cello playing blossomed just like her violin journey did, reaching an advanced level very quickly and became first cellist in the symphony. Finding the fiddle at 5, she won her first top three trophy at the first contest she ever attend. And a half year after learning fiddle music she had been invited to perform on stage with her brother at a paid gig. Her talent also shines on piano, trumpet, clogging dance, karate and the fine arts. She likes to write her own music while noodling on a piano or fiddle. Her music is always very danceable with some spice. When she was 7, she had been invited to play fiddle at master Calvin Vollrath’s concert, not only just to wow the audience but also left a great impression in the master’s heart. Since then she have had chances to learn from Calvin in his own master class every year at his summer camp and performed with him in fiddle events. And therefore, there is a hint of Calvin’s style in her compositions. She is also one of the handful fiddlers who can dance and fiddle simultaneously. And her breath taking clogging always turns up the heat in the performance.
About Kai
Kai Gronberg was born in Vancouver, BC, and started playing the violin at a young age. He had his first violin lessons at the Central Valley Academy of Music, and has also studied under many of Canada’s premier fiddle players such as Mike Sanyshyn, Calvin Vollrath, and Mark Sullivan. He has now been playing for 16 years. At age 7, he was introduced to the world of Canadian old time fiddle music by his elementary school teacher, and from then on, was hooked. He has competed and performed all across Canada in events such as the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and Seattle’s Northwest Folklife. He has been a 2 time winner of the John Arcand Fiddle Festivals’ Championship Category, as well as being a participant at the annual Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Competition for 4 consecutive years, where he’s place in the top 9. He is heavily involved in keeping the Canadian fiddling tradition alive.
Kai has been teaching for 4 years as a violin instructor with a heavy focus on old time fiddle music. With a wide range of fiddle knowledge and experience in the fiddle community, he loves to spread the passion he has for music to people of all ages. Kai has previously taught as a private instructor at music schools in both Abbotsford and Kelowna, and has also taught to groups of all levels at fiddle camps across Canada such as the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party in Kenosee Lake, Saskatchewan. Kai has also taught and is familiar with the Suzuki Method, and the Royal Conservatory Method and uses both in his teachings alongside fiddle and other contemporary styles.
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