Music & Dance
April Verch
Pembroke, Ontario
Ottawa Valley Fiddle
Born, raised and now living in Pembroke, Ontario, where her family has lived for generations, April grew up in an area with a rich, distinctive musical and stepdancing tradition shaped by the diverse roots of the immigrants drawn to the region's lumber camps. Emulating her older sister, she began taking stepdancing lessons when she was three, but right from the start, she was also drawn to the fiddle. Her parents made her wait, though, for three years before giving her a fiddle for her sixth birthday. Her talents in both arenas quickly became evident, as she began performing with her sister and the Pilatzke brothers as a member of the Dueling Dancers, a troupe that earned regional and national attention for its blend of innovative and traditional Ottawa Valley step dancing. She also began winning fiddle and dance contests on her own.
By the time April was ten, she knew she wanted to play fiddle and dance for a living. By the time she finished high school, she had recorded her first two self-released albums and was appearing across Canada at concerts, as an invited guest at fiddle contests, and as a teacher at fiddle camps, always integrating dance and fiddling into a seamless, dynamic whole. Offered a job with a leading fiddle ensemble after graduation, she opted instead to attend Boston's Berklee School of Music, where she was exposed to-and quickly mastered-an array of musical styles. At the same time, she capped her fiddle contest career with a pair of impressive wins, earning the titles of Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion and Canadian Open Fiddle Champion.
Dirk Powell of the famed Dirk Powell Band and Balfa Toujours (they appeared at GLFF in 2007) observes, "April Verch is a musician for whom virtuosity, long a priority, has receded in meaning. As a youthful prodigy, she won every contest a young Ottawa Valley fiddler could enter… She earned all this through dedication and the support of parents who recognized immense talent. Unlike many in her position, however, she has arrived at a place on the other side of these successes, where the technique she strived so hard to attain no longer has meaning on its own. It is now a means to an end, and the end in question is the realm of true personal expression."
Links
http://www.aprilverch.com/bio.php
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