Biography
Betty Widerski is known in the Boston area as a "violin slut" - she performs over 100 live shows a year with her bands and her personal side projects, plus additional ad hoc performances and recording sessions. But prior to 2003, not only had she never played ANY of the many non-Classical genres in which she now excels (Rock, Pop, Punk, Country. Folk, Jazz), she hadn't practiced or performed publicly AT ALL for many years!
When Betty was growing up in the suburban North Shore of Massachusetts, no one thought that there was any other "real" way to play violin besides Classical music. So she studied Mozart and Beethoven, played violin and viola in local orchestras, gave solo recitals, received a Congress of Strings award from the American Federation of Musicians, and went off to study Music, Physics and Math at a liberal arts college. But by graduation, Betty realized that she was not interested in the competition of the Classical world - but had always sworn to herself that she would never be one of those "sad, mediocre old people" (as her teenage self viewed them) who scraped away in the back of the 2nd violins in a community orchestra. So lacking any concept of another path, she put away her instruments...
Jumping forward to another decade: Betty was still sad about not playing violin, and started casting about for a better, more enjoyable way to approach it. When she ran into another former student of her old teacher, now teaching herself, she got the name of a local violinist who also played in a Rock band - Betty went to her and said "I want to learn how to play what I want, improvising without sheet music in front of me!"
Two years and much unlearning/relearning later, Betty played at a gig with her teacher's band - and realized that THIS was what she wanted and needed: on a stage, playing music for people who are out to have a good time that doesn't involve sitting quietly in rows...
LATEST NEWS:
- Ginger Ibex, featuring Betty on strings with composer/pianist Sharon Crumrine will be releasing their full-length album "Firefly" in October 2009.
- Betty's solo looping project, Reverse Polish Notation, completed an album for the 2009 RPM Challenge - "Random Frogs"
- The Boston Darkwave compilation "Sky So Grey" released January 2009 includes tracks featuring Betty with The Milling Gowns and with Sharon Crumrine.
- The Milling Gowns full-length CD, "Diving Bell Shallows", featuring Betty on violin, viola, and octave viola was released in Sept 2008 and charted in the top 20 of local band radio airplay Sept 2008-Mar 2009
- Composer/pianist Sharon Crumrine's recording of her pieces "Pericopine" and September Tango", featuring Betty on viola, have been licensed by Untravel Media for use in their Boston walking tour videos. (Samples in EPK player). More music will be used in an upcoming tour of Harvard Square. "Pericopine" is also under consideration by a new classical label.
Betty is a featured artist in episode #35 of "Bowed Radio", a podcast featuring experimental bowed string players worldwide. Download it here: http://bowed.org/035/
Currently Betty is a member of two Boston bands:
Ginger Ibex - original piano & viola compositions with a Rock sensibility - www.myspace.com/gingeribex
Las Aboricuás - Puerto Rican/Latin songs with guitar, violin, percussion
And also her occasional side projects:
The String Sluts - her string trio/quartet for which she arranges Rock/Pop songs
Reverse Polish Notation - Betty solo with her loopers - www.myspace.com/reversepolishnotationband
Betty is available to add violin, viola, or semi-cello (most of the range is available on her 6-string electric violin, or full cello range on the acoustic Octave Viola) tracks to artists' recordings (either solo or she can help recruit a string section), substitute for a band's regular violinist/fiddler in many styles, create string arrangements of your music, provide background music for your event, and even bolster your community orchestra's violin or viola section for a concert! Please check her gig calendar for date availability, and contact her for more information.
Instrumentation
Betty Widerski: 4, 5, and 6-string Acoustic Violin/Viola, 5 & 6-string Electric Violin, Octave Viola
Discography
Ginger Ibex:
- "Firefly", TBR Fall 2009
- "Sky So Grey", January 2009, Decorative Records (1 track on this compilation)
The Milling Gowns:
- "Sky So Grey", January 2009 , Decorative Records (1 track on this compilation)
- "Diving Bell Shallows", Sept 2008
The Gobshites:
- "Another Round", 2007 Good Cop Bad Cop Records
- "Get Bombed", 2007 Good Cop Bad Cop Records
- "When the Shite Hits The Fans", 2005 Good Cop Bad Cop Records
Rev. Bob & the Darkness:
- "Gallows Hill", 2007 Hooker St. Studios
Big Amp Envy:
- "Penance", TBR Fall 2007 BAE
- "New England Country For Life", 2007 Illumina Records
Agatha's Memory: "The Gift To Believe", 2005 AM
The Beau Roland Band: "The Road To Wichita", 2004 BRB
Grubstake: "Dynamite & Other Inventions", 2004 Nine Mile Records
Paula Kelley: "The Trouble With Success or How You Fit Into the World", 2003 Kimchee Records
Links
| http://www.bettywiderski.com |