The GMFC is extremely sad to report the passing of the 2014 GMFC Youth Champion and very good friend, Matthew Lin. Matthew was a great young man, a fine fiddler, very intelligent and friendly and gracious to everyone. Fiddling was his hobby, and he and his three brothers and Mom traveled the US where he won many contests and always placed high. To lose such an amazing young man is devastating and our hearts and prayers go out to his parents Winston and Elizabeth, his brothers Andrew, Benjamin, and David, as well as the rest of the family.
In honor of Matthew Lin, the Grand Master Fiddler Championship, Inc. has established the Matthew Thomas Lin Memorial Scholarship. This fund will be used to provide a scholarship for music educational and will be awarded each year at the Grand Master Fiddler Championship competition. Donations are currently being accepted. See the Donations page for more information on how you can honor Matthew and support his passion for fiddling - click here.
The Fiftieth Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship will be held on Saturday September 4th and Sunday September 5th, 2021 (Labor Day Weekend), in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the Ford Theater. Contestants from all over the world will come to compete. In 2019, Ridge Roberts of Texas claimed the Championship. Who will the 2021 Champion be? Please plan to join us for the competition!
2019 Contest (2020 contest was not hel due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
On Saturday, the GMFC welcomed our special guest Ketch Secor, the fiddle player and founding member of the Grammy award winning group Old Crow Medicine Show. Ketch will be serving as a judge for the Traditional category and will be performing in the afternoon.
On Sunday, the GMFC welcomed back our youngest champion ever, Mark O’Connor. Mark was honored with the Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler, for his contributions and support for fiddle and fiddle music. Mark and his wife Maggie did an amazing performance on Sunday afternoon, and had a lot of great information about the O'Connor Method, a new American School of String Playing.
The Grand Master Fiddler Championship Inc. is organized as a Tennessee nonprofit and U.S. IRS 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, formed to educate about and perpetuate fiddling as an art form and cultural treasure. The corporation's primary focus is holding the annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship competition - an event that has started many young musicians on their way to a career in music. As a 501(c)(3) entity, all donations are tax deductible, and we welcome your support to promote and educate about fiddling. Fund-raising efforts are being planned in order to expand the competition, enhance our educational efforts, and to further the awareness of fiddling around the globe.
Fiddling laid the foundation of the WSM Grand Ole Opry and remains important to country and bluegrass music today. For a quarter-century, the contest was sponsored by WSM, the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Association, and later by Gaylord Entertainment. When financially able, the GMFC makes donations to such charities as the Grand Ole Opry Trust Fund and the Bluegrass Trust Fund which benefit musicians in need. We do this in honor of the contributions of the pioneers to country, bluegrass and traditional music. Many of these pioneers such as Roy Acuff, Porter Wagoner, "Uncle Jimmy" Thompson, Bill Monroe, Howdy Forrester and Tommy Jackson played the fiddle or were very involved with fiddling. We have also donate fiddles/violins to the W. O. Smith Community Music School in Nashville.
Please tell all your fiddle music friends, websites, discussion lists and other music sites about this web page! Let us hear from you and we will add you to the GMFC email list.
2019 Dr. Perry F. Harris Distinguished Fiddler Award Recipient Mark O'Connor.
Help Support the Arts in Tennessee by participating in the Tennessee Specialty License Plate Program benefitting the Tennessee Arts Program - proceeeds from every license plate go to help fund Arts in Tennessee. To get more information or order your plate please see http://tn.gov/revenue/article/tennessee-arts-commission.
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