Jim O'Toole - Fiddle/Caller

Jim O'Toole has been fiddling since a very early age. Jim's natural talent for performance began to shine at the age of 4, as a Suzuki violin student. He progressed to the Junior Royal College of Music, then on to a music degree at Edinburgh University and later post-grad in historical performance at The Royal Academy Of Music, London.  He divides his energies between folk-fiddling and period instrument playing and works for various opera companies and orchestras aside from performing with Licence to Ceilidh.  He spent most of a year touring with the European Union Baroque Orchestra in 2001/2002 and has recently recorded a disk of Vivaldi concertos with La Serenissima.  Jim also enjoys calling ceilidh dances, a skill he learnt from his Uncle who has run a ceilidh band in Jim's native Lowestoft for twenty-five years.