Aside from being recognized for his extraordinary fiddle playing on the soundtracks of major motion picture films including Titanic, The Last of the Mohicans and Disney's Treasure Planet, Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, long regarded as one of Scotland's premier musical ambassadors, presents the music of his homeland with unsurpassed eloquence, passion and energy.

On Sunday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. Fraser will be joining forces with vibrant young cellist, Natalie Haas, for a concert at The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor.

The duo has created a buzz among Celtic music lovers at festivals and concerts across the U.S. and Europe, and their debut release, "Fire & Grace," was awarded the Best Album of the Year in the Scots Traditional Music Awards 2004.

Now they're celebrating the release of their second album, "In The Moment," which features many new pieces by Alasdair, and a wonderful new composition from Natalie.

"I wrote it on a plane between Madrid and New York." I was in a very thoughtful place, reliving all my Spanish experiences and trying to go back to my life at home, at Juilliard," Haas said in an interview with The Press Democrat about her new song.

Fraser and Haas met when, at age 11, Natalie first attended Alasdair's Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School in California.

"I didn't really know anything about Scottish music, but I fell in love with it when I first heard it," Haas said.

She began performing in concert with Fraser just four years later. Natalie has since joined the staff at several of Alasdair's music courses, including Valley of the Moon School, Glasgow's Celtic Connections, Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye, and the Ceilidh Trail School in Cape Breton, Canada.

As a recent graduate of the Juilliard School in New York, Natalie regularly performs throughout the U.S. and Europe with Fraser, and is a member of American fiddler, Mark O'Connor's Appalachian Waltz Trio. She also performs on Alasdair's "Legacy of the Scottish Fiddle" series of CDs, on Culburnie Records.

In an interview with Sing Out Magazine, the 24-year-old cellist from Menlo Park, California commented regarding her classical training, "Classical training gives me more foundation, but I'd never be happy just playing chamber music. It would rob me of my spontaneity and my ability to improvise. This is the music that makes my heart sing," Haas said.

"I was on the lookout for years and years for someone who would join forces to take the cello to its rightful position. Natalie was fearless and was willing to learn new ideas. I took her to Scotland to perform when she was just seventeen.

"Her playing is really putting the classical world on its head. People are really wanting to become a part of what she is doing. We plan to tour Spain and Scotland in the summer," Fraser said.

From a musical family himself, Fraser has been playing the fiddle since he was 8 years old.

"There was a fiddle in the house and I was encouraged to use it. There was music in the family, and in my extended family, I believe that it was in the cards for me."

"It's all about what the music can do when it meets people, how it can change the dynamics of a room, create a certain energy, and how it can take you to a place a lot different than where you were when you first woke up in the morning.

"The music itself is my inspiration. I'm kind of a tune fanatic, I'm amused and challenged by them." Fraser said.

"I have a variety of tunes in my repertoire and the key to making each tune work is to find out what its little secret is before you can tickle it to life, putting the playfulness back into it. Art has to be playful, especially when you are learning and asking questions of it.

"I'm inspired by music's ability to transcend boundaries and its common language to bring people to the center to ask questions. I like to live in the question," Fraser said.

For more information, go to www.culburnie.com and for tickets to their concert, call 633-5159.