Fiddler/composer LISA GUTKIN is one of NYC's busiest musicians. Her varied musical palette has led to collaborations with a wide array of artists both in the United States and Europe, the founding with Greg Anderson of the 'Downtown Celtic' group, Whirligig, and most recently to her joining The Klezmatics.

Born in Brooklyn to a musical family, Lisa's early memories of sitting under the piano while her grandmother played, and of folk dancing with her mother, have shaped her career. Playing in the District, Boro, and City Wide orchestras from age 8 through high school, she won several awards for her classical playing, and during her teens she began playing in Rock bands and discovered Bluegrass and Irish music. While earning her Bachelor of Music degree at the Aaron Copland School, Queens College, N.Y.,  Lisa placed first in the Redwood Mountain Fiddle Contest, traveled to Ireland, and as part of the Fast Folk collective, performed with The Roches, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Richard Shindell, Rod MacDonald, and Jack Hardy, to name a few.

photo by Fumie Suzuki

Lisa's versatility quickly attracted the international musical community. She played with the Southern Italian music theater group I Giullari di Piazza, with Amigos del Tango,  and with Early Music's The Waverly Consort. As an improviser, she has worked with Jane Siberry, John Cale & Bob Neuwirth with the Soldier String Quartet, Joe Gallant & Illuminati, contemporary R&B artist Pru, and poet Imelda O'Reilly with Joel Diamond on piano. For many years prior to joining the Klezmatics, Lisa focused mostly on traditional Irish and Scottish music, playing and recording with some of the best musicians on either side of the Atlantic: Tommy Sands, John Whelan, Jerry O'Sullivan, Steve Cooney, Cathie Ryan, and Ed Miller, as well as with Steeleye Span's Peter Knight and Tim Harries.

Having dozens of composing and hundreds of recording credits for Capitol, MCA, EMI, Virgin, Narada, Rounder, and many other record companies, as well as for film, commercial radio and television, theater, dance, and poetry, some of Lisa's recent compositions can be heard on episodes of the final season of HBO's Sex & The City and her cameo on-screen appearance on the show (with The Klezmatics) is currently being viewed worldwide.

Lisa's composition projects include a full symphonic rendition of her piece "Waiting Still," performed with The Klezmatics and several European orchestras. She was composer, musician and dancer in Dragon Productions' Seeing Is Believing, with Dutch choreographer Maggie Boogaart, and in Jody Oberfelder's Landmark of Dreams, and is currently writing music for Song For New York, a Mabou Mines production to premiere in fall 2007.

Most recently The Klezmatics collaborated with the heirs of Woody Guthrie to produce: Holy Ground: The Jewish Songs of Woody Guthrie, which debuted in New York on December 20, 2003. Of the program, which included "Gonna Get Through This World," (words by Woody Guthrie, music by Lisa Gutkin) that Susan McKeown sang, Jon Parales of the New York Times said "not bound by any genre... Guthrie's voice came through."

Lisa's additional theater credits include filling in for Johnny Cunningham in performances of Mabou Mines' Peter & Wendy,  Pilobolous Dance Company's Davenen (with The Klezmatics), several productions of Ralph Lee's Mettawee River Company, Pat Cannon's Foot & Fiddle Dance Company, and The Phoenix Theater Company's As You Like It.  She was Music Director for The Lincoln Center Director's Guild Production Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, Music Director for the New York Renaissance Festival in Sterling Forest, NY, and co-orchestrater for Song of Songs by Elizabeth Swados.

Respected as well for her teaching abilities, Lisa leads fiddle styles workshops at folk festivals, as well as master classes for universities and folk organizations, and many of her private students are or have gone on to become professional musicians. Her Artist-In-Residencies include NYU (with Whirligig) in 1998, Defiance College, OH (with Ensemble Galilei) in 1999, and several others with the Klezmatics, including the University Of Washington in Seattle in 2004, The Jewish Music Institute's "KlezFest London" and Maison de la Culture Yiddish's "Klezmer-Paris" in 2005.

Lisa is currently performing as a soloist, in duo with Pamela Wyn Shannon, and with John Redmond and Brendan Dolan in a band they call An Cré, which means "the earth's clay" in Irish. She can occasionally be heard with The Demolition String Band in their Ola Belle Reed project, and with her bluegrass buddies in Lisa's Pieces. Her unofficially released solo album of original compositions, Sidewalk Angel, can be obtained from .

To contact Lisa, please send an email to .