Lauren Rioux – is a proud Maine-iac, born in Portland and raised in East Machias, and graduating from University of Southern Maine with degrees in Violin Performance and Music Education on full-scholarship. She has toured the US of A and parts of Europe and the UK with string luminary Darol Anger and his Republic of Strings, as a duo with fiddle prodigy Brittany Haas, and as a trio with Scott Nygaard and Portland's own Joe Walsh in Crow Molly. Lauren is enthusiastically sought out for her teaching expertise and leads classes and workshops across the country. She maintains a very active private studio at her home in Scarborough, through which she teaches a delightfully rowdy group of over thirty violinists, violists, and fiddlers ranging in age from 5 to 70.