Violinist

Richard Sanderson

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About Richard

Richard is a highly accomplished gigging musician based in Manchester. His main instrument is the violin and can play all styles on request.
Violinist
Manchester
Public liability insurance of £30 million
Verified profile

EDUCATION: Richard started playing violin at the age of 9 while living in Essex. A couple of years later his family moved to Cornwall and he continued his violin tuition at school with the county music service, having lessons during school time and playing in the county ensembles. After leaving school Richard went to Truro college and continued with lessons with the Cornwall music service. During his time at college he started to develop an interest in jazz and folk styles and working outside the traditional domain of classical music. Following his time at college he moved north to Salford University where he completed a degree in Popular Music and Recording, focussing on performance. He graduated in 2001 with a 2:1. It was during his time on this course that Richard really developed his playing as a contemporary violinist with a focus on Irish folk and jazz. LIVE WORK: Richard has been playing live and gigging for almost 25 years and below are some of the achievements that he feels most proud of: “Sacred Turf” - his first band in Cornwall that played all original material jointly written by Richard. They released 2 albums and 1 EP that was produced by the bassist from Big Country. The band headlined the outdoor festival at Plymouth Hoe in 1999 to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium. “Green Hot Clover” - Richard formed this Irish cover band while he was at Salford University. In ten years they have played all around the UK, in many different bars and functions. The band has worked alongside Coventry dance company “Celtic Feet” performing at theatres in England, France and Romania. They have also played a number of corporate functions for organisations like Co-Operation Ireland, performed at Old Trafford cricket club in 2008 for ex-England cricketer Mal Loyes’ benefit year and in 2010 supported the lead singer of the Levellers Mark Chadwick on his solo tour. “Tenor Martin Toal” - Richard has worked with Martin for a number of years playing corporate events and featuring on his debut album Aria Celtica. During his time with Martin he did a lot of work for the rugby charity Wooden Spoon and played a number of benefit events for ex-England winger Jason Robinson. “Lord of the Dance” - after meeting Michael Flatley he was invited to audition for the show. Richard was successful and spent 6 months touring the UK and France on the shows’ tenth anniversary tour. In November 2013 he was invited to audition with the Levellers at the Manchester Academy. The band were looking for 3 musicians to join them on stage for their final number of the night called “The Recruiting Sergeant”. He was successful and performed at the Manchester Academy in front of 2000 Levellers fans. Richard is also a very accomplished solo performer for weddings and corporate events. Playing a high energy set of popular classics and Irish tracks. These are all performed to backing tracks while waking/dancing/running/jumping around the room! He regularly performs along side club DJs at venues in the North West to enhance any club night. Please get in touch to find out more about what Richard can offer your event.

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Saved the day!
Booked for an Encore gig with less than 24 hours’ notice
7th Anniversary
This act has been working with Encore for over 7 years
10 gigs
Experienced: 10 bookings through Encore
Musicianship
Genres:
Folk, Irish rock, Traditional English folk, Traditional Irish folk, Traditional Scottish folk, Folk rock, Country, Ceilidh, Welsh folk, Gypsy jazz, Jazz fusion, Pop, Acoustic, Rock, Indie
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Instruments:
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Event types:
Wedding, Wedding proposal, Funeral / Memorial service, Church service, Hotel / Restaurant event, Bar / Club / Venue event, Private event, Corporate event, Charity event, Concert, Recording session, Theatre / Show, Cruise, Burns night, Birthday party, Christmas party, New Year's Eve
See all event types
Other skills:
Arranger, Sound technician, Fluent improviser, Fluent sight-reader, Instrumental teaching, Theory teaching, Composition teaching, Music therapy, Community music worker, Live looping
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Richard's Song list

Lord of the Dance
River dance
Monstel boy/toss the feathers
Masons Apron
Fields of Athenrye
Whiskey in the jar
Star of the County Down
Thinking out loud - Ed Sheeran
Beat it - Michael Jackson.
Palladio
Little lion man - Mumford and sons
Nothing breaks like a heart - milky Cyrus
Moo dance - van morrison

Richard's Prices

Note: prices may vary based on travel distance. For an exact quote, click “Check availability”.

Standard Prices
Performance durationPrice
Short performance (up to 15 min)£150
Up to 1 hour£300
Up to 2 hours£400
Up to 3 hours£500
Packages
Drinks reception
Two performances of up to 45 mins each during your drinks reception
£400
Wedding ceremony + Drinks reception + Dinner
- Music before the service begins, music during the signing of the register, and music as guests leave. - 2 x 45 min performances at the drinks reception. - 2 x 45 min performances as dinner is being served.
£650
Richard
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5 out of 5
8 verified reviews
Satisfaction
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5.0
Professionalism
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5.0
Communication
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5.0
Punctuality
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5.0

Richard's Reviews

From Encore customers:

HM
Hannah M
5 months ago
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5 out of 5

Absolutely amazing, everyone loved him!

KB
Katherine B
8 months ago
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5 out of 5

We are absolutely delighted Richard came to play at our wedding reception. Richard is so professional at what he does. As soon as he started playing he had the whole rooms attention. Every single person thoroughly enjoyed the music, the energy Richard uses is remarkable. Jumping on chairs to play and get everyone excited and on their feet. Richard absolutely made the night . With so many compliments from our guest. Stating they would never of thought of having a fiddle player for a reception. But Richard is the best of the best and I have never hear or seen anyone entertain as much as Richard does. He has definitely left our guest talking about our wedding and a long time to come. I could not of been happier, we both would like to thank Richard from the bottom of our hearts. For making our reception. Incredible. Highly recommended.

MM
Michelle M
1 year ago
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5 out of 5

Just outstanding. So happy to recommend.

AM
Amy M
4 years ago
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5 out of 5

Richard as predicted was absolutely fabulous on the day - he got the crowd going and made it so so special! Could have listened to him play all night! Couldn’t recommend him enough

Read all 5 reviews

From other customers:

JH
James H
5 years ago, for a Wedding in Ireland
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5 out of 5

If you need someone to get the party started then Richard Sanderson is your man. We booked Richard Sanderson for our winter wedding and he made our day. An extremely talented fiddle player, he worked well with our pianist welcoming guests in for the afternoon reception. Later on, he played us in for the wedding breakfast. After the speeches, Richard serenaded the guests working round the room and interacting with guests brilliantly. The atmosphere was building and guests started to get on their feet, five mins later he had the guests up dancing, spinning round the tables. The culmination was riverdance which had the wedding party up on the dancefloor and chairs! Every guest said to us how much they loved Richie, he is usually the first thing people talk about! I would highly recommend him, you wont regret it!

EX
Eirian X
5 years ago, for a Birthday party in Bridgend
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5 out of 5

I asked Rich to play for my 30th birthday party last July. It was a private party in my garden and myself and all of my guests absolutely loved his performance. He brought all of his own equipment and set it all up before the party. Rich is a highly talented fiddle player who can play a vast array of songs, from Irish to classical to contemporary. He was able to play the requests that were asked of him which went down brilliantly. This is high praise coming from a family of professional musicians! What my guests and I loved the most about Rich is the fact he is a true performer. Apart from his stunning fiddle playing, he had people up an dancing, laughing out loud and clapping and stamping their feet. He even managed to get one of the grumpy old uncles laughing and clapping to the beat. If you want something different at your party I really recommend Rich, most of the guests had never heard someone play the fiddle like that before and when I saw a lot of them 6 months later at Christmas they were still talking about how great he was and a few have even asked about whether or not he can play at their events."

Read all 3 reviews