María San Miguel

Castilian fiddler María has studied classical violin in several European conservatories, though never forgetting her roots. Her fiery fiddling and soulful voice keep audiences thoroughly captivated. María has gone on to specialize in Castilian fiddle music and pedagogy for infants.

Her love for both disciplines helped her develop an energetic, fresh, and original methodology for teaching traditional music. Especially with big groups, all ages and levels.

Maria’s calling is to connect society with its roots through traditional music to enrich community and social development. Her life goal is to revive and give value to a forgotten Castilian culture by sharing with the world the deepness and complexity of its music and history.

The stage is one of the ways to transmit a message. As such, María’s an active performer in a number of artistic projects related to traditional music such as San Miguel Fraser, CastellanAs, Atlantic Folk Trio and the contemporary dance project Aracnea.

María believes that real change comes from the community. Castilian people need to rediscover a love for themselves and rebuild self esteem as a community. For this reason, María started a social movement by founding the regional Castilla Fiddle association. She is also an activist on an international level, and during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine she founded the Stay At Home Festival which raised over $60.000 for struggling professional folk musicians around the globe.