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Bio

One man, one violin. Doesn't sound like much does it? It doesn't that is until you've heard one in the hands of electric violinist Geoffrey Castle! A unique voice on an unusual instrument, Castle's career includes time spent as a street musician in New York City, performing in the Broadway production of the Tony Award-winning M. Butterfly with Tony Randall, playing with rock greats like Blues Traveler, Jimmy Buffet, Alan White, Buddy Miles, Roger Fisher, Mike Derosier, Ann & Nancy Wilson, and lots more.

Comfortable in a huge diversity of styles, Castle has been in demand as a session violinist both in New York, Los Angeles, and in the Seattle area, with credits as diverse as Bob River's Twisted Christmas, The Children of the Revolution (flamenco rock), the soundtracks to The Gift (Paramount Pictures), Wooly Boys (with Peter Fonda and Kris Kristofferson), and an Italian music CD with Grammy winning guitarist Eric Tingstad—just to name a few.

As a solo performer, however, Castle truly stands out. Combining state of the art technology and the stage presence of a magician at work, Castle creates the sound and the power of a full band, all live in front of amazed audiences from Alaska to Aguascalientes, Mexico. This new approach to performance led to the recording of his first solo CD, Mist on the Mountain, which was called a "masterpiece" by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The founder of festival favorite world music group the Guarneri Underground, Castle still relishes his role as a band leader when he steps out with his Castle Rock band. A favorite in clubs, casinos and festival stages alike, audiences new to the band are always amazed to hear music by artists like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, The Neville Brothers, Deep Purple, and more, all coming from a band with no guitars in it.

"Jaw-Dropping Rock Violinist" was the headline when a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News happened to catch the Castle band in action recently, and the diversity of Castle's approach to the instrument makes him a favorite with stations as different as hard rock (KWHL, Anchorage), KMPS (Country Radio, Seattle's #1 Station!), and KWJZ Smooth Jazz FM, not to mention PBS, Fox TV, and National Public Radio.

Changing the public's perception of what is possible on the violin has long been a theme of Castle's career, and it has led him to take challenging bookings including assembly and workshop performances in elementary, junior high, and high schools, and even the occasional maximum security facility. Some of his community outreach exploits have been documented on prestigious sites such the National Endowment for the Arts Web site.

A graduate of Columbia University, Geoffrey Castle lives in Kenmore Washington with his wife Shannon, and has called the state of Washington home since 1995.

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Some Notable Performances