About Me
Charlie Wild (formerly Charlie Heys) is one of the UK's most arresting and individual violin and folk fiddle players. Well-known for her beautiful sound and original compositions, she released her first solo album 'Little Beginnings' in 2017. She is also violinist and composer with string quartet The Froe, Propellor Ensemble and The Fair Rain.
She grew up in Hampshire where she studied with Joyce Ingledew and Devorina Gamalova, continuing her studies in classical violin at Birmingham Conservatoire where she gained a BMus(Hons) in 2009. She then went on to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) in Glasgow where she achieved a PgDip with distinction in Scottish fiddle music. She was a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards with duo McNeill and Heys and is most proud of her work on their 4 critically acclaimed albums which received excellent reviews from respected magazines and newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Telegraph.
Charlie performs regularly all over the UK and teaches violin from her home in Worcestershire. In 2024 she embarked on a new project to create a new kind of instrument, combining "forgotten" features of period instruments within familiar form of today's violin. With funding from Arts Council England and the expertise of Edinburgh-based luthier Jonathan Hill, the instrument was completed in May 2024, and work is in progress to build up a repertoire around this instrument that harnesses its unique properties.
