Virtuoso oboist/Celtic violinist Colin Maier will give a free guest artist recital Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall on the SUNY Fredonia campus.

His recital will include standard repertoire for the oboe along with Celtic music played on violin, sometimes with a theatrical twist. He will be joined in this concert with School of Music pianist I-Fei Chen, oboe faculty Sarah Hamilton and Mark DuBois, and students Alec Dube, Ian Liedke and Emma Garcia. Colin will also be the guest artist the next day in the School of Music’s annual Double Reed Day (information online at www.fredonia.edu/music/community/drd.asp).

Born and raised in Calgary, Maier graduated from the University of Calgary in 1997 with a degree in oboe performance. He is currently the oboist for the internationally renowned and critically acclaimed ensemble “Quartetto Gelato” playing 50-70 concerts a year. During that time he has been heard on national radio broadcasts, seen on the BRAVO network and received the 2010 INDIE award for best classical ensemble. He has also played with orchestras such as: The Calgary Philharmonic, National Ballet Orchestra, Mississauga Symphony, Symphony of the Kootenays, Scarborough Philharmonic, Contact Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival. Maier is currently the oboe professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

In addition to oboe, Maier also plays clarinet, english horn, violin, 5-string banjo, acoustic/electric bass, piano, saxophone, flute, guitar and musical saw. With these other instruments, he has been the founder/leader of many independent groups that include; The Jive Mommas, High Strung, The Fabulous Doo-Wop Boys, The Plaid Tongued Devils, Sonshine and Broccoli, Full Fathom Five. In 2002, he was a featured jazz oboist at the International Double Reed Festival where he performed and conducted a jazz master class.

In addition to being a musician, Maier has also worked for more than 20 years as a dancer, actor, stuntman, singer, choreographer, acrobat and martial artist. He had the honor of playing the devil fiddler in the flying blue canoe for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Maier had also been seen in; “Lord of the Rings” (Mirvish), “Fire” (CanStage), “Forbidden Phoenix” (LKTYP), “KA” (Cirque du Soleil), “Amadeus” (Alberta Theatre Projects), “That Dance Show” (Saltance Productions), “Cats” (Neptune Theatre), Joseph’s Dreamcoat (StageWest/Drayton), “A Chorus Line” (StageWest), Sarah Brightman’s World Tour, and TV’s “Honey I Shrunk the Kids!”