The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers, a group comprised of 50 fiddlers backed by piano, drums, cellos, guitars, harps and harmonica, with dancers as well, will fill the stage of the Gallo Center for the Arts at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers were founded in 1986 by Scottish master fiddler Alasdair Fraser and friends, and the group has grown to more than 200 members from all over Northern California, the U.S. and beyond. Varying widely in age and backgrounds, the fiddlers are drawn together by their love of Celtic traditional music. Prized in the group is the ability to play by ear, to feel the music deep in one’s soul, and be enough in the moment to follow spontaneous changes of direction during performances.

Fraser is the director of the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School in California, where he teaches every summer, and has been artist-in-residence at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow for the past several years. His music is widely available on CD, and can also be heard on movie soundtracks from “Titanic,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Spitfire Grill” and “Treasure Planet.”

With Fraser's trademark humor and charismatic playing setting the tone, the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers are renowned for creating such a two-way sense of fun and joy between musicians and audience that people spontaneously get out of their seats and dance in the aisles whether or not they know the steps to the jigs and reels pouring forth from the stage.  

Ticket prices for the event range from $15 to $39. Tickets can be purchased online at www.galloarts.org, by calling (209) 338-2100, or from the Gallo Center ticket office at 1000 I Street in downtown Modesto.