Mel Bay presents A Scottish Christmas for Hammered Dulcimer
Maggie Sansone is a talented multi-instrumentalist and a critically acclaimed recording artist and performer on the hammered dulcimer. She plays an extremely varied repertoire, either solo or accompanied by guitar, harp, violin, or flute- delighting audiences with her mastery. Celtic, Renaissance, classical, colonial, or popular in origin, Maggie's innovative arrangements and instrumentation transform Celtic pieces into period crossovers she calls "cool Celtic."  As a popular hammered dulcimer performer at major fairs and festivals and a recording artist and teacher, Maggie Sansone has been a major force in introducing and bringing her hammered dulcimer style and sounds to thousands of people around the world. Her early love of music began with piano studies at the age of eight in her home town, Miami, Florida. By the time she graduated from high school, she played recorder, guitar and bassoon. After graduating from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Maggie took up residence in Baltimore, Maryland, and began her musical career. An active and versatile musician, she was a member of an Irish band, directed recorder ensembles, accompanied dance classes, and studied banjo and mandolin. During a visit to Key West, Florida, Maggie heard the unique sounds of the hammered dulcimer and decided to make it her principal instrument. Maggie brings a unique beauty and vision to the ancient music of the Celts. Her albums ring with a Renaissance spirit, Celtic melodies, and a jazzy new crossover into what she calls "cool Celtic." Hers is a fusion of ancient sounds and modern sensibility, fueled by rich arrangements and innovative use of old and new instruments. Praised by the press as the most exciting and innovative hammered dulcimer player recording today, many of her recordings have won INDIE awards from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors. Based on popular demand she has created a series of music books featuring exact transcriptions of her music and playing style. Maggie owns and operates the independent record company, Maggie's Music, Inc. with a growing stable of recording artists and over fifty albums in world-wide distribution. Three of these albums- Mist and Stone, Sounds of the Season, and Ancient Noëls- have won Indie awards from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors.  The Washington Post has said of Maggie's work: "Few recordings span the gap of generations so gracefully… [S]he's managed to balance art and accessibility, past and present, with unusual care and deftness."