Katrina Nicolayeff is the most successful contest fiddler of the last 15 years. The Idaho fiddler has won the Grand National Championship at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser six times, in 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021. She has also won the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville four times, in 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2021. Her six Weiser titles are the most in the contest’s history, and her four Grand Master titles are the most in that contest’s history.
Why Nicolayeff matters
Contest fiddling has two summits: Weiser in June and the Grand Master in September. Most champions win one of them once. Nicolayeff has won ten titles across both. At Weiser she passed the five-title marks of Lloyd Wanzer, Herman Johnson, Tony Ludiker, and Tristan Clarridge. At the Grand Master she passed the three-title marks of Mark O’Connor, Matthew Hartz, and Danita Rast. She did it while raising the standard for tone and taste. If you want to know what judges reward in 2026, listen to her.
Life and career
Nicolayeff grew up in the Idaho contest world. The Weiser champion rolls list a Katrina Pearce of Idaho as Small Fry champion in 1991, Junior-Junior champion in 1995, and Junior champion in 1999, and the Grand Master judges list gives her name as Katrina Pearce Nicolayeff. She is based in Meridian, Idaho, near Boise.
Her first Grand Master Fiddler Championship came in 2007, the third year after the contest resumed following a break from 1998 to 2004. She judged the Grand Master in 2009, then won it again in 2011, the same year she took her first Grand National Championship at Weiser. She repeated at Weiser in 2013 and won a third Grand Master title in 2014. She judged the Grand Master again in 2015 alongside Bobby Taylor, Justin Branum, and Megan Lynch Chowning, and placed third there in 2016.
She won Weiser in 2016, 2018, and 2019, beating Tristan Clarridge, Ridge Roberts, Tashina Clarridge, and Maddie Denton in the 2019 final. The contest was not held in 2020. In 2021 she won both titles again: Weiser in June, and the Grand Master in September, where she topped a field of 20 open competitors ahead of Justin Branum and Wes Westmoreland. That fourth Grand Master title put her ahead of every other champion in the contest’s history. She has played on record with singer Eilen Jewell, appearing on Jewell’s 2019 album Gypsy.
Playing style
Nicolayeff plays in the modern contest style that grew out of Texas fiddling. Her hoedowns use long bow strokes, clean string crossings, and variations that build from one pass to the next. Her waltzes are slow and full, with double stops and slides that keep the melody on top. In the tune of choice round she leans on rags and swing numbers, where her bow can lay back behind the beat.
The thing that sets her apart is control. She plays fast without losing tone, and she does not chase notes. Each variation fits the tune instead of showing off the player. That balance of danceability, style, rhythm, and tone is what Weiser judges score, and it is why she keeps winning.
Influences and legacy
Nicolayeff came up through the Idaho and Pacific Northwest contest circuit, the same world that produced Danita Rast Hartz, Tony Ludiker, and Luke Price. Her style descends from the Texas line of Benny Thomasson and the contest generation of Mark O’Connor.
She now judges as often as she competes. She sat on Grand Master panels in 2009 and 2015 with Megan Lynch Chowning and Bobby Taylor. She appears in the Camp Sumner Sessions video series, where she demonstrates standards like Turkey in the Straw and Crafton’s Blues. The players who have chased her at Weiser, Tristan Clarridge, Ridge Roberts, and Maddie Denton, all learned what a winning round sounds like by listening to hers.
Signature tunes and songs
Turkey in the Straw Crafton’s Blues I Don’t Love Nobody Flop Eared Mule.
Essential recordings
Gypsy, Eilen Jewell (2019)
Awards and honors
Grand Master Fiddler Championship Open Champion (2007, 2011, 2014, 2021) National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest Grand National Champion (2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021) Grand Master Fiddler Championship, third place (2016) Grand Master Fiddler Championship judge (2009, 2015)
Watch and listen
Nicolayeff plays her championship round at the 2014 Grand Master Fiddler Championship, the year of her third title. Watch how the variations grow with each pass.
Nicolayeff plays Turkey in the Straw for the Camp Sumner Sessions. This is a jam tune every fiddler knows, played the contest way.
What to learn from Nicolayeff
Learn Turkey in the Straw from her Camp Sumner video. You already know the tune, so you can spend your practice time on what she adds: the bowing pattern, the slides into the third, and the second and third variations. The technique to steal is her tone at speed. Play the tune at half tempo with a long, heavy bow until every note rings. Then speed up without shortening the stroke. Most fiddlers get quiet and thin when they get fast. Nicolayeff does not, and that is the sound that wins rounds.
Sources
National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest champions, University of Idaho Library Past winners, Grand Master Fiddler Championship Past judges, Grand Master Fiddler Championship 2019 National Old Time Fiddlers Contest report, Bluegrass Today 2021 Grand Master Fiddler Championship results, Bluegrass Today 2016 Grand Masters winners, Bluegrass Today History, National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest Katrina Nicolayeff, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more contest fiddlers. Luke Price shares the modern Weiser era with her. Tristan Clarridge and Ridge Roberts have finished behind her in the Grand Champion round. Mark O’Connor set the contest records she has chased.