(This is the official bio with photos kindly supplied by A-Train, plus some annotations.)

John Fitzpatrick was born in the town of Belfast in Northern Ireland in 1967.

He started playing the violin at nine years of age and by sixteen was already working professionally in theatre, orchestras and chamber groups. After studying for several years he gained a place in the Royal Academy, Royal College of Music, London, finally choosing the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester to continue his tuition.

At the same time John was exploring traditional fiddle styles and teaching himself acoustic guitar, on which he began to write his own compositions. Quick to adapt to new influences, John was soon playing Blues and Jazz with local bands in Manchester and Belfast and became a popular stand-in artist, flexible enough to span the crossover between Traditional, Blues, Country and Classical.

Graduating in 1990, he set about researching in full, key points of technique often neglected by academia. Within a few years his active sense of individual aspects in traditional fiddle styles and modern trends made him a keenly sought-after session musician throughout Ireland and abroad.

He gained extensive experience in live and recorded television working with artists such as Christie Hennessey, David Soul, Chris de Burgh and David Gates, developing his talents as an arranger and composer.

He joined Nightnoise in 1997, touring Spain and North America. Since then he has written and recorded two new pieces on the Windham Hill label, Ar Dhroim Na Gaothe (on "Celtic Christmas IV") and Ga Greine (on the 1999 release "Celtic Christmas V - The Millennium Edition") as ensemble pieces in classical/traditional concert and has just completed a commissioned overture for full orchestra, choir, harps and Uilleann pipes to be performed at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in October.

He lives in Belfast with his wife Cathy.