Graham is from Inverness and began playing the violin at the age of six. In 2013, he graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and completed a Masters in Scottish Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June 2015.
Prior to studying at the RNCM, Graham was formerly a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain that played at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in 2008. He also led the Highland Regional Youth Orchestra for two years and was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. In 2007, Graham was the inaugural winner of the Highland Young Musician of the Year.
Traditional music has been one of Graham’s main interests from an early age. He was twice a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, as well as being a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year. Along with winning Scottish Championships at junior and senior level, Graham has also won the Invitational Masters Competition in Oban as part of the Highlands and Islands Music and Dance Festival and was a runner-up in the prestigious Glenfiddich Fiddle Championships held in Blair Castle. Most recently, he was commissioned by Celtic Connections 2015 to write ‘Crossing Borders’ as well as perform in the opening night of the festival, an orchestration of Martyn Bennett’s album ‘Grit’ which has since performed at the Playhouse in Edinburgh as part of Edinburgh International Festival. Graham has also performed with folk septet, “The Old Dance School” now “The Fair Rain”, as part of their Scottish tour, “The Undivided”, a folk/jazz fusion project fronted by Mike McGoldrick and Neil Yates during Celtic Connections 2014 and with Phil Cunningham, Aly Bain and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall. Since 2012, he has performed on several occasions throughout Europe with French Baroque ensemble, “Les Musiciens de Saint Julien”. With Mike McGoldrick, Graham recorded the music for the ‘Men at Lunch’ documentary which won an Irish Film and Television Award in 2013.
As a soloist, Graham has appeared at many folk festivals including the Fiddle Festival in Edinburgh, Celtic Connections in Glasgow; where he was the youngest winner of a Danny Kyle Award in 2004, the Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Festival, International Eisteddfod at Llangollen and Blas. He has had the privilege of working and playing alongside some of the folk scenes top musicians including Aidan O’Rourke, Donald Shaw, John Doyle and Julie Fowlis.
Graham is also an enthusiastic teacher who has been the string instructor for the schools in the Argyll area from August 2015-16. He has been a guest tutor at many Feis classes including Feis an Earraich and Feis Throndairnis. He has also taught in primary schools around Inverness-shire as part of the Youth Music Initiative and has given classes at both Glasgow and Manchester Comhaltas branches. Graham teaches privately in both Inverness and Glasgow and is currently a tutor for Glasgow Fiddle Workshop. His pupils have won many competitions around Scotland and have been members of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.
Graham has been generously supported by the Creative Scotland, Donald Dewar Arts Fund, the Scottish International Educational Trust, the Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship, the EMI Sound Foundation, the Duncraig Educational Trust Scheme, the Highland Trust and Friends of Highland Music.