APPLETON, Wis. — The weeks were winding down and, like any other college senior, Martha McDonnell’s mind was occupied by finals and finding a job.

A classical violinist and fiddle player, there were times during her final year at Lawrence University when she wondered if she would pursue a career in her major.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do music full time when I graduated,” McDonnell said, “because I was unsure about how to make a good living as a musician.”

Then, the phone rang.

“I had a friend, slash, teacher. She’s a fiddle player and also a classical player, which is a pretty rare combination,” said McDonnell. “And she plays with the Chicago Symphony and the Lyric Opera in Chicago. And she called me up and said, ‘Look, I can’t do this gig. You know, they reached out to me, and I recommended you to come in and audition for it.’

“And, you know, I didn’t tell them how old I was. I didn’t tell him I was still in college. I just drove down, missed a couple days of class and auditioned.”

When the time came, McDonnell went up on stage with a couple of other musicians …

“And all of a sudden he walked in,” she said.

That would be 16-time Grammy Award winner Sting. He was putting on an original musical, with his own music and lyrics, called 'The Last Ship.'

“‘We’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, we didn’t know he was actually going to be here,’” she said. “And he sat down, he pulled out his guitar and then we all played together.

“I wasn’t putting any pressure on myself because I was never expecting to get the gig. And so, I thought, ‘This is just really fun. I can go home; I can say I jammed with Sting. I can have this memory and that’ll be fine.’ It was just really fun.”

Later that night, she was out with her family when she glanced at her phone.

“I got an email saying that they wanted me for the job,” she said. “I was with my family, and we were all like, ‘Whaaat?’”

When the pre-Broadway run of the show was complete, it went on to New York and McDonnell was asked to come along as a sub. So, an audition while in college led to a job with Sting, which led to a role as a sub in the musical in New York, which led Martha McDonnell to performing on Broadway.

But it would not be the last time.

She auditioned for the musical “Bright Star,” written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

“Basically, I came in and I played a couple of fiddle tunes,” she said. “They had the banjo player selected already, and so I just jammed with him, like, played some excerpts from the show.”

She got that gig as well.

“Working with Steve was equally as wonderful. He’s just brilliant,” she said. “So yeah, I’ve been very lucky to work with these really accomplished artists who are also just lovely people.”

Later, she performed in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show “Girl from the North Country,” which reimagined 20 legendary songs by Bob Dylan.

None of this likely would have happened, though, if not for the support she received from Lawrence because a classical violinist and fiddle player were considered as compatible as alcohol and fireworks

“The two were not really accepted in the other’s community,” she said.

But Brian Pertl, Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Lawrence, wasn’t buying it.

“In the (Entrepreneurial Musician) class, she said, ‘Well, I want to do my project on fiddling,’” Pertl said. “And I was like, what? And it turns out she’s a pretty darn good fiddler.

“But she didn’t tell anyone because she didn’t think it was appropriate at the conservatory to tell people. She was worried about what other students would think. And I said ‘Martha, this is awesome. Like, you’ve got to share this.’ And so, in that class, is where she sort of came out of the fiddle closet.”

Today, McDonnell tours in Europe and the U.S. She has played the fiddle and sang on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, Charlie Rose and the Tony Awards. She recently put out her first self-titled EP.

All thanks to one college class.

“I have to say he was one of the most influential figures for me at Lawrence,” she said of Pertl. “Just because he was such an unconventional dean of a music conservatory and he was just so supportive of everything I did and so encouraging. And yeah, I don’t know that I would have pursued music professionally if not for him. I mean, that’s 100% how I feel.”

Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 or at: michael.t.woods1@charter.com