Celtic Connections 2026 kicks off!

Celtic Connections 2026 kicks off next week - Thursday, 15 January - and is set to attracts thousands of music lovers  across the world to Glasgow for the premier winter music festival of its kind. Famed for its adventurous spirit, the festival will stage more than 300 events across 25 venues and spanning more than 10 genres across 18 days.

I have attended, covered and photographed at the festival since 2008, nearly twenty years now!! The lighting at concerts is now much more sophisticated. At this cold, dark time of year Celtic Connections offers some joyous warmth with the range, quality and diversity of their unique and international collaborations. Over the years I’ve been to so many memorable concerts. 

 

Everything You Need to Know About Celtic Connections 2026

 

The renowned festival every year transforms Glasgow in January into a must-visit destination for music lovers is now just over a week away.

Celtic Connections – Scotland’s premier winter festival of its kind – attracts thousands of fans and performers to the city from all corners of the world, offering unforgettable moments, groundbreaking collaborations, and a love for music that only Glasgow can provide with its many outstanding venues.

 

When is it?

The countdown is on! Celtic Connections 2026 runs from 15 January to 1 February 2026. Over 300 events at 25+ venues across the city, with audiences of more than 110,000 expected to experience Glasgow’s biggest winter celebration of music and culture.

 

Who’s performing?

With a lineup of over 1,200 artists, of global icons, homegrown heroes and breakthrough names.

Headliners 2026 include country music royalty Emmylou Harris, legendary Cuban collective Buena Vista All Stars, Americana powerhouse Lucinda Williams,Scottish folk-rock pioneers Skerryvore, Grammy-winning banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, Senegalese orchestral sensation Baobab,

 

Québec’s vibrant music scene contributes acts like Le Vent du Nord and Bon Débarras, highlighting the festival’s commitment to international cultural exchange. indie duo Watchhouse and Mon Rovîa, who tells his refugee story through the healing sound of Afro-Appalachian folk.

Opening Concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, World Connections, and a range of one-off collaborations featured throughout the programme. Festival favourites return, including Roaming Roots Revue (Icons Vol. 2), Transatlantic Sessions, and the Danny Kyle Open Stage that showcases emerging talent.

 

Is it for young people?

Absolutely! Celtic Connections is dedicated to making world-class music accessible to everyone, including the next generation. The popular Under 26 Festival Pass is back, providing discounted entry for those aged 18 - 25 to a selection of events – perfect for students, young professionals, and anyone discovering new sounds.

Additionally, the acclaimed Education Programme returns, with thousands of local schoolchildren invited to special concerts and workshops, planting the seeds for a lifelong love of music.

 

What type of music can you hear?

Celtic Connections is famed for its adventurous spirit – audiences will enjoy traditional folk, roots, indie, and world music; blues, jazz, orchestral, Americana, and even electronic influences. 

Experience Gaelic song and Scottish ballads, orchestral world premieres, like The Ayoub Sisters’ Arabic Symphony, roots collaborations linking Scotland with Brazil, Mexico, and beyond, and captivating new commissions. Whether you crave the pulse of a late-night ceilidh or the intimacy of story-driven folk, the festival showcases music in all its diversity.

 

What’s new for 2026?

Once again ambitious collaborations and boundary-pushing debuts take centre stage:

•    For the first time, the Emirates Arena will host two back to back shows: an incredible farewell show from Emmylou Harris and its largest folk-rock party yet with Skerryvore

•    Citizens Theatre becomes an official festival venue for the first time, welcoming the likes of Glasgow’s own spellbinding Alice Faye and Òran Ùr, a night celebrating 25 years of new Gaelic songs

•    Cross-cultural projects bring together musicians from Scotland, Sweden, Ireland, Mexico, Brazil and Iraq

•    Innovative shows like Tràigh Mhòr will bring Brazilian and Scottish roots together, and the world premiere of Delusions blends music, spoken word and multimedia art, while the Maclean Brothers’ night will celebrate extraordinary stories of endurance and global connection

•    A new multi-year partnership with the Edinburgh International Book Festival sees groundbreaking collaborations between Scotland's celebrated writers and musicians including The Golden Road featuring William Dalrymple, India Alba and renowned artists.

 

How do I get a ticket?

Tickets for the festival are available now at www.celticconnections.com. 

 

Celtic Connections Creative Producer, Donald Shaw, said: “Celtic Connections is big, bold and inspiring – it’s a festival that isn’t afraid to take risks, champions artistic expression and believes in collaboration, and having fun. There’s a special kind of magic that fills Glasgow every January during Celtic Connections. Come and join us to experience unforgettable shows, world-class artists, and surprises around every corner. We can’t wait to share these moments with everyone who loves music as much as we do!”

 

This year’s festival, delivered by Glasgow Life in partnership with Innis & Gunn, promises inspiration, discovery and the warmest of welcomes – here’s everything you need to know.

Celtic Connections is delivered with funding from Glasgow City Council through Glasgow Life. Creative Scotland and The Scottish Government Festivals Expo Fund continue to provide invaluable support to Celtic Connections.

2025 Year of Surprises and Nostalgia

 

2025 Year of Surprises and Nostalgia

The internet gives us unbounded access to “knowledge:”

but – at the same time leaves us ignorant and in our own bubbles.

 

That’s why knowledge and empathy through books – through all the Arts: poetry, music, art,, film, matters so greatly. Otherwise our worlds are limited. To celebrate our diversity and connectedness. 

 (The UK apparently is a rich country – when I wonder if this is true, where is the money?)

Ignorance is a terrible weakness. Different cultures and identities can sit side by side – why does one culture have to be better or superior? We are stronger for our diversity. 

 

In the new year 2026 - I hope for greater empathy and understandings through the Arts.

 

 NOSTALGIA

Its so easy to be nostalgic at Christmas, 

remembering all the past Christmases, 

looking up old photos and friendships, 

 

of the time ticking by,

the past years endings and all that it meant,

the memories, the highs and the lows. 

 

Making new plans, new resolutions, expectations

of what the new year may offer….

PK

Long Memory

I shake out the dusty distance between the lost long ago times.

There’s the National songbooks faded now a deep brown,

There‘s the thought of back when the world was bright and new. 

 

I thought back then

There was so much time,

I took for easy granted,

Never looking too far behind, 

Often too easily uncaring and reckless,

Forgetting time passes us all goodbye.

 

I remember singing those well loved Burns songs -

Ye banks and braes o bonny doon

How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair,

How can ye chant ye little birds

And I sae weary full o care.

 

Ye’ll break my heart ye warbling birds, 

That wanton trough the thorny trees,

Ye mind me o departed joys,

Departed never to return. 

 

And iconic pop tunes,

Joni Mitchell, Elton John, the Beatles,

Of Mozart and Beethoven classics,

All accompanied me in my safe place.

PK

 

November 2025

2025 Reflections TOP PHOTOS

Some favourite memories of 2025! From fun concerts at Celtic Connections and excellent times at Edinburgh festivals. 

Edinburgh 2025

Past concert memories!

Blackberries ~ Margaret Atwood

Blackberries

~ Margaret Atwood

 

 

In the early morning an old woman

is picking blackberries in the shade.

It will be too hot later

but right now there's dew.

 

Some berries fall: those are for squirrels.

Some are unripe, reserved for bears.

Some go into the metal bowl.

Those are for you, so you may taste them

just for a moment.

That's good times: one little sweetness

after another, then quickly gone.

 

Once, this old woman

I'm conjuring up for you

would have been my grandmother.

Today it's me.

 

Years from now it might be you,

if you're quite lucky.

The hands reaching in

among the leaves and spines

were once my mother's.

I've passed them on.

 

Decades ahead, you'll study your own

temporary hands, and you'll remember.

Don't cry, this is what happens.

Look! The steel bowl

is almost full. Enough for all of us.

 

The blackberries gleam like glass,

like the glass ornaments

we hang on trees in December

to remind ourselves to be grateful for snow.

 

Some berries occur in sun,

but they are smaller.

It's as I always told you:

the best ones grow in shadow.

 

The Statutes of Iona 1609

 

On a beautiful sunny day under perfect blue skies, we visited the peaceful island of Iona, where I discovered a plaque to the –

Statutes of Iona of 1609

James VI brought the clan chiefs together for a meeting on Iona. He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and heir to queen Elizabeth of England – with the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

 

He required that the eldest sons of Highland chiefs be educated in England

 

The Statutes of Iona aimed to civilize the Highlands into English culture and language in order to suppress Gaelic culture, and to bring clan leaders under royal control by making them accountable in Edinburgh. 

 

To eliminate Scottish Memory by outlawing Gaelic bards. 

 Just as had happened in Ireland outlawing Irish Gaelic. 

Key Aspects of the Statutes of Iona (1609):

·       Education for Heirs: Chiefs had to send their firstborn sons (or other heirs) to be educated in Lowland Scotland.

·       Religious Compliance: Support Protestant ministers and outlaw Gaelic bards (who preserved traditional culture).

·       Royal Control: Chiefs had to appear annually before the Privy Council in Edinburgh to answer for their actions.

·       Goal: To pacify the Highlands, assert royal authority, and assimilate the region into the more "civilized" Lowland Scottish & English culture, reducing the power of the clan system.