CELTIC REVIEW & PHOTOS 2026

 

Fiona Hunter and the Scottish Symphony orchestra

Record breaking Celtic Connections delivers message of hope and unity to the world

Its usually hard to decide, as there are so meny concerts on over the festivals weekends, which concerts to attend. The opening night this year celebrated the over 200 artists from Europe and worldwide who will perform at Celtic Connections. Through diverse, contemporary  traditional, electic, national and roots music. The festival brings people together people from different places, cultures, backgrounds, traditional – to explore and expand our musical horizons. 

This year I decided to attend Friday’s concert which brought together the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and outstanding singers with new orchestral commissions for a celebration of Scots traditional ballads, brought to a deeper resonance. singers of traditional ballads were acclaimed Scots folk singers - Karine Polwart, Kris Drever, Lori Watson, Janice Burns with Jon Doran, Emily Smith, Fiona Hunter.  

 

Celtic Connections is Europe’s leading winter and roots music festival, it certainly chases away those winter blues! I was thrilled to attend several high quality and wonderful concerts this year. There are many concerts I might wish to have attended – Mother Tongue, Celebration of Gaelic song, Capercaillie, Jacob Jolliff, and many more. 

Scots legend Dick Gaughan Celebrated!

**The highlight for me at CC this year was the celebration of Scots folk legend Dick Gaughan. He is a voice of deep humanity in our present dark world. This was the most emotional Celtic concert I have been to, over my twenty years attending and doing photos! Testament to Dick’s fame and widespread appeal among legends of the folk music scene, several had travelled far and wide to perform tonight from Ireland, England and Scotland, to perform Gaughan’s well loved songs. Many has also sent messages. 

 

I first heard Dick Gaughan in the 70s at the Police folk club Edinburgh. A musician friend raved about how incredible and distinctive his guitar playing was. Many years later (after being in America for nearly ten years) I heard Gaughan again at Milngavie Folk club in 2007. This was an intimate gig where his chat and stories between songs while he tuned his guitar, was worth going for alone. In his own distinctive voice, Gaughan hammers and speaks with his acoustic guitar.

Gaughan brought many of the traditional Irish and Scots Celtic songs to new life. I’d never heard Robert Burns Westlin Winds before Gaugan introduced this as one of the best songs ever written. He searched through the Scottish national archives for the best traditional ballads. Like Burns and Dylan before him Gaughan has been a genius song collector and remaker of the old songs. He drew on his Scots and Irish traditions to develop his song craft and performance. 

Julie Fowlis and SCO

Another highlight was the excellent Irish Scots folk trad music at the concert with Julie Fowlis with SCO at Celtic Connections 2026 – with their well-crafted songs. Julie has a clear musicality, along with her husband Irish bouzouki (Greek mandolin) player Emanon Doorley and now partnered with Irish fiddler and Gaelic singer Zoe Conway and Irish musician John McIntyre.    The quartet’s 2024 ALLT albums captures their authentic traditional music with that impactful live vibe and a cohesive sound: with soaring pipes, fiddles, melodies, dynamic rhythm guitar, the emotional solo voice, and the collective and caressing soothing vocal harmonies. They played the range and depth of traditional music – and the long roots between Irish and Scottish music. Both intimate and powerful. All performers were clearly thrilled to have the impact and range of the SCO behind them, to enrich their music with strings, percussions, wind instruments. Creatively conducted by David Brophy.

Karen Matheson

The Celtic roots celebration returned for its 31^st year at Celtic Connections music festival. Transatlantic Sessions is one of the highlights of Celtic Connections music festival, with both the familiar tunes and the new. TS brings together the deep connections between Irish, Scots and American music. Its a special blend of the churning rhythms of bluegrass, country, the fine Scots melodies, jigs and reels and the haunting Irish Gaelic song. This year we were treated to a quality range of performers – from America, Kathy Mattea, and Darrell Scott: from Scotland Karine Polwart and from Ireland Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. 

Like a musical river from Tennessee to Nashville to west Kerry, than to Shetland and to Pathhead Midlothian. As Mattea described, the colourful, one off collaborating at Celtic Connections lead to arteries “like the roots of a tree that lead to different accents – and make the collaborating more sweet.” Like a fascinating patchwork quilt with the variety and range of musical styles and genres that challenge and add musical colour to our lives.

This has been another hugely successful festival to chase away the winter blues.

Darrell Scott

Kathy Mattea

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

 16^th  Friday -  BBC Orchestra, Beyond the Tradition

 

17^th Saturday -  Celebration of Gaelic song

 

18^th Sunday –  True and Bold:  A Night for Dick Gaughan

 

21^st Wednesday  - Julie Fowlis & Scottish Chamber orchestra

 

23^rd Friday – Capercaillie 

 

23^rd Friday - Jacob Jolliff

 

29^th Thursday  -  Shooglenifty

 

1^st February – Transatlantic Sessions

Kris Drever

Record breaking Celtic Connections delivers message of hope and unity to the world =  Celtic Connections music festival 2026 celebrated several sell out live performances, record-breaking ticket sales and unique events, sending a message of hope and unity around the world about the power of music, cultural identity and collaboration.

More than 1,600 artists over 300 events at 25 venues across in Glasgow - Scotland’s largest live music city. This year’s event recorded over 200 sell outs, compared to 125 in 2025. With attendances of 114,000 across 18 days - with the highest ever number of tickets sold in the event’s 33-year history - cementing its place as the biggest winter festival of traditional, roots and world music on the planet.  Artists from 35 countries, included Palestine, Iraq, Ukraine, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and the United States.

 

Ceilidhs and family events proved popular, with 637 participants taking part in music and song workshops. Four free concerts welcomed 7,000 children and young people from across Scotland to the Glasgow Concert Hall. With performances from Sian, DLÙ, Celtic Fandango and Ímar. Since 1999, more than 300,000 children and young people have benefited from the festival’s learning programme.

  

The last night’s programme, included the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year final, the Danny Kyle Open Stage, Transatlantic Sessions and a performance from three-time Grammy winner Lucinda Williams, concluded the first major event in a busy year for Glasgow in 2026. 

 

Showcase Scotland shone a light on participants from Quebec, along with a wealth of homegrown talent, With international delegates attending from 24 nations for five days of top performances and networking opportunities.

 

The festival is delivered by Glasgow Life in partnership with Innis & Gunn. Celtic Connections is supported by the Scottish Government’s Festivals EXPO Fund and Creative Scotland.

Glasgow will also host WOMAD for the first time in July, the 2026 Commonwealth Games and the Royal National Mòd in October.

 

Alan Morrison, Head of Music at Creative Scotland said: “Scotland’s trad and folk artists were at full strength every single day during Celtic Connections 2026. Tradition bearers were honoured, new stars were born, and Scotland’s music proved yet again that it contains the very best the world has to offer. This was a particularly strong year for international artists too, as the festival celebrated different global cultures, bringing voices together in harmony, not discord, and creating music without borders.”

 

Celtic Connections Creative Director Donald Shaw said: “Such a unique coming together of performers as a global family sends a powerful message about the strength of music, cultural identity and collaboration, especially at a time when the world can feel more fragmented than ever."

“From the Drygate to Donbas, Byres Road to Baghdad, Candleriggs to Palestine, these past incredible days have been forged in friendship, fortitude and the freedom to express ourselves through song, dance and performance, filled with hope, inspiration and togetherness.  “From unforgettable headline moments to seeing artists step onto a Celtic Connections stage for the very first time, we have been united by the music and that is a legacy that will thrive long after the lights have dimmed. With the extraordinary support of our funders and partners, colleagues, venues, audiences and incredible volunteers, this is a festival built by passion and people, celebrating a rich cultural tapestry, musical pioneers and songwriting greats."

 

“To see audiences turn out in such record numbers through a cold and wet winter month is the most fitting tribute we could hope for, and I would like to thank everyone involved for making our 33rd edition so memorable, as we already begin the exciting work of looking ahead to what comes next.” 

Edinburgh festival 2025 Opens

 

 

The whirr of excitement to be back on the celebrated cobbled streets of Edinburgh festival in August – as it comes to life with the world's biggest Arts gathering together. To encourage innovation and creative thinking in the world of books, art, music, drama and dance. Also to offer the cross over between the Arts. 

 

The searching to hold a spotlight on the world of today, with many wars and climate crisis. The festival was begun after the great war to offer hope of reconciliations and our shared humanity through the arts.  

There’s a dark shadow today: we live in a world of crises – from the destruction of Gaza and people starving – with people turning to simplistic answers. 

The festival opens this weekend with Dougie MacLean’s Singalong of Caledonia, and a family ceilidh and a family concert. The Hub with Kathryn Joseph and the Usher Hall will host a variety of musical concerts, with Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Puccinni’s opera. The Festival theatre, Mary Queen of Scots ballet and Brian Cox in a new theatre production Make It Happen. Cox will play the ghost of Adam Smith and Sandy Grierson will play Fred, the Shred, Goodwin - 17 years since the banking crisis has led to our present cost of living crisis.

With new theatre productions at the Traverse theatre, the festival theatre, and the Lyceum.  

Consumed at the Traverse, July 31 to Aug 24

The Nature of Forgetting at the Pleasance, Aug 9 to Aug 25

https://www.eif.co.uk

 

It encompasses several festivals – Edinburgh Arts festival, Edinburgh International book festival, Edinburgh film festival and The Fringe. 

THE TRUTH WE SEEK

Venues, Glasgow Music

Glasgow Hydro audience

Glasgow named as City of Music

 

Glasgow is a vibrant and exciting city of music, with the diversity and range of music venues. It has a slightly wild, irreverent and challenging side. Many musicians also say Glasgow audiences are the best!

 

From the concert hall to the modern 14K seater Hydro; iconic mid-size venues and the large number of small venues. World renowned venues include – the Barrowlands, King Tuts, Oran Mor and the Old Fruitmarket. These venues offer a close up and intimate live music experience.

 

There is also the unusual and historic venues – the Tall Ship, on the Clyde, the Macintosh church, Nice n Sleazys, St Lukes, Brel. All this matters in terms of building a healthy and active grassroots music scene for the future. Plus a number of busy folk clubs, jazz bars and more.

 

The Arts and music is a huge industry for the UK and for Scotland. 

 

Glasgow boasts lively Trad sessions, decades of history, iconic venues, intimate gigs,

 

 Outstanding festivals, passionate audiences, record shops, 

 

 

Mary Chapman Carpenter and Friends

Del Imitri Hydro

MY MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY

Over the past years I’ve been to many memorable concerts and taken photos of my musical heroes. I saw my music and lyrics hero Bob Dylan on the Braehead arena - I have to assume he found the large SECC arena impersonal and remote for his previous gig here. I went with my teenage son and his audience is certainly a broad church – from the dedicated disciples who go every concert to the curious. At 70 Dylan is a proliferate as ever with a new album release in 2020, with his stunning, immersive songs.

 

Another icon was Paul Simon, Clyde Auditorium, which was uplifting and joyous. Plus Fleetwood Mac, Elton john, Neil Young. Paul McCartney.

 

On the smaller stages – Arcade Fire, Barrowlands, Admiral Fallow, King Tuts, Hiam, swg6, 

Oran Mor, Emeli Sande. Karine Polwart, Tall ship.

 

I’ve seen other folk heroes at both Celtic Connections and Milngavie folk club - notably the legends Dick Gaughan. Dougie Maclean, Rab Noakes, Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis. And Blue Rose Code (Ross Wilson) was another favourite.

 

Plus the excitement of taking photos at the Royal Albert hall London for Emeli Sande!  2012. I’ve taken photos at many top class gigs – its often been a thrill and an honour with the buzz of the pit and the adrenalin rush to try to capture the right image, that not only tells the story but the artist expressing their innermost reflections..

Music photography expresses my passion of both art and music.

King Tuts famous steps!

Edinburgh International Festival 2025 announced

 

This years theme is “the Truth We Seek”

Now for the first time in its 75 year history run by both a scot and a woman. 

 

In our present world of chaos and uncertainties, Edinburgh festival cultural celebrations bring offerings of light and hopes. The festival offers several Scottish premiers. 

 

 Succession actor Brian Cox appears in theatre show, Make it Happen. 

 

Shakespeare’s As You Like is a Radical Retelling

 

Scottish ballet’s Mary Queen of Scots

 

Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, opera in concert

 

Our 2025 Edinburgh International Festival invites you to explore The Truth We Seek — a journey into the elusive nature of truth, in our personal and public lives.      Nicola Benedetti, Festival Director

 

TICKETS on sale - https://www.eif.co.uk/

 

Celtic Connections 2025!

 Europe’s biggest winter festival celebrates 32^nd year Celtic Connections Glasgow 16^th Jan to 2^nd Feb

The world’s leading folk, roots and world music festival Celtic Connections has unveiled its ambitious program 2025. Glasgow UNESCO City of Music-  25 venues, 300 events across 18 days, anticipating 110,000 visitors and 1,200 musicians and artists

The premiere winter festival will illuminate stages across Glasgow. Eclipsing dark winter nights with a kaleidoscope of internationally-renowned music, exciting new performances, unique showcases and one-off collaborations. Around 1,200 musicians from 20 countries will descend on Glasgow for the international celebration of Celtic music. 

 

*Celtic is about the most unique and inspired collaborations, emotional tribute concerts, beautiful Gaelic song, traditional ballads and instruments, exciting ceilidh bands, and accomplished musicianship. Plus international and Celtic music. 

 

Highlights include – Grammy-award winner Lyle Lovett, Katie Tunstall, 

**Opening concert – celebrates Glasgow 850, “Let Glasgow Flourish”  the city’s Coat of Arms, to pay tribute to the city’s rich artistic heritage of music, art, poetry, dance and film. How this has fed into Celtic Connections. With unique collaborations, from well-kent faces and emerging talent.  

 

Bluebells Barrowlands; Peat & Diesel Emirate; Braebach with Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO); 

celebrated Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis will undertake her first orchestral commission at the festival with the Scottish Orchestra and her Scots-Irish quartet Allt, alongside Zoe Conway, Eamon Doorley and John Mcintyre. 

Malinky 25^th anniversary concert.  Frigg, Finnish band, Scandi folk with BBC Symphony Orchestra. Old Fruitmaket – Glasgow trad scene TRIP headline show; Gaelic song and Hebridean music with Ceolos @30 from South Uist. 

 

New Voices Commissions – BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2021 pianist Michael Biggins, Skye born harpist Clorstaidh Beaton and promising banjo talent Ciaran Ryan.

Showcase Scotland partners with Ireland, with Niamh Bury Trio, Nuala Kennedy and Eamonn O’Leary, Corar Trio, Florock, Grainne Hunt and Leonard Barry Trio.

 

The SNJO hosts Nu-Age Sounds: PLANET WORLD, The Old Fruitmarket, with Mercury Prize nominated pianist Fergus McCreadie and jazz singer kitti. And SAY Award shortlisted corto.alto folk-infused jazz Barrowlands, with Scots jazz talent Bemz, Pippa Blundell, Becky Sikasa and JSPHYNX.

 

Canntaireachd with Gaelic singers Kathleen MacInnes, Kim Carnie, and pipes.

Celebrated Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis will undertake her first orchestral commission at the festival with the Scottish Chamber Orhestra and her scots-Irish quartet Allt which, alongside Zoe Conway, Eamon Doorley and John McInytre. 

*Transatlantic Sessions celebrates 30 years of the roots of Americana, with popular house band led by Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas - and featuring vocalists Loudon Wainwright III, Julie Fowlis, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams and Ireland’s Niall McCabe. Plus American folk-roots pop singer-songwriter Josh Rouse celebrates the 10th birthday of his famous album Nashville, Bluegrass sensations Hawktail, Boston’s Lake Street Dive share their avant-garde Americana sound. 

 

Tradition series, plus ceilidhs, late night sessions, Festival Club, screenings, workshops, the Scottish National Whisky Festival and education program. 

Duncan Chisholm

The very best in world music acts will once again be welcomed to the Celtic Connections line up. Fronted by London-born Nigerian singer Eno Williams, Ibibio Sound Machine will play the Tramway. A clash of African and electronic elements, the outfit is inspired by the golden era of West-African funk and disco and modern post-punk and electro. Femi Kuti & The Positive Force will also bring their iconic live show to Scotland. The eldest son of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, Femi will showcase his jubilant energy and distinctive voice to a Glasgow Royal Concert Hall audience.

From small beginnings in 1994, the festival now attracts international artists, and this year will welcome artists from 20 countries - Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, France, Italy, Nigeria, Spain, Wales, Ireland, Republic of the Congo and more. This year will see the launch of under-26s pass, and ensuring the magic of the festival continues to be accessible.

 

Ceiran  Ryan

Glasgow’s much-loved venues, famous for having the “best fans in the world”, are set to give artists a warm welcome -  The Old Fruitmarket, Barrowland Ballroom, SWG3, Saint Luke’s and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Celtic Connections and Peat and Diesel will become the first band to play at the Emirates Arena in the city’s east end.

 

TICKETS -  Wednesday 16 October 2024 at www.celticconnections.com.

This year the festival will focus on several High-profile women – Madison Cunningham,  Lady Blackbird, Beth Malcolm, Abi Sompa, (Orchestral Qowwali Project). PLUS award-winning Karine Polwart headline show and 300 choir, Julie Fowlis and Allt and the Scottish chamber Orchestra. 

Karine Polwart

Julie Fowlis