Adult Fèis (May)

Laura Wilkie is a fiddle player from Tain. She has a unique style which has roots in the Highland fiddle traditions but is influenced by an eclectic range of music from all genres. Laura has toured across the world in various different groups including Kinnaris Quintet, guitar-virtuoso Ian Carr, Ross Ainslie, Salsa Celtica, NITEWORKS and with Scots Singers: Claire Hastings and Siobhan Miller. She released her debut solo album, VENT, in 2024.

Born in Edinburgh, award winning fiddler and composer Marie Fielding has been immersed in traditional music from a young age. Performing, playing for dancing as well as numerous recordings to her name, Marie is also Lecturer in Fiddle and Performance at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. An outdoor enthusiast, Marie is a keen artist, often painting Scottish Landscapes in an abstract style.

Ronan Martin is one of Scotland’s finest fiddlers. Brought up in a musical family on the Isle of Skye and with a fiddle in his hands by the age of three, he plays the classic dance music of the north and west with toe-tapping energy and an uplifting and joyful style.

He is in hot demand at home and abroad as a solo fiddler and performing with many of Scotland’s finest musicians including Jonny Hardie, Sandy Brechin and Fred Morrison. He has toured in Germany, Ukraine, Norway, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Libya, India, South Korea and the Middle East.

In 2008 Ronan released his debut solo album to great critical acclaim. The album was a celebration of Highland traditional fiddle music and featured the fantastic playing of Jonny Hardie from Old Blind Dogs on guitar. Fiddler Magazine (USA) called it “astonishingly crisp and powerful” and “a masterful work of splendour that will endure”.

Louise Mackenzie is from Nigg in Easter Ross and as a youngster, was taught by three of Scotland’s most respected and treasured Tradition bearers; Aonghas Grant, Alasdair Fraser and the late Dr Tom Anderson. She was greatly inspired and influenced by her mentors and inherited a love for both teaching and composing.  As well as tutoring for Fèis Rois she has been involved with various Fèisean for over 35 years.  She was also a full-time Strings Instructor in East Sutherland for 15 years.  In 2020, Louise was nominated as Tutor of the Year in the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.

Arran-born fiddler and singer Gillian Frame is a captivating performer whose richly diverse musical experience, since winning the inaugural Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year contest in 2001, shines vibrantly through her mix of tunes and songs, old and new. Her album “Pendulum” received high praise from fans and critics alike and was described as ‘one of the best albums of recent times’. She is a member of RANT.

Gillian has worked with many acts and was a founding member of the band Back of the Moon with whom she toured for seven years, seeing them win various accolades including Best Up and Coming Act followed by Best Folk Band at the Scots Trad Music Awards. During this time she also graduated with a BA (Hons) in Scottish Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Deirdre Morrison has performed worldwide on tour, TV, and radio and was a member of Martyn Bennett’s band Cuillin. She has contributed to numerous albums as a musician and produced Gillebride MacMillan’s album Air Forladh, which was shortlisted for Album of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards. Deirdre has extensive teaching experience and founded the fiddle group The Flying Fiddles while living in Uist. Her work continues to support and promote Scottish music through performance, recording and education.

Caroline Reagh lives in Newtonmore and France. She began dancing at the age of 6 and is delighted to still be dancing now! Beginning with ballet, highland and modern dance as a child, she went on to study contemporary dance professionally.  A week-long summer school in 1999 taught by Cape Breton step-dancer Harvey Beaton drew her into the wonderful world of step-dance and traditional music which she continues to explore and enjoy. Caroline has performed and taught step-dance throughout Scotland and in Ireland, France, Italy, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine. She is a co-director of Dannsa with Sandra Robertson and Fin Moore. Caroline is delighted to be returning to Ullapool this spring to share her joy of step-dancing.

Korean born cellist Su-a Lee is one of the highlights of the Scottish music scene. Celebrated
wherever she goes, she stands out for her versatility, popularity, and appetite for musical
adventure.Born in Seoul, Su-a trained at Chethams School of Music, completing her studies at the Juilliard School in New York. On graduating with her Bachelor’s degree, Su-a moved to Scotland, to join
the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, where she remains as Assistant Principal Cello.

Though Su-a spends most of her time playing classical music, she is also very much in demand
across a wide musical spectrum, working in all art forms. The range of her non classical work has encompassed recording Musical Saw for Eric Clapton, performing at Celtic Connections with Jack Bruce of Cream and the folk band Lau, to improvisatory work with the Belgian Theatre group Reckless Sleepers, regular appearances with fiddler Duncan Chisholm, and a tour of India with the Sarod maestro, Amjad Ali Khan.

Karen Tweed is an internationally respected musician, composer and tutor now living in Orkney, where she has found her creative home. Multi-faceted, her graphic art too has been used on many CD covers, posters and music publications.

Working with singer-songwriter Roger Wilson, Karen began her professional musical touring career in 1987, left teaching Art and began collaborating with (amongst others) Kathryn Tickell, The Poozies, SWÅP, Colum Sands, Timo Alakotila and top jazz accordionist Karen Street. She has appeared on over 70 CDs, 3 accordion publications/manuals and now has  music and art publications of her own.

She is much in demand as an inspirational tutor internationally both on accordion and as an instrumental arranger at summer schools, regularly teaching at Newcastle University, Sibelius Academy and the World Academy of Music and Dance at Limerick University. She is known for being wacky, fun and a confidence-lifter.

John is one of the great characters of the Scottish music scene and one of the music’s most dedicated advocates through his work as a musician, performer, bandleader, television producer, accordion teacher and competition adjudicator.

Edinburgh based songwriter Kim Edgar is passionate about the social and emotional benefits of group singing, and currently co-leads Freedom Of Mind Community Choir in Falkirk – a non-audition choir who sing for good mental wellbeing. She also leads the schola cantorum and the voluntary choir at The Church Of The Sacred Heart in Edinburgh and has delivered a range of singing and songwriting workshops in Germany and across Scotland, including for Vox Liminis and the Scottish Music Centre.  

The BIG Project Youth Choir, a non-audition choir based in a deprived area of Edinburgh, which Kim co-led with Val Munro and Lissa McIntyre, sang “O Flower Of Scotland” for the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, and were also featured performing live on BBC Children in Need with Gareth Malone. She also led a one-year choir project for under 21 year olds in Cornton Vale Women’s Prison. Kim says: “Group singing is great fun and can be transformative – I delight in seeing the benefits it brings to those who give it a try! I also love getting to travel and meet new people through singing workshops, and I’m looking forward to singing with you soon.” 

Rachel, “A superb Highland Harper” (BBC Radio 2) describes herself as a Fèis Rois baby, having first been introduced to the clarsach when she lived in Ullapool. 

Now based near Glasgow, she’s one Scotland’s most well-travelled harpists regularly touring worldwide both as a soloist and with guitarist Ron Jappy. Passionate about passing on her love of Scottish trad music she can often be found teaching at harp festivals throughout the US, Europe and beyond and travels monthly to teach harp in the Netherlands and the Isle of Man. 

She has released seven albums and published six books of harp arrangements with her music featured on the graded exam syllabi for ABRSM, Trinity Music and the RCS.

Findlay Napier is an award-winning Scottish singer, songwriter and teaching artist. He has been touring and releasing music since the early noughties. First with the groundbreaking trad folk band Back of the Moon, then with Nu-Folk pioneers Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers and most recently as a solo act working under the guidance of legendary songwriter Boo Hewerdine. His breakthrough solo album, VIP: Very Interesting Persons, produced by Boo Hewerdine, was number 2 in the Telegraph’s top folk albums. He followed it with 2017’s “Glasgow”, described by the Scotsman as “a paean to his adopted home town” which led to a number of high profile gigs including a couple of seasons as the opening act on Eddi Reader’s UK tour. In 2021 he released It Is What It Is, a collaboration album in all but name with producer and multi-instrumentalist Angus Lyon which Folk Radio UK called, ”A captivating, indispensable work; “it is what it is” and what it is, is magnificent.”

Aaron has recorded on multiple projects, including with his own band,Old Blind Dogs. He is recognised as one of the foremost accompanists on the trad music scene, working with singers such as Emily Smith, Siobhan Miller and Kate Rusby, and has contributed to many mainstream television soundtracks, including Jane Austin period drama, Sanditon and NBC’s Law and Order. He plays with Gaelic singer Rachel Walker. Following the release of 2022’s debut EP entitled A Happy Place, the duo launched their first full album Despite The Wind And Rain to a standing ovation at 2023’s Celtic Connections. The critically acclaimed album featured ten new self-penned songs which celebrated inspirational Scottish women and the resulting tours – which included trips to Canada, Ireland, and extensive touring in Scotland – saw the duo nominated in the ‘Folk Band of the Year’ category at the 2023 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. They were included in The List Magazine’s ‘Hot100’ for 2023.

Dagger Gordon is primarily known as a mandolin and guitar player based in the Scottish Highlands. He has released 2 solo CDs featuring his mandolin playing- ‘Highland Mandolin’ and ‘The Frozen River’. He regularly teaches for Fèisean across the Highlands.

Fred Morrison was born and raised near Glasgow, but it’s the celebrated Gaelic piping tradition of his father’s native South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides, that forms the bedrock of his intensely expressive, uniquely adventurous style. Although his first-love instrument remains the great Highland bagpipes, over the years his mastery has expanded to encompass whistles, Scottish small pipes, or reel pipes – Morrison being a pivotal populariser of this once-rare variety – and Irish uilleann pipes. He was also one of the first Scottish artists to forge dynamic links with his Celtic cousins in Brittany and north-west Spain, adding further to his repertoire of influences and tunes, and has long been renowned as an outstanding tune composer.

Kim is an artist, freelance designer/illustrator, musician and art teacher from Ullapool. She released her album, Leaves that Fly, in 2018. She runs weekly music sessions with Mairearad Green, and regularly plays gigs and Ceilidhs with a variety of other musicians, including The Highland Ceilidh Band. She is also a regular Fèis Rois YMI tutor.

Calum is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and founding member of the folk band Breabach; the contemporary ‘trad music’ band have been nominated twice for ‘Best Band’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and in December 2016 were awarded ‘Folk Band of the Year’ as well as ‘Album of the Year’ at the Scots Trad Music Awards.  Recently Breabach gave a sold-out collaborative performance with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra at Celtic Connections to celebrate twenty years since winning the Danny Kyle Open Stage and launching their career. Calum has written, performed and toured with other groups such as The Grit Orchestra, Tryst, Man’s Ruin, The Unusual Suspects, Seudan… and Pulp!

Hamish Napier is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, educator and composer inspired by the heritage and nature of his native landscape. He was born and brought up in Strathspey. For 17 years he lived and worked in Glasgow and Boston’s vibrant, multi-genre music scenes. On returning home 4 years ago, he began his ‘Strathspey Pentalogy’, an ambitious 10-year project to produce 5 landscape inspired albums. The River (‘16) and The Railway (‘18) received 5-stars in national newspapers. The Woods (’20) was awarded ‘Album of the Year’ in the Scots Trad Music Awards – he has previous nominations for Community Composer, Live Act and Tutor of the Year. Hamish has collaborated with leading artists such as Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson (Capercaillie), Julie Fowlis (Brave), Duncan Chisholm (Wolfstone), Blue Rose Code and Martyn Bennett.

Renowned vocalist Hannah Rarity has left an indelible mark on the  Scottish folk scene, securing her place as a standout artist. The recipient of the prestigious BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year award in 2018, Hannah has since collaborated with esteemed folk acts such as Blazin’ Fiddles, Rura, Niteworks, and Cherish the Ladies. Her albums, ‘Neath the Gloaming Star’ (2018) and ‘To Have You Near’ (2022), both garnered critical acclaim, being shortlisted for Album of the Year at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards. In 2022, she was invited to work as co-musical director for the Opening Concert of Celtic Connections.

Performing a carefully chosen mix of traditional, contemporary and self-penned material, her ethereal voice is reminiscent of legends such as Eva Cassidy and Cara Dillon. Equally at home in a number of genres, she is a sought-after collaborator, session vocalist, MC and tutor.

Rachel Walker is a singer, songwriter, arranger and educator based in the heart of Lochaber in Scotland’s beautiful West Highlands. Rachel has recorded four of her own solo albums, with her album, Gaol, showcasing her songwriting talent. She has played with much-loved Gaelic song band Cruinn and is a regular guest with Skipinnish. She plays with Aaron Jones, and following the release of2022’s debut EP entitled A Happy Place, the duo launched their first full album Despite The Wind And Rain to a standing ovation at 2023’s Celtic Connections. The critically acclaimed album featured ten new self-penned songs which celebrated inspirational Scottish women and the resulting tours – which included trips to Canada,Ireland, and extensive touring in Scotland – saw the duo nominated in the ‘Folk Band of theYear’ category at the 2023 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. They were included in The List Magazine’s ‘Hot100’ for 2023, Rachel was listed as one of The Scotsman’s ‘Women in Culture 2024’ and was added to the Scottish Poetry Library’s list of poets in recognition of her songwriting.

Tom is largely a self taught jazz musician but has played with many musicians including Sun Ra, Geri Allen, Martyn Bennett, & The Grit Orchestra. He studied drums with Joe Morello, Andrew Cyrille, Billy Hart, & Joey Baron in the US, Okoe Ardyfio in Ghana, carnatic percussion vocabulary on bodhran with Suresh Vaidyanathan in India, and konnakol and drumming with Asaf Sirkis in London. He has taught drums in a wide range of settings around the world and is currently teaching drums at Napier University and studying for a PHD in Music, Creativity, and Education there.

Tom has a particular interest in the interface between jazz and traditional music – he has played extensively with traditional musicians in Scotland. This has also led him to become an innovator on the traditional Irish/ Scottish drum the bodhran. He has also studied, taught, and performed with traditional musicians from Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Tom set up ABC Creative Music with his brother Phil, and they have developed some innovative ways to teach improvisation and music creativity. They  recently led a conference on Creativity in Music Education and are in the process of publishing their theoretical framework on Creativity in Music Education.

Mike Vass is one of the most creative forces on the Scottish music scene. As a musician, composer, producer and arranger Vass has amassed a body of work that encompasses early appearances as a livewire young fiddler, collaborations with many of the leading voices among today’s Scots and Gaelic tradition bearers, delivering multi-media performances, overseeing critically acclaimed recordings, and scoring for prestigious ensembles.

Singer, piper, storyteller, teacher and all-round tradition bearer, Rona Lightfoot is one of Gaeldom’s great characters, a one-woman ceilidh with a treasure trove of folklore and the spirit to take on authority and win.