Ríoghnach Connolly & Ellis Davies + Juliette Lemoine & Fergus McCreadie

Ríoghnach Connolly
Ríoghnach Connolly grew up surrounded by a rich musical familial heritage and through Armagh Pipers’ Club in Armagh City, in the northeast of Ireland. Now based in Manchester, she is a professional vocalist, flautist, lyricist, workshop facilitator and musical activist. She has toured internationally and extensively, performing and recording in bands The Breath (Real World Records), HoneyFeet (Stardust Works) Band of Burns (Órd Bán) and Afro Celt Sound System (ECC). Ríoghnach has a worldwide publishing deal with Real World Records as a writer and currently holds the title of BBC Radio 2’s Folk Singer of the Year.

Ríoghnach Connolly and Ellis Davies have been playing together for nearly 20 years – as long as long as they have been a couple. Together they have graced stages as far away as Brazil and Singapore, and recorded under Ríoghnach’s name, as festival favourites Honeyfeet and as Beware Soul Brother, along with Mendi Singh.

As a duo, they explore the traditional music of Ríoghnach’s upbringing, gently underpinned by Ellis’ fingerpicking guitar style.

“(Connolly is) A remarkable singer and flautist…who can ease from Irish traditional influences to soul.” The Guardian
“Delightfully undefinable…irrepressible, inimitable,” Folk Radio
“A voice that echoes back through the ages of jazz and soul, resonant and resplendent in glorious, exploding power and control.” Manchester Music
“Connolly is a free spirit and strikingly self-assured…seldom has conspicuous greatness been more accessible.” Mike Butler, CityLife / Dyverse Music

Juliette Lemoine & Fergus McCreadie
Coming together in a rare duo show, cellist Juliette Lemoine and pianist Fergus McCreadie bring a fresh and spontaneous approach to ancient and contemporary Scottish traditional tunes.

Juliette Lemoine is exploring and redefining the cello’s role within Scottish Traditional Music. She recently burst onto the Scottish music scene with her debut album ‘Soaring’, launching with a sold-out headline performance at Celtic Connections 2023. The album went on to be long-listed for the Scottish Album of the Year award 2023. Her emotive compositions weave through Scottish Traditional, Western Classical, and Jazz genres to create a highly personal new voice. Juliette is fascinated by the cello’s potential to take on a lead melodic role in a traditional music context, in the way a fiddle typically would, and finding ways to retain the same fluidity, bowing style, ornaments and authenticity.

‘One of Scotland’s leading lights in trad cello’ – Natalie Haas

Fergus McCreadie is one of the most exciting jazz pianists on the world stage today. With a unique blend of Jazz and Scottish folk inspired by his country’s sublime landscapes, his music captures the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide, with an appeal that extends far beyond the constraints of genre.

Released on Edition Records to instant critical acclaim, Fergus’s 2022 album Forest Floor catapulted him into the international spotlight. The album topped the UK Jazz & Blues charts, prompted sold-out performances across the UK, praise from BBC 6Music, The Times, NME and earned him a 2022 Mercury Prize shortlist nomination, the 2022 Jazz FM Instrumentalist of the Year Award as well as the 2022 Scottish Album of the Year Award – the first jazz artist ever to be awarded the prize.