Megan MacDonald, Chloë Bryce & Calum McIlroy are a folk trio based in Glasgow. Hailing from Lairg, Tain, and Aberdeenshire respectively, they blend fiddle, accordion, guitar, and their voices to present an array of dynamic tunes and delicate songs. All three have performed extensively across Scotland and beyond, appearing at internationally renowned events including Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Celtic Colours International Festival, and Celtic Connections, where they won Battle of the Folk Bands in 2024.
Chloë currently performs and teaches Scottish fiddle, Gaelic song, and Gaelic language. She has gained acclaim for her compositions drawing inspiration from local folklore and was commissioned to write music for Blas Festival 2022, celebrating Gaelic and Highland culture.
Megan performs regularly with folk bands Eabhal and Heisk, and has toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, China, and the US. Her dynamic and energetic playing-style has made her a sought-after band member, tutor, and session musician across the Scottish traditional music scene.
Calum is known for his lyrical approach to flatpicking on the guitar and mandolin. He earned the title of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2024 following an earlier nomination for Scots Singer of the Year at the 2021 Scots Trad Music Awards.
Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas:
The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, "the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling", and brilliant Californian cellist Natalie Haas, spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 20 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.
Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who’s who of the fiddle world including Mark O’Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.
This seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His search eventually led him to find a cellist who could help return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra.
The duo’s debut recording, ‘Fire & Grace’, won the coveted the Scots Trad Music Album of the Year award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy. Since its release, the two have gone on to record five more critically-acclaimed albums that blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In additional to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.
Our Youth Engagement Project (YEP) is an expanding part of our Festival.
From a small beginning many years ago, tutored by Eilidh Steel, we are gradually increasing the scale and scope of the YEP; giving an expanded programme of tutoring, with the YEP Group featuring as part of the Saturday night concert at the Festival itself.
This year’s tutor is the wonderful Graham Rorie, and in the past we have been lucky enough to have Patsy Reid and Adam Sutherland in the role.
YEP is free to the participating students, and is intended to be an opportunity to progress not just in the playing of the fiddle, but also in the practical issues of music choice, arranging and playing as part of a bigger group, stagecraft and the performance itself.
It’s a stepping stone to considering fiddle music as a future option; be it as a career or as an enthusiastic amateur - and is a noteworthy event on any musician’s CV .
PS - Did we mention that it’s also a huge amount of fun?!