Edinburgh Tradfest: Fiona Hunter (Relaxed Performance)

“Fiona’s vocals and her intense presence are a marvel; she keeps you enthralled from beginning to end” – Folk Notes

Following the success of last year’s child-friendly show we are delighted to be welcoming Fiona Hunter, one of the leading voices in Scottish traditional music, to lead this year’s relaxed performance. This concert is designed to appeal to all ages from new babies upwards.

Fiona first came to the wider folk music audience’s attention when she joined the Scots song champions Malinky in 2005, having learned traditional songs first-hand from the Perthshire-based Stewart family, as well as through formal studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

In 2014 Fiona released her eponymous first solo album, featuring her interpretations of songs from both the lowlands and Highlands of Scotland and debuting her band with some of Scotland’s finest traditional musicians. The album and subsequent concerts earned glowing reviews and in 2015 Fiona won the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards’ Scots Singer of the Year title.

Further acclaim came when Fiona sang with the large-scale Grit Orchestra, formed to celebrate the music of maverick techno-folk musician Martyn Bennett, at Celtic Connections on the tenth anniversary of Bennett’s death in 2015. The orchestra, with Fiona ably taking on the daunting role of singing Move, as sung by Sheila Stewart on Bennett’s Grit album, has gone on to appear at the prestigious WOMAD festival, at Edinburgh International Festival and at Celtic Connections again in 2018, 2020 and 2025. Most famously Fiona sang Blackbird/What a Voice,(see below) from the singing of Lizzie Higgins, as stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill recreated his YouTube sensation climb of the Isle of Skye’s Black Cuillin Ridge on a scale model onstage.

While continuing to work with Malinky, Fiona has also formed a successful musical partnership with the outstanding Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes and appeared in the centenary celebrations of Scottish folk music’s patriarch, folklorist, poet and song collector Hamish Henderson.

Fiona released her second solo album in 2022, produced by her Malinky colleague Mike Vass and featuring songs learned directly from mentors including Ray Fisher, Alison McMorland and Sheila Stewart.

Not only is she an award-winning singer, Fiona is also a primary school music teacher and mother to a lively pre-schooler so she is well-versed in the challenges of keeping young children engaged!

All are welcome!

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If you have access requirements, please contact our Sales and Welcome Team on boxoffice@traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404 so we can arrange reserved seating for you and discuss how else we can best support your visit.