Edinburgh Tradfest: Isla Ratcliff: The Scottish Four Seasons

“This remarkable work ... has followed a long tradition of using Vivaldi's music as a reflection on the world, to look at "Scottishness" in general, and Scottish music in particular” – Fatea

Fiddle player, singer and composer Isla Ratcliff is a passionate and inventive musician from Edinburgh, Scotland. With the release of her first two albums, The Castaliain 2021 and The Scottish Four Seasons in 2025, Isla has been receiving increasing attention for her fiery fiddle playing and her rich singing voice.

She was nominated for Musician of the Year 2025 at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and she was a Semi-Finalist in the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2022 competition. She has toured across Scotland, the UK and Europe, including at Celtic Connections, Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Cambridge Folk Festival, SidmouthFolkWeek, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, SEALL Festival of Small Halls, the BBC Proms, and festivals in France, Germany and Denmark.

Isla’s newest album The Scottish Four Seasons(2025) is a Scottish trad reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Released in 2025 to mark the 300th anniversary of the work's original publication, Isla’s album highlights the dance-like nature of Vivaldi's music and reflects on how Scotland's seasons and climate have changed in the past 300 years.

Featuring Isla on fiddle, accompanied by a stellar line-up of string ensemble and piano, this contemporary Scottish folk interpretation of a 300-year-old classic crosses the genre boundaries of classical and folk music and highlights important environmental concerns.

Joining Isla for this special performance of The Scottish Four Seasons are: Kristan Harvey (fiddle), Emma Tomlinson (viola), Natalie Haas (cello), May Halyburton (bass) and Iona Reid (piano).

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Image: Elly Lucas

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