Amy Laurenson launches Edinburgh Tradfest 23

l-r Lea Søndergaard Larsen, Amy Laurenson and Rhona Macdonald

At The Traverse Theatre bar this morning Edinburgh Tradfest announced its full programme to an audience of press, partners and funders. The highlight was a performance from the newly minted Amy Laurenson Trio led by this year’s BBC Scotland’s Young Trad Musician of the Year.

Providing a taster of their gig on Friday 5 May the band played two electric sets, one from Shetland and one from Sweden.

“We’re delighted to be performing at this year’s Edinburgh Tradfest in May. It’s an absolute pleasure to be part of today’s event and to give everyone a taste of what to expect to hear from us. Winning Young Trad Musician of the Year was absolutely fantastic and I am super excited to see what the next year holds,” said Amy.

We also heard from festival producer Douglas Robertson who highlighted the quality of this year’s line up and the fine spread of performers from Scotland and around the world, a theme also touched on by Creative Scotland’s head of music Alan Morrison. It seems that each year that passes makes the need to celebrate and share our culture, and culture of other nations, even more expedient.

Join us as we feature artists from across the spectrum from age 13 to 80something, from Grammy-winners to homegrown superstars; visiting virtuosos to emerging talent; tunes with centuries of tradition to new writing.

The festival opens on Friday 28 April with a performance from Rhiannon Giddens at the Assembly Music Hall and continues until Monday 8 May. View the full programme here.

The Amy Laurenson Trio is appearing on Friday 5 May at the Traverse Theatre. Amy Laurenson is also giving a workshop on Shetland tunes on Sunday 7 May.