There’s a rare opportunity for Scots music lovers in the south of England to see multi-award winning Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis at The Sidmouth Folk Festival on Monday 5th August.
Deeply influenced by her early upbringing in the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist, Julie has a career spanning five studio albums and numerous high profile collaborations. Her ‘crystalline’ and ‘intoxicating’ vocals have enchanted audiences around the world.
Nominated as ‘Folk Singer of the Year’ at the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and ‘Best Artist’ at the Songlines World Music Awards, Julie is a warm and engaging live performer who has graced stages around the world, from village halls in the Highlands to stages in New York, The Philharmonie de Paris and Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Recent invitations to perform have included a return to world-class Festival of Voice in Cardiff, the World Festival of Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco, to collaborate with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms and to support Scottish icons ‘Runrig’ to an audience of 50,000 during their farewell concert weekend in August 2018.
She sang live at the closing ceremony of the Ryder Cup in Chicago in 2012 to a TV audience of 500 million, an event that was only eclipsed by singing live at the opening ceremony of the Glasgow XX Commonwealth Games in 2014, to a TV audience of over 1 billion people.
Since of the release of her otherworldy album Alterum in 2017, she has been in demand – touring with the world-class Transatlantic Sessions, sell-out shows in London and throughout the UK, and is currently working on a major new 14-18 commission with celebrated Highland musician Duncan Chisholm, commemorating 100 years since the ‘Iolaire’ tragedy.
She will forever be recognised for singing the theme songs to Brave, Disney Pixar’s Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning animated film, set in the ancient highlands of Scotland. The track was recorded when Julie was eight months pregnant with her second child and has since been a worldwide smash hit, and the song ‘Touch the Sky’ was indeed long-listed for an Oscar nomination in 2013.
Julie’s most recent studio album received glowing reviews, and over the years she has been nominated and won several BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and Scots Trad Music Awards. She also made history as the first Gaelic solo artist to win a Scottish Music Award in December 2014.
Over the last ten years, Julie has become a sought after presenter for television and radio, equally at home speaking Gaelic or English. She presents the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with friend and acclaimed broadcaster Mark Radcliffe, which were held again in the Royal Albert Hall, London in April 2017, plus she fronts the award-winning music series Port, now in its third series, which is broadcast throughout the UK and Ireland on BBC ALBA and TG4 with co-presenter Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh.
Julie Fowlis performs at The Ham, Sidmouth on Monday 5th August, supported by Matthew Byrne, a traditional singer, storyteller, and guitarist from Canada whose latest album was awarded Traditional Recording Of The Year at the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Tickets For Julie Fowlis & Matthew Byrne