The 42nd Orkney Folk Festival takes place between 22 and 25 May 2025, offering concerts, ceilidhs, clubs, sessions, workshops and more. While the festival’s base is in Stromness, audiences will also have the chance to experience Orkney hospitality at events across the Orkney mainland and in its north and south isles. It opens today, following record breaking ticket sales for the 42nd edition of the event.
Almost 8,600 tickets have sold for the four-day island festival, an uplift on the previous record set in 2024.
The Festival is one of Scotland’s longest-running folk festivals. Leading artists from Canada, the USA, Australia, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sápmi, England and throughout Scotland will join home-grown Orcadian musicians as part of the 60 acts appearing at the festival in its 42nd year. It is run entirely by volunteers – and has been since its inception in 1982. The year-round management committee and board are supported by more than two hundred others in the lead up to the festival.
The festival received external recognition by winning a Highly Commended award at the Highland and Islands Thistle Awards in October 2024, in the Outstanding Cultural Event or Festival Category. This is the second award the festival has received within recent years, after it was named Event of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards in December 2023.
The event is set to welcome a bumper contingent of islanders in the year Orkney hosts the International Island Games. Audiences can look forward to performances by artists from islands including Shetland; Skye; Arran; the Isle of Man; Ireland; Cape Breton; Prince Edward Island; Australia; and Manhattan.
The similarities and differences of music from Orkney and Cape Breton in particular will be celebrated as part of this year’s Gathering, as artists from each side of the Atlantic join forces.
There are further celebrations planned as the festival marks the 30th year of Hadhirgaan, one of the finest and most inspiring examples of traditional music education in Scotland. Having proudly flown the flag for Orcadian traditional music around the world, three decades of former Kirkwall Grammar School pupils are taking the stage alongside current Hadhirgaan students and the group’s instrumental instructor, Douglas Montgomery. Douglas won the Music Tutor the Year award at the 2024 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
Canadian celtic superstars and power-couple Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy are appearing at the festival as part of their first UK appearances in 25 years. They’re joined by their two eldest children, Mary Frances and Michael.
With more than a decade of making records and touring around the world behind them — as members of the award-winning Cape Breton supergroup Còig — Rachel Davis and Darren McMullen are visiting the festival, with Zak Cormier from Prince Edward Island.
There’s further Cape Breton representation with esteemed singer-songwriter, Buddy MacDonald; master of the fiddle and piano, Troy MacGillivray, who’s originally from Nova Scotia but now living in the island; and Mac Morin, the step dancer and piano player.
New Nordic folk band Dreamers’ Circus appear at the festival as one of the few Scottish dates in their 16-year career, while Emil Kárlsen also visits to promote Sámi culture through a unique blend of melodic pop and joik.
Sisters, Natalie and Brittany Haas, unite at the festival for the first time having appeared in their own rights previously with Alasdair Fraser and Crooked Still respectively.
Finnish folk supremo’s Frigg also make a return as part of their 25th anniversary celebrations, while Orkney’s own Fara (Below) join to mark the 10th anniversary of them forming for the festival in 2015.
FARA
Orcadian folk music is well represented with the return of Gnoss, JenEric, and Saltfishforty, who have all become familiar faces to regular festival attendees.
Two widely regarded Scottish artists and regulars on the UK folk festival scene, Findlay Napier, who’s based in Arran, and Paul McKenna, are appearing as part of 2025’s line up, while Ireland’s Daoirí Farrell is heading north to Orkney with his trio.
Award-winning singer and composer, Kim Carnie, who’s also known for her work with the bands Mànran and Staran is at the festival for the first time, as are transatlantic folk band, The Magpies, who are quickly becoming one of the most exciting and innovative acts on the contemporary roots scene.
Innovator, award winning, multi-instrumentalist Malin Lewis, who recorded music for the soundtrack of the Orkney-based film which stars Saoirse Ronan, The Outrun, is visiting the festival for the first time.
The event’s furthest travelled act is The Maes, who return to the festival from Australia to bring their modern folk to life with harmonies and acoustic mastery on guitar, mandolin, fiddle and banjo.
Two-time Grammy nominee for Best Traditional Blues, Guy Davis, is also one of the festival’s furthest travelled islanders – jumping across the pond to join the line up from Manhattan, New York.
Closer to home, Laeverick, made up of Orkney and Shetland based artists, return to the festival for the first time since the launch of their debut self-penned album.
There’s also Northern Isles representation with Léda, a contemporary folk duo based in Glasgow combining harp, fiddle, piano and voice with Shetland and Irish roots.
Festival goers looking to enjoy traditional dancing will be spoilt for choice with opportunities to take the floor to both the Glenfinnan Ceilidh Band and the Craig Paton Scottish Dance Band.
Those looking for some high energy contemporary folk music to dance to can enjoy performances from Scotland’s Project Smok, and Mec Lir, whose roots lie in the Isle of Man and Glasgow.
Orcadian teenagers Auskerry return following their festival debut in 2024, while The Chair are appearing in their infamous Saturday Stomp slot as they reach the end of their 20th birthday year.
THE CHAIR
Dragon Song Productions are also visiting the festival for the first time with their interactive productions for babies and children aged six and under, bringing simple, humorous stories to life through rhyme, original music, rich harmonies, and percussion.
The 2025 festival features 55 events, including concerts, ceilidhs, lounge performances, workshops and family events, at venues across Orkney. While more than half of all events will take place in the festival’s hometown of Stromness, performances are also planned in Birsay, Deerness, Finstown, Harray, Hoy, Kirkwall, Sanday, Sandwick, St Margaret’s Hope, Stenness and Tankerness.
There’s still good availability for the events happening across Orkney between 22 and 25 May 2025. Live availability can be found online at https://orkneyfolkfestival.com/tickets.
In addition to the festival’s public programme, Orkney’s schoolchildren can look forward to experiencing performances from artists visiting the festival, while musicians will also entertain care home residents over the weekend.
The festival gratefully receives generous support from public bodies and corporate sponsors, from throughout the local and national business communities – without whom the festival could not exist. This year’s principal supporters are Orkney Islands Council, The National Lottery through Creative Scotland, and North Link Ferries, alongside a wide range of individual event sponsors.
The festival also benefits from many thousands of hours donated by hundreds of volunteers, who give their time freely to bring the world-renowned event together. From the year-round management committee and board, to those delivering individual events, each one of the festival’s community team is vital to its long standing, continued and increasing success.
Orkney Folk Festival Producer, Craig Corse said:
“As we raise the curtain on the 42nd Orkney Folk Festival, it’s a genuine delight to once again welcome visitors from around the world as Orkney takes centre stage for the long weekend ahead. Alongside artists attending from as far as Australia, Canada and the USA – flanked by Orkney’s own, rich traditional music sector – we’re thrilled to welcome audiences travelling to Orkney from as far and wide.
In the year in which Orkney welcomes its most island visitors – most likely ever – for the International Island Games in July, we’re excited to kick things off this weekend with a bumper contingent of island visitors of our own – none more so than at tonight’s opening concert, which features homegrown quartet, Fara, marking their tenth anniversary, the iconic blues of Manhattan’s Guy Davis, Australian trio The Maes, and Cape Breton superstars Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy.
As the largest music festival in Orkney, ours is a true community celebration, with over 250 volunteers rallying to stage the event each year, and which includes events for all the family. Whether it’s the wee ones attending the Family Folkie and Dragon Song musical puppet theatre shows, folks who want to jump around and cut loose to some late night modern folk styles, or those who prefer the much more traditional stylings at the annual Fiddlers’ Rally or ceilidh dances, with 55 events this year, there’s something for everyone.
Whilst a number of events have sold out, we’ve still got some great gigs with availability over the weekend – it’s not too late to join in and experience the festival’s unique welcome and atmosphere, all to the tune of genuinely world-class music across the county all weekend.”
There is still good availability for events happening across Orkney between 22 and 25 May 2025. Live availability can be found online at https://orkneyfolkfestival.com/tickets.
