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Sat 17 Jan
Sound of the Sirens | Auditorium
19:30 - 22:00
Doors Open 19:00
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Sat 17 Jan
Sound of the Sirens | Auditorium
19:30 - 22:00
Doors Open 19:00
£5.00
£0
£20.00
£0
Suzanne Houston (piano) & Rua Macmillan (fiddle)
Suzanne Houston is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Glasgow. Her roots are in Scottish traditional music and she is in most familiar territory at a piano alongside any fiddle player who is in the mood to keep up! She is currently channeling her skills in harmony and accompaniment into writing projects for theatre and screen.
Hailing from Nairn, Rua Macmillan is one of Scotland’s top fiddlers. Having graduated with a B.A.(Hons) in Scottish Music from the R.S.A.M.D. (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), and being awarded the prestigious title of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2009, Rua has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, inlcuding performances at some of the world’s most prominent Folk Festivals, including Celtic Connections (Sco), Cambridge (Eng), Ortigeuira (Spn), and Winnipeg (Can). His debut album, ‘Tyro’ (CDTRAX346) was voted instrumental album of the year in the Fatea Awards, and was picked by Songlines Magazine as a ‘Top of the World’ album. In 2014, Rua joined the multi-awardwinning Blazin' Fiddles. In addition to touring, Rua is in great demand as a tutor, and teaches regularly with Fèis Rois, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow Fiddle Workshop, as well as internationally.
Andrew Finn Magil (fiddle) & Seán Gray (flute/guitar)
From a family steeped in Irish music, Andrew Finn Magill is a Fulbright fellow, North Carolina Arts Council Fellow, and award-winning composer. He has been featured on PBS with John Doyle, toured France with Open the Door for Three, and is a 2024 semifinalist at the Seifert Jazz Violin competition in Krakow, Poland.
Album Half Light brings together North Carolina fiddler and Scottish flute-player/guitarist/singer Seán Gray who met a decade ago as members of the award-winning Paul McKenna Band, called by the New York Times “The best folk band to have come out of Scotland in the last twenty years.”
Magill is a Fulbright Fellow, North Carolina Arts Council Fellow, and 2024 Seifert Jazz violin finalist in Poland, but started his career in Irish music which has led to collaborations with John Doyle and Solas guitarist Alan Murray. Berklee’s Matt Glaser describes Magill as “an extraordi-nary violin virtuoso.”
Seán Gray, a minority language artist has played Celtic Connections and Tønder Music Festival with the Paul McKenna Band and collaborated with fellow Ayrshire native Raab Wilson to bring the project “Fixed Assets” to life, a project sung in their mother tongue of Lallans Scots.
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior musicians are some of the best young traditional players in the land and always give an inspiring performance.
Digital Programme Link: Online Flipbook | Niel Gow Festival 2026
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Open periodically throughout the week | Book online 24/7
Cafe
Daily | 10 - 4
Welcome to Birnam Arts, a boutique multi-purpose arts, conferencing and entertainment venue.
Pop in to the Foyer Cafe for breakfast, grab a delicious coffee with a selection of our homemade baking or enjoy a light lunch whilst browsing on the free WiFi. Wander upstairs to view the latest of our monthly art exhibitions before visiting the world of Beatrix Potter, or the Gift Shop to purchase a special gift for your loved ones or yourself!
We had not planned to present a hybrid festival, however that changed when one of our main authors tested positive for Covid. I greatly appreciated how the team worked with us to pivot and present remotely in part, making full use of your enhanced video conferencing equipment. As a result, we were able to deliver quite complex events with several elements all showing on screen simultaneously. The audio-visual quality was excellent, and our audiences were delighted that these events could still go ahead, in spite of Covid. The author in question was really pleased that he could join us on screen and remarked that he had not been so well supported in this way at any other festival.
Fiona Ritchie | Birnam Book Festival 2022
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