Oct 17 – Ryan Young & David Foley

Fiddler Ryan Young and guitarist David Foley have been playing together since they first met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

2022 MG ALBA Musician of The Year nominee Ryan Young brings new and exciting ideas to traditional Scottish music, receiving international praise for his spell-binding interpretations on the fiddle. His debut album was recorded with four time GRAMMY winner Jesse Lewis (who has worked with the likes of Bela Fleck and Yo Yo Ma) and launched at Feakle Traditional Music Festival in County Clare, accompanied by renowned guitarist, Dennis Cahill (Martin Hayes; The Gloaming).

Focusing on traditional Scottish music, Ryan brings new life to very old, often forgotten tunes by playing them in his own unique way. His fiddle playing is brimming with fresh melodic ideas, an uplifting rhythmic drive and a great depth of dynamics and precision. His sound is very distinctive and takes the listener on an emotional and adventurous journey in any performance.

Ryan holds both a first class honours and a Masters degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He was twice a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards and twice a finalist in the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of The Year. He was awarded ‘Up And Coming Artist Of The Year’ at the Scots Trad Awards in 2017, nominated for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018 and awarded Folking.com’s Musician Of The Year title, also in 2018.

David Foley is a product of Glasgow’s Irish folk music scene, a scene that fuses influences from both Scottish and Irish music. David began as a young musician in the Comhaltas organisation. His playing led to success on the competition circuit at Feiseanna and Fleadhs across the UK which culminated in an ‘All Ireland Bodhran Champion’ title. David also plays in the award-winning band Rura.