Cambridge TradFest 2025

The Inaugural Cambridge TradFest is here! We have a very exciting lineup of visitors and a huge number of events taking place over the weekend. 

Visiting Artists

Ireland:
Oisín Mac Diarmada (fiddle) • Daithí Gormley (accordion) • Samantha Harvey (piano, dance) • Elaine Reilly (banjo)

London:
James Carty (flute) • Grace Lemon (pipes) • Bryony Lemon (accordion)

Manchester:
Steve Prosol (accordion)

Cambridge area:
Niamh Gallagher (fiddle) • Robin Gracey (set dancing) • Polly Kempson (set dancing)

More details and musician bios can be found at cambridgetradfest.co.uk.

Schedule

Friday Family Ceili
7 February 2025, 7pm - 9:45pm
St. Matthew’s Church
Music and calling by The Lemon Ceili Co.

Saturday Workshops
8 February 2025, 10:30am - 12pm
St. Philips Church
Oisín fiddle • Daithí accordion
Elaine banjo • James flute / whistle
Samantha sean-nós dance
JUST ADDED: Oisín fiddle II --> 1pm - 2:30pm


8 February 2025, 1pm - 3pm
Ross St. Community Centre
Robin Gracey & Polly Kempson set dancing

Saturday Session Trail
8 February 2025, 3pm - 6pm
Kingston Arms Oisín & James
Devonshire Arms Daithí & Elaine
The Alex Samantha & Niamh Gallagher

8 February 2025, 8pm - 10:30pm
Kingston Arms Elaine Reilly
Devonshire Arms Oisín & Steve Prosol
The Alex Daithí & Samantha

Sunday Concert
9 February 2025, 3pm - 4:15pm
St. Philips Church
Oisín, Daithí, Samantha, & Elaine in concert
Session to follow at The Six Bells. 

Sponsors

A huge thank you to Hobgoblin Music for their generous support of Cambridge TradFest. If you're looking for folk instruments in the UK, you should definitely check them out.

Thanks to Cambridge Intelligence for supporting this local community event. If you'd like to help build some of the most powerful data visualisation tools available, they're hiring for several roles.

Thanks to Cambridge Visuals for providing official videography and photography at Cambridge TradFest. Joel does stunning work and he should be a part of your next video project.

FAQ

What does intermediate / advanced mean?

• Beginner (less than 6 Irish tunes, no experience learning by ear)
• Intermediate (confident to start 6+ tunes at speed in a session, have learned tunes by ear)
• Advanced (can confidently play lots of tunes at speed in a session, have learned many tunes by ear)