Folk in the City - Free Outdoor Folk Concert

Folk stars Katherine Priddy and Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings are among the national and local artists confirmed for this special family-friendly concert.

The afternoon opens with a performance from some of the city’s young musicians, sharing what they’ve learned at this year’s Folk Summer School. That’s followed by a fun-filled kids’ show with CBeebies favourite Nick Cope, before the day wraps up with The Big Ceilidh, led by the Cambridge Ceilidh All-Stars – and everyone’s invited to join in!

This special free day of entertainment – from children’s concerts to an evening ceilidh – brings together a mix of local and national talent, celebrating folk music’s rich traditions and vibrant future.

PLUS a variety of delicious refreshments will be available to buy: cider, beer, cocktails and soft drinks from the Cranes Cider Bar plus food from selected food trucks.

Folk in the City is a year-round programme of gigs, free concerts, family events and a dedicated summer school for young musicians – and this summer highlight is not to be missed.

Jon Boden has become the ‘stand out performer of his generation’ (The Guardian) of traditional folk artists, but one whose repertoire extends far beyond the boundaries of the genre. 

He is best known as the lead singer and main arranger of the progressive folk juggernaut Bellowhead who achieved a quarter of a million album sales, seven singles on the Radio 2 playlist and selling out hundreds of venues, notably the Royal Albert Hall.

Meanwhile in 2009, Jon founded his band The Remnant Kings, originally formed to perform the album ’Songs from the Floodplain’, the first in his post-apocalyptic trilogy of albums. The performances combined the post-oil concept of the album, with other songs that might survive the apocalypse. In this genre busting mix, Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings performed concerts where folk songs, Bach, Pop and Jazz all rubbed shoulders with Jon’s own songs. This was all augmented by the use on stage of two wax cylinder players, which played specially recorded material.

The band combines a deep understanding of traditional music with musical audacity and theatrical brio, and feature the enormous talents of Sam Sweeney (Bellowhead), Rob Harbron (Leveret), Ben Nicholls (Seth Lakeman Band) and Sally Hawkins (Bellowhead)

Since emerging with her debut EP ‘Wolf’ in 2018, UK artist Katherine Priddy has quickly become one of the most exciting names on the British scene. Declared ‘The Best Thing I’ve Heard All Year’ by Richard Thompson, who later invited her to join him on his Irish tour in 2019 and UK tour in 2021, Priddy’s haunting vocals and distinctive finger-picking guitar style have seen her sell out a headline tour and support world class artists including The Chieftains, Loudon Wainwright III, Vashti Bunyan and Guy Garvey.

 Over the past two years, she has performed on Later…With Jools Holland, at the BBC Proms and played well-earned spots at prestigious festivals in the UK and abroad such as the Glastonbury Acoustic Stage, where she also performed live on BBC 2, Green Man, Cambridge Folk, where she was awarded the Christian Raphael Prize, Green Man, End of the Road and Beautiful Days. 

Priddy’s original works are delivered with an emotional maturity, depth and a tenderness that still carries a darker edge. Her lyrics are particularly noteworthy – a tribute to her life-long love affair with literature and poetry and the stories she weaves are transporting. It is clear that, despite the delicate nuances of her sound, Katherine Priddy is not a fragile wallflower, but a woman who means business.

Two of the most exciting instrumentalists on the English folk scene join forces in a brand-new duo: Sam Sweeney (fiddle) and Grace Smith (fiddle, viola). Known for their deeply expressive playing, tight-knit arrangements and innate musical chemistry, this collaboration brings together two creative forces with a shared passion for traditional music and boundary-pushing performance.

Sam (Bellowhead, Leveret, BBC Folk Musician of the Year) and Grace (Grace Smith Trio, Cri Du Canard, Katie Doherty & the Navigators) are long-time friends and collaborators, but this is the first time they take to the stage as a duo.

Audiences can expect a richly woven set of English tunes, original compositions and spontaneous interplay — performed with warmth, joy and world-class musicianship.

Sean O’Hanrahan is a pianist / singer-songwriter from Cambridge. Growing up in a musical family he naturally made his way to the piano and later started joining bands in the local music scene. 

Recently Sean decided it was time for him to put his own album together of songs that had been developing over the years. Having put a band together for the recording process he finds himself with an all star cast of Cambridge’s finest musicians, whom he has joined in numerous projects over the last decade of playing as a session musician.

Sean brings the songs that are currently being recorded live before you ahead of releasing his debut album entitled All Bets Are Off.

Nick Cope has been writing and recording his beautiful and totally unique songs for children and their families for over 10 years and he performs to sell-out crowds all over the country. 

His fanatical following of little and not so little fans has grown immeasurably over the last couple of years due to the phenomenal success of the CBeebies show ‘Nick Cope’s Popcast’, now in its third series.

 Nick has a magical way of reaching into people’s hearts, igniting children’s imagination in an organic, unpatronizing, educational and fun way. 

With his charming songs and humour Nick engages, entertains, and enthrals all generations of the family. 

 Nick’s live performances are legendary and appeal to children and adults alike. If you haven’t heard his songs or seen his shows before, come along and find out what you’ve been missing.

Exciting new ceilidh big band to feature in Cherry Hinton Hall free concert

CCAS was formed in the spring of 2025, following a conversation between long-time Folk Festival compere and local musician, Keith Day, and the Cambridge Folk Festival management.  The original conversation reflected on how many great ceilidh players are around Cambridge, and what a great idea it was to try to get them together.

Keith takes up the story. “I have always wanted to form a ceilidh big band and it should have a full horn section, but it is a complicated job to set up and finding an event who can accommodate such a big band is not easy.  After few initial conversations the 14 musicians who complete the line up were releasing and enjoying each others company”.

The public debut will be at the Folk in the City program,  a free concert at Cherry Hinton Hall on 2nd August, where the event will conclude with CCAS leading a Big Ceilidh, and will be a fun event for all ages and abilities.  It is likely to be the biggest ceilidh Cambridge has ever seen!

If anyone want a preview of the dances, we will be making some simple demo videos available on line.

After the ceilidh, the band will play the tunes again acoustically as a session, and any member of the public can come and play along - the tune sets will be published in advance.

“We are all excited to make this event a roaring success, and we look forward to seeing you there.”