A new music festival has kicked-off in Edinburgh: The Soundhouse Winter Festival features big names alongside up-and-coming artists from across Scotland. Highlights include award-winning feminist rock goddess Megan Black, punk/rock n’ roll multi-instrumentalist Callum Easter with his band the Roulettes and special guest indie/folk soloist Iona Zajac, headlining alongside some of Scotland’s finest jazz and trad musicians including Fergus McCreadie (pictured), Su-a-Lee, Duncan Chisholm, Hamish Napier, and Donald Shaw; there will be a screening of silent film The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric accompanied by music composed by multi-instrumentalist Inge Thomson and fiddle player Catriona Macdonald, and live performance poetry with Edinburgh’s previous Makar Hannah Lavery, accompanied by music from Kate Young.

A centrepiece of the Festival is a series of early-evening concerts at the Traverse Theatre, with Nicole Smit and her Quintet performing cool, jazzy numbers, Gaelic singer-songwriter Rachel Walker performing with Aaron Jones, Edinburgh-based poetic psychedelic supergroup Acolyte, led by award-winning poet and spoken word artist Iona Lee, and acclaimed singer-songwriter Victoria Hume with long-term collaborator Chris Letcher. Plus, there will be a showcase of emerging jazz musicians including the Rosalind Orr Trio, TAO and C.A.L.I.E, a masterclass with jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie (pictured), and two workshops – Gaelic lullabies with Rachel Walker, and jazz saxophone with leading jazz instrumentalist Helena Kay. 

A charitable body promoting independent music, The Soundhouse Organisation is behind events such as Edinburgh Tradfest, and run by Douglas Robertson and Jane-Ann Purdy, backed by a group of trustees who are passionate about live music, Creative Scotland and The National Lottery.