Description

Singer, harpist and composer Rachel Newton draws on poems, ballads and stories that are hundreds of years old, working them into her contemporary compositional style to create a rich sound that is ambitious, original and unique. Rachel has worked and performed with artists from a range of disciplines including theatre, dance, storytelling and visual art. A skilled collaborator, Rachel is a founder member of The Furrow Collective and the Lost Words: Spell Songs, as well as the duo project Heal & Harrow with long time friend and colleague Lauren MacColl.
Rachel was named Musician of the Year at both the Scots Trad Music Awards and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Her albums To The Awe and Here's My Heart Come Take It were shortlisted as one of Scotland's top 10 outstanding albums in the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award. She was awarded a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for Best Music and Sound for her work with the Rowantree Theatre Company and PRS Composer of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards alongside Heal & Harrow collaborator Lauren MacColl.
Co-founder of The Bit Collective, a group focusing on equality and diversity in folk and traditional music, Rachel has organised various campaigns and events, including the Trad. Reclaimed: Women in Folk festival at Kings Place, London in 2019.
Rachel' previous solo releases are The Shadow Side (2012), Changeling (2014), Here's My Heart Come Take It (2016) and West (2018). November 2020 marked the release of her fifth solo album To The Awe, based particularly around women?s experience.

'A beauty' **** Observer

'Haunting and compelling' **** The Guardian

'Harp and strings blur the border between worlds' **** The Financial Times

Description

23 Peasholme Green,

York,

North Yorkshire,

England,

YO1 7PR.