Promoters

‘Quite the best debut album that has come this way in a long time.’ – The Living Tradition

Biography

Fiddle player, singer and composer Isla Ratcliff is a passionate and inventive musician from Edinburgh, Scotland. With the release of her first two albums, The Castalia in 2021 and The Scottish Four Seasons in 2025, Isla has been receiving increasing attention for her fiery fiddle playing and her rich singing voice. She was nominated for Musician of the Year 2025 at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and she was a Semi-Finalist in the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2022 competition. She has toured across Scotland, the UK and Europe, including at Celtic Connections, Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Cambridge Folk Festival, Sidmouth FolkWeek, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, SEALL Festival of Small Halls, the BBC Proms, and festivals in France, Germany and Denmark.

Isla’s newest album The Scottish Four Seasons (2025) is a Scottish trad reimagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Released in 2025 to mark the 300th anniversary of the work’s original publication, Isla’s album highlights the dance-like nature of Vivaldi’s music and reflects on how Scotland’s seasons and climate have changed in the past 300 years. Featuring Isla on fiddle, accompanied by a stellar line-up of string ensemble and piano, this contemporary Scottish folk interpretation of a 300-year-old classic crosses the genre boundaries of classical and folk music and highlights important environmental concerns.

Isla’s debut album The Castalia (2021) features traditional and self-composed tunes inspired by the 4 months that she spent in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in 2019. Described as ‘quite the best debut album that has come this way in a long time’ (The Living Tradition), her album expresses her love for the tradition, its ethos of community, and the power of music to bring people together.

Isla is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (MMus Scottish Music, 2020) and the University of Oxford (BA Music, 2017). As a child, she received her musical education first on classical violin and piano through the Suzuki Method and then at the City of Edinburgh Music School at Broughton High School. Aged 13, she played a trad duet with Nicola Benedetti in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

The Scottish Four Seasons – Album

The Castalia – Album

VIDEOS

The Castalia – Reviews

‘Quite the best debut album that has come this way in a long time. … Isla’s playing here echoes much of past masters like Jerry Holland and Buddy MacMaster.’ – The Living Tradition
‘A fine debut album … showcasing her bright, articulate playing’ – The Scotsman, ****
‘Isla Ratcliff’s superb fiddle-playing, crisply toned, fiery or tender as the tune demands… Of course, for me the star was Isla’s voice which is as pure, clear and natural as spring water.’ – Sheena Wellington, Friends of Wighton
‘Ms Ratcliff has assembled almost an hour of excellent hard core fiddle music, most of it bearing the energetic stamp of Cape Breton Island. … The crunchy triplets and driven bow of Cape Breton fiddling are to the fore here, but Ratcliff’s skills extend far beyond that. … The Castalia should ensure that Isla Ratcliff is held in equally high regard on this side of the ocean.’ – Folk World
‘A refreshingly lively new take on trad. … This recording is a vigorous new interpretation of the sometimes overly worthy school of (largely) solo fiddle recordings.’ – At The Barrier
‘A beautifully crafted debut’ – Shire Folk