New programme at Ropery Hall

Festive Tour

Janice Burns & Jon Doran are an award-winning Anglo-Scottish duo who came together after discovering a shared love of traditional music. Their songs tell vivid stories about the nature of life and our place in the world.

Janice & Jon’s ‘clever and uncluttered musical storytelling’ (Songlines) comes alive through tight vocal harmonies and sensitive interplay between mandolin, bouzouki and guitar. Their arrangements have a spellbinding presence and an understated energy that transports songs from the pages of books and manuscripts into the imagination of the listener.

Following the success of their self-titled EP in 2020, Janice & Jon released their debut album, No More the Green Hills, in Autumn 2022. The album had overwhelmingly positive feedback, finding its place in the Official UK Folk Albums Chart, as well as gaining airplay on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Scotland.

With their relaxed and personable approach to performance, Janice & Jon are renowned for the warmth of their connection with audiences. From opening Stage 2 at Cambridge Folk Festival, to playing at the likes of Celtic Connections, Ceòl Cholasa, Edinburgh Tradfest, Sidmouth Folk Festival and Cecil Sharp House, the duo are highly sought after across the UK and beyond.

The duo’s winter gigs have become something of a tradition over the last few years, and now they’re heading out on tour with their brand-new festive album, Great Joy to the New. People have always forged customs to survive the winter, with rituals that bring people together and bring light to the dark nights. These rituals have often been born of necessity. Beautiful, colourful, musical traditions, linked by the common cause of sustaining people spiritually, mentally, or financially through a harsh winter. Janice and Jon’s new album and live show explores these themes through a collection of traditional folk songs about Christmas, winter, and optimism for the new year.

QUOTES

**** “Clever and uncluttered musical storytelling” – Songlines Magazine

***** “Five stars for this duo that have made an album destined for repeated listening.” – Irish Music Magazine

“They’re a revelation – crystal clear voices, great musicianship and an obvious deep love of the tradition.” – Mike Harding

“Really nicely done” – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 Folk Show

“They play lovely strings, they have gorgeous harmony arrangements. Really well crafted, intimate, beautifully understated.” – Karine Polwart

This performance is part of our Members’ 241 Offer. Please ask for details.

Winter Wonderband is a chamber folk quartet with Saul Rose on melodeon (Faustus, War Horse, Waterson Carthy) and Maclaine Colston on hammered dulcimer (Pressgang, Kings of Calicutt) who are joined by Beth Porter (SpellSongs, Bookshop Band) on cello and Jennifer Crook (Broken Road, Cythara) on harp and guitar. With this beautiful combination of instruments, varied lead and harmony vocals, they play winter and festive themed music, traditional and modern, including original songs and settings by Jennifer. Collectively, they have played together in different formats for 30 years and that closeness shines through, with WWB formed in 2012. Their debut album joy illimited (from the Darkling Thrush) is released November 2025, recorded and produced by Stuart Bruce. Illimited – unbounded & infinite joy.

“An extraordinary collaboration between two musicians at the absolute top of their game. This is an adventure that takes in musical detours you’d be mad to ignore” Tradfolk

“A beautiful snapshot of two musicians at the pinnacle of their craft. Listeners will find themselves lost in something magical; anyone will struggle to find something as masterful as this for a long, long time” Bright Young Folk

“There can be no doubt that both performers are amongst the most, if not the most, talented of their peers. I was probably not the only person to leave the venue in awe at having witnessed something very special” Fatea Records Magazine

Both Peter Knight and John Spiers have made long lasting and significant contributions to the English folk scene via their work with Steeleye Span and Bellowhead respectively, and each in their own way has changed the perception of what traditional music can be, introducing it to much wider audiences. As members of the Gigspanner Big Band, they have expanded those boundaries ever further.

‘Folk A-Listers’ ‘Folk Royalty’ ‘Folk Icons’ are terms frequently applied to them, but what it means in reality is that they bring the best of traditional music to any stage they play.

The exquisite explorations of the liminal space that exists between traditional and classical music is what makes the music of Peter Knight and John Spiers so compelling and beguiling, ultimately rendering genres irrelevant.

In the words of Tradfolk: As a duo, they have developed into thrilling exponents of traditional tunes and songs, repurposing the material as jumping-off points into the most enchanting exploration.

It’s largely through touring as a duo that they’ve been able to cultivate what has become an extraordinary partnership, giving them the confidence to record their latest studio album, Both in a Tune, chosen as one of the ‘10 Best New Albums from Around the World’ by the influential music journal, SONGLINES.

The pairing of violin and melodeon is a classic one, but in the hands of Knight and Spiers, improvisation and invention meet the listener at every turn. Together they have created a musical document that resonates with history, but also something to inspire future generations of musicians to engage with Britain’s folk music heritage. 

Revered Canadian songwriter Stephen Fearing and award-winning Scandinavian indie-folk band The Sentimentals share a deep passion for crafting beautiful melodies and dynamic musical interplay that transfixes audiences.  United by a shared admiration for classic Tin Pan Alley songwriting, deeply emotive lyrics and a flair for innovation, their collaboration produces a style that is both authentic and distinctly original.

Since joining forces in 2018, Fearing and The Sentimentals have lit up stages across Europe and Canada with annual performances that leave a lasting impression. Their chemistry comes to life on Fearing’s 2022 album Vejpoesi (Danish for “Road Poems”), where The Sentimentals’ graceful accompaniment interlaces seamlessly with Fearing’s haunting lyrics and melodies. Recorded over three days in Maskinhallen, a theatre in Frederikshavn, Denmark, the sessions highlight The Sentimentals’ rare ability to reinterpret and revitalize Fearing’s seasoned material—delivering a sound that is both transformative and fresh.

Phil Beer is the multi-instrumental half of the West Country’s award-winning acoustic duo, Show of Hands. With a professional career of over 36 years, Phil has a great deal of material to draw on for his solo appearances, which are an eclectic mix of traditional tunes, covers of Springsteen or The Hollies, together with his own compositions and songs from his contemporaries.

All are songs and music of memory and significance sung in the subtle and melodic Phil Beer style and interjected with musings and amusings to an almost personal audience. It is a treat of past and current favourites from one of the most popular musicians on the acoustic circuit.

This new trio combines the acclaimed talents of folksinger Rosie Hodgson, traditional
fiddler Rowan Piggott, and guitarist-flautist Philippe Barnes.
With a voice that brings “a ruby-richness to lyrics new and old” (Folk Radio UK), it’s no surprise that Rosie has been a finalist for the BBC Young Folk Award. After a successful EP and the eponymous album from Crossharbour, she recorded her debut album Rise Aurora to critical acclaim, producing what fRoots called “audible magic”. Rosie’s own songs are heavily influenced by the English tradition and her love of literature and the environment.
Rowan himself a fine singer with a “deep understanding and feel for tradition” (FolkWords) featured heavily on Rise Aurora, and he is known for his fiddle-playing with Georgia Lewis and The Songhive Project, which he founded to raise awareness of the plight of the bees. The winner of the ‘Future of Young Folk Award’ at Bromyard Folk Festival, he recently featured on the cover of The Living Tradition after releasing his solo album Mountscribe.
Philippe is well-known on the folk scene as a virtuosic flautist, but is an equally magnificent guitarist! Since completing an MA in Irish Music Performance at University of Limerick, Philippe has toured with the David Munnelly Band, All Jigged Out, Dizraeli and the Small Gods and Crossharbour (alongside Rosie!). As a session musician he appears regularly on film/tv soundtracks and has recently recorded an EP with pianist Tom Phelan.