11 Mar 2019

Award-winning young fiddler joins Hebcelt line-up

The award-winning HebCelt Festival has added another string to its bow by including this year’s BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year in its line-up.

Fiddle player Benedict Morris beat five other finalists to win the prestigious competition last month at Celtic Connections and as part of his prize was invited to play at this year's festival

Benedict, 21, from Glasgow, is currently in his final year on the BMus classical course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has previously appeared at HebCelt in the band The Hur. With guitarist Cormac Crummey he also makes up the Bene and Cormac duo that has earned critical acclaim and appears with World Champion Irish dancer David Geaney in his new dance show ‘Velocity’ which made its Broadway debut in November.

He will be appearing as part of a trio, with acclaimed musicians Ryan Murphy and Pablo Lafuente.

Benedict said: “I'm honestly delighted to be returning to Stornoway this July for HebCelt 2019. I played there two years ago with The Hur and it was definitely a highlight of the year. “To come back this time with my own trio after winning BBC Young Trad at Celtic Connections, is going to be very special indeed – it’s no doubt going to be an amazing few days. See you all there."

HebCelt director Caroline Maclennan said: “Benedict is an outstanding musician and we are delighted he will be part of the festival this year.”

Posted in News on Mar 11, 2019