Fara

The new decade marks an exciting new chapter for Scotland’s fabulous fiddle-led Fara, as founding Orkney frontwomen Jeana Leslie, Catriona Price and Kristan Harvey welcome young Highland pianist Rory Matheson to the line-up.

Having bid a fond farewell to original fourth member Jennifer Austin, who’s moved on to other projects, Fara recruited Matheson via the fabled folk scene in Glasgow, their shared adoptive hometown. With all three fiddlers being fast friends from childhood, Jeana explains, “We weren’t only looking for an excellent musician we could enjoy listening to, but just as importantly, someone willing to put up with us on a full-time basis. Then from speaking to friends and fellow musicians, Rory was the name that just kept coming up.”

Following those shared Orkney schooldays, Fara’s future co-founders pursued their own degree studies at the RCS, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music and Strathclyde University, courses that variously encompassed traditional folk, strictly classical, improvisation and contemporary composition.