Sam Sweeney

English tradition

Sam Sweeney is one of the UK’s most captivating and innovative folk musicians. A master of the English fiddle, he is known for his deeply emotive playing, bold compositional voice, and a career that has consistently pushed the boundaries of traditional music. After rising to prominence as a member of the award-winning Bellowhead, Sam went on to forge a distinctive solo path. He is also a founding member of the acclaimed trio Leveret and has collaborated widely with artists such as Eliza Carthy, Fay Hield, The Full English, Jon Boden, and many others.

In addition to his performance career, Sam is an inspirational educator and was the inaugural Artistic Director of the National Youth Folk Ensemble, where he helped shape a new generation of English folk musicians. His commitment to sharing and evolving the tradition is a defining part of his work.

“One of the defining English fiddle players of his generation” – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

Mia Marine

Swedish tradition

Mia Marine (born Gustafsson) is well known as a lively and exuberant musician from Värmland in Sweden. Besides being a very skilled performer, she is also well known as an inspiring teacher. Her music is often in the borderlands between traditional folk music, modern acoustic music and chamber music. She teaches part time at The Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, and has her very own online academy with participants from all over the world. At her workshops she usually combines teaching groovy tunes and arrangements with creating new arrangements together with the participants. Instrument technique and playing for dancing are other special interests that often pop up in the teaching process.

Clémence Cognet

French tradition

Clémence Cognet is a fiddle player, singer and dancer, navigating between Central France trad music and dance, baroc, contemporary and improvised music. She’s fascinated by these forms of expression and the community dynamics associated with them. She can be found, amongst others, in the bands  Komred, Louise, Garenne, Miralhet, Arquebuse, La Dévorante. She’s always worked with Les Brayauds CDMDT63, and since 2013 with l’ARFI, L’Excentrale and the CEFEDEM Rhône-Alpes. In 2019 she co-creates and performs JOUER, a bourrée dance show with Cécile Birot-Delrue and François Dumeaux. In 2021, together with the musicians from Bòsc, she founded the collective La Crue. She holds state-recognised qualifications as a violin teacher and a traditional music teacher.

Jock Tyldesley

Old Time tradition

Jock Tyldesley is perhaps best known for his fiddling in Cajun bands such as The Flatville Aces and the Bearcats, as well as more off-the-wall antics with The New Rope String Band and The Chipolatas. He also nurtures a long-time passion for Southern Appalachian old time fiddle and banjo tunes, whilst touring with his regular bands and US acts such as Eddie LeJeune, The Dirk Powell Band, Sheryl Cormier, Martha Scanlan, Beverly Smith and Carl Jones and Balfa Toujours.

Patsy Reid

Scottish tradition

From Perthshire in Scotland, Patsy Reid is a versatile musician, arranger and educator. Since stepping back from super-folk-group, Breabach in 2011, Patsy has been in constant demand as a session player and arranger – performing and recording fiddle and viola with the who’s who of the folk and roots scene such as Mark Knopfler, Zakir Hussain, Julie Fowlis, Donald Shaw, Kathryn Tickell, Sam Sweeney, Duncan Chisholm, Tim Edey and Flook, to name a few. With 4 solo albums under her belt, Patsy is also one third of Lyre and also collaborates regularly with cellist, Alice Allen, as part of Strathspey Queens.

She dedicates a great deal of her time to education and is known for her technical prowess and no-nonsense approach to fiddle teaching, designing and delivering the curriculum for Mull Music Makers, curating popular fiddle camp, Mull Fiddle Week. and lecturing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she delivers a bespoke programme of technique lessons for the fiddlers on the BMus (Hons) and Masters in Traditional Music Degrees.

Flora Curzon

Klezmer tradition

Flora Curzon is an award-winning violinist based in London. She plays western classical music from baroque to contemporary, Klezmer / Yiddish music, experimental and improvised music, and is particularly interested in projects where genres intersect and art forms collide. She plays on both ‘modern’ (metal string) and ‘historical’ (gut string) violins, sings, and works with live electronics. She has lead Klezmer workshops at KlezKanada, KlezNorth, Klezfest London, Halsway Manor and Jackdaws Music Trust, as well as one-offs at many festivals and with her duo Fran & Flora.

Performance venues and festivals include The Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Sadler’s Wells, The Globe, Jools Holland, Hidden Notes Festival, Schleswig Holstein Festival, Sintra Festival, KlezMore Festival, ACC-X Festival (South Korea), Tiny Desk and BBC Radio 6music and BBC Radio 4s Woman’s Hour.

Emma Hardy

Luthier

In her talks at Bowlines, Sheffield-based violin maker Emma Hardy explores the process of violin making, briefly delving into its history, basic construction methods and her own approach of using the making of the instrument as a medium for storytelling. After completing her training in London, Emma relocated her workshop to Sheffield, in order to have better access to the outdoors and to join Sheffield’s thriving music scene. She is a member of the British Violin Making Association’s committee, and helps to organise their annual Makers’ Day festival, as well having co-founded Strings Together, a community adult learning orchestra in East London.

We’ll be screening Folk Who Roam in our Bowlines headline gig, Six Fiddles. And as part of Bowlines, St George’s are also delighted to be hosting the Folk Who Roam community violin for participants to use in our gardens and at nearby Brandon Hill Park.

Find out more about the Community Violin

Alex Garden

Late-night Sessions leader

Alex Garden is a fiddle player, guitarist, composer and producer who performs folk, electronic, classical and improvised music around the UK. Alongside working with Tarren, Sheelanagig, The Drystones, Harriet Riley & Alex Garden, The Terra Collective and The Longest Johns, Alex is a recording artist who produces a variety of collaborative work. Their longest running project, The Drystones, was nominated for the BBC Young Folk Award in 2018. In 2025 they launched the Greenbank Folk Club, a new organisation in Bristol, bringing world class folk music performances, workshops and ceilidhs to the community. They received Arts Council England funding in 2024 and work with project partners EFDSS, Halsway Manor, Bristol Beacon, Ear Trumpet Music, Cuculi Records and English Folk Expo to research and deliver better accessibility in this sector whilst establishing a new folk club for Bristol run by younger people. Alex has been running a regular, twice-monthly, folk session at The Greenbank Pub since 2022.