Durham Folk Festival

05/09/2026

We're really looking forward to this one.

Palestinian Nay master Faris Ishaq gives a breath-driven virtuoso performance reimagining the Nay: a Middle Eastern flute with a 5,000-year history. Made of reed cane, with no mouthpiece or mechanics, it responds solely to the player’s breathing and intention, a quality celebrated as living technology. Breath, foot percussion and ancient sound combine, creating music that is startlingly contemporary.

Acclaimed duo Tamsin Elliott and Tarek Elazhary bring English folk traditions into vivid conversation with Egyptian Maqam music, weaving together fiddle, lever harp, microtonal accordion and Arabic oud. Joined by a string quartet, they expand this intricate musical dialogue into something lush and cinematic, performing music from their new album Letters to a Burning World.

Sunday 20 September, 7–9.30pm at Elvet Methodist Church.

05/09/2026

Chuffed to be working with The People's Bookshop on a few events!

SEPTEMBER EVENTS: We are delighted to support the Durham Folk Festival with three events, both in and outside the bookshop.
We will be at Redhills with a stall to support Louise Raw as she discusses her book ‘Striking A Light’ and Cable Street, and the Bryant and May Matchwomen on the 19th of September between 5-6pm💡👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏼
The same day we will be hosting Calum Baird, a Scottish folk and punk singer song-writer for a lively performance in the bookshop! Doors at 7pm for a start at 7:30pm, lasting until 9pm 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎸
On the 20th of September, at the Elvet Methodist Church between 6-7pm, we will have a bookstall to support Tamzin Elliott, Tarek Elazhary, and Faris Ishaq. ♥️📚
If you would like to come along, you can buy tickets in our bio. We would love to see you there! 💞

04/09/2026

If you can't make it to our concert on 19 September, we have awesome news! You'll be able to stream it through our friends at Folkscape Live. They are absolutely brilliant at capturing the live experience using industry standard sound and visual equipment and professional production.

Get your tickets here: https://folkscape.live/

⭐️⭐️⭐️SPECIAL LIVESTREAM ALERT⭐️⭐️⭐️
19th September 2026 7.30pm BST

We are very excited to tell you that we've teamed up with our lovely friends at Durham Folk Festival to bring you their special Saturday Night Concert Live.

Included with a FolkScape Live subscription or available as a one-off purchase.

It's sponsored by Sting , celebrating the festival's arrival in Durham and will be a spectacular evening of music in the awe-inspiring surroundings of Durham Cathedral.

It's titled: The Homecoming and features Bold As Brass, a celebration of ten years of collaborations for voice and brass band, featuring The Wilson Family Easington Colliery Band.

The programme continues with Alistair Anderson’s A Lindisfarne Gospel suite, with a new movement for Northumbrian pipes specially commissioned for the festival, and inspired by the journey taken by St Cuthbert’s monks with his remains as they fled Holy Island for Durham - the city’s founding event.

To close the evening we have the wonderful Sharon Shannon Trio, who headline this year’s festival. Sharon Shannon is a celebrated Irish melodeon player whose talent and versatility have earned her collaborations with some of the biggest names in music, including Bono, Sinead O’Connor, Shane MacGowan, Steve Earle (famously on his song Galway Girl), and The Chieftains. Over a career spanning 30 years and more than 20 albums, Sharon Shannon's groundbreaking style has redefined Irish traditional music.

An evening not to be missed!

02/09/2026

Oh my goodness, they're HERE!!! And they look beautiful! They'll be on sale at Redhills and The Academy from Friday morning...but would you like to get yours sooner? Let us know in the comments below if you'd like to receive yours by post - if there's enough interest we'll add them to the Tickets page!

01/09/2026

oh my goodness - it's September!!

01/09/2026

18 days to go...

We reserve capacity for Day & Weekend ticket holders, so advance tickets for individual events are limited.

When a show’s allocation is gone, it’s gone – snap up the last few tickets for your must-see events now!

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/durhamfolkfestival/1896122

31/08/2026

Unfortunately Spafford Campbell will no longer be joining us on Sunday the 20th. But we're chuffed to announce that The Welfare Collective will be opening for The Demon Barber Roadshow at the Gala Theatre.

The Welfare Collective is a nine-piece folk-rock and roots band hailing from Hetton-le-Hole in County Durham. Known for their unique brass-infused sound, the group celebrates working-class heritage and solidarity with infectious songs rooted in the contemporary culture of local mining communities. We know you're going to love them!

The Welfare Collective also feature in our Farewell Concert at Redhills on Sunday night, along with The Wilsons and Johnny Handle.

30/08/2026

Pleased to have The People's Bookshop involved in this year's festival!

Buy tickets – People's Bookshop

29/08/2026

Hope the SASS team are having a great Shrewsbury. We'll see you in a few weeks, guys!

With incredible venues including Durham Cathedral and Redhills, we're making sure the sound quality at our events will be just as superb!

28/08/2026

Meg McWilliam goes from strength to strength! See her interviewed at Durham by The Velvet Sn**ch for the Gurl Global podcast.

Radge's editor-in-chief on class, culture and staying exactly who she is. Find out more below.