Apr 13: Claire Hastings – Scottish Traditional Musician

In 2015 Claire won the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year award. Since winning the title she has performed at many high-profile events including BBC Proms in the Park with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra and at BBC Music Day, where she sang alongside Lulu, Jamie Cullum and Deacon Blue. Other performance highlights include singing for the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in London’s National Theatre, at Orkney Folk Festival supporting Seth Lakeman, at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and playing Nancy (Clarinda) McLehose in ‘A Man’s a Man’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

As well as performing, Claire is also involved in several teaching projects throughout Scotland. She teaches Scottish music, singing and ukulele in primary schools around Dumfries and Galloway through Feis Rois’ Youth Music Initiative and regularly teaches Voice at The Gaitherin (Aberdeenshire) and Feis an Iar Dheas (Dumfries). Claire is also qualified to teach early years Colourstrings and was involved with New Rhythms for Glasgow leading singing workshops for adults with mental health issues (GAMH).

In 2016, Claire released her debut album ‘Between River and Railway’ to critical acclaim, and embarked on tours throughout Scotland, England and New Zealand, with one-off performances in Helsinki and Lorient.