New Date Confirmed – Friday 29 January 2021

A message from Perth Concert Hall:
Hold on to your tickets as they’re still valid for the new date. Our box office team be in touch with ticket holders soon.

“Spell Songs is a work of vision and brilliance…” fRoots *****
“rapturously received” BBC Music Magazine *****
“complex and beautiful and an absolute joy from start to finish” RnR *****
***** Financial Times
“exquisite musical re-imaginings and settings” Songlines ****
“Spell Songs certainly works a powerful charm” Arts Desk ****
“beguiling” The Sunday Times****
“a delightful homage to nature” The Times****
“A brave and magical creation” The Observer

2019 saw The Lost Words: Spell Songs, a musical companion piece to The Lost Words: A Spell Book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, featuring Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux, enjoy standing ovations at sell-out performances in major venues across the UK.

Spell Songs was a highlight of The Hay International Literary Festival in May, and in August they were invited to perform at the BBC’s Lost Words Prom in the Royal Albert Hall.

“… one of the most sublime evenings you will ever enjoy. The magic of these superstars onstage – the art, the music, the sheer, ravishing beauty of the language… one of the greatest concerts we’ve ever had at Hay…”
Peter Florence, Festival Director, Hay International Literary Festival

Spell Songs is now returning to iconic venues around the UK, arriving at Perth’s Concert Hall on Wednesday 15 April.

For each of our tour venues we are honoured to highlight the stunning regional wildlife through the incredible art of Jackie Morris, and for our Perth gig we have focussed on the Mountain Hare.

We are keen to highlight this iconic upland species and its vulnerability to rapid ecological shifts. Famed for seasonal camouflage which disguises it amongst the heather of summer and the snow of winter, the charming Snow Hare loses its advantage and hopes of survival when the snows don’t come as they used to.
Spell Songs features a stellar line-up of musicians:

Karine Polwart: a multi-award-winning songwriter and musician, a theatre maker, storyteller, essayist, and published writer, who’s script for her show Wind Resistance was picked by Robert Macfarlane for Guardian’s ‘Best Books of 2017’

Julie Fowlis: often singing in the Gaelic Tradition, Julie is known for her crystalline and intoxicating voice. Winner of BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year 2018

Seckou Keita: an exceptional and charismatic musician. Arguably the most influential and inspiring Kora player (22 stringed West African harp) of his generation

Kris Drever: one of Scotland’s finest and most prolific songwriters, a member of award-winning folk trio Lau, and BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Folk Singer of the Year 2017

Rachel Newton: a singer and harpist with a reputation for ‘haunting and compelling’ (Guardian) performances and was awarded BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician of the Year in 2017

Beth Porter: a well-known cellist on the UK folk and acoustic scene and a one half of The Book Shop Band, who write songs inspired by books that are frequently performed at book shop gigs

Jim Molyneux: a prodigious talent in many instruments, with an ear for a variety of genres from folk through to jazz and hip hop.