Kathryn Tickell and Amy Thatcher

Kathryn first took up the Northumbrian smallpipes at the age of nine, inspired by her family and the music of an older generation of traditional musicians. The stories of the people that lived and worked in rural Northumberland were part of her childhood and her personal evocation of this is heard in the traditional tunes and songs that she brings to audiences all over the world. The intuitive musical interplay between Kathryn and Amy is born out of a long-standing creative friendship. Kathryn's pipes marry beautifully with Amy's exquisite accordion playing. A cascade of jigs, reels, heart-wrenching airs, together with percussive clog dancing makes for an irresistible mix.

Kathryn has released seventeen of her own albums to date and has also recorded and performed with Sting, Jacob Collier, The Chieftains, Penguin Café Orchestra, Evelyn Glennie, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta and many others. She has twice won Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and was awarded the OBE in 2015 for services to folk music. Kathryn currently tours with her band The Darkening. She is a presenter for BBC Radio 3's Music Planet. No one has evoked the landscape and traditions of Northumbria more affectingly than Kathryn Tickell; a champion of the Northumbrian pipes, she is steeped in the songs and mythology of the north-east. The Observer.