Isla Ratcliff

Isla Ratcliff is a Scottish fiddle player, singer and composer, with a background in classical violin and piano. Her work is underpinned by her interests in cultural politics, the environment, spoken word, theatre, and music’s positive impact on our wellbeing. Isla is a passionate, inventive, thoughtful and open-minded musician. Her fiddle playing is expressive and dynamic, incorporating both excitement and subtlety. Her rich singing voice is deeply moving. She has a deep interest in tradition, particularly of Scotland and Cape Breton, having grown up in Edinburgh with Scottish fiddle music and having studied on international exchange in Cape Breton at the end of 2019. Her work is consistently influenced by her interest in academic research. Isla has performed at Celtic Connections, Cambridge Folk Festival, Sidmouth Folk Week, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019 in Ondervinden’s production Tess. Aged 13, she played a trad duet with Nicola Benedetti in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall. She performed with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland at the 20th Anniversary of the Scottish Parliament. She is an alumna of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Isla plays with Stramash Cèilidh Band. Isla is a versatile composer and arranger. Her work includes fiddle tunes, ensemble arrangements, theatre scores, short film scores and political songs. She enjoys collaborating with artists from other disciplines. Aged 16, she won the lyrics category of Amnesty International’s Power Of Our Voices protest songwriting competition with her song 'Death Row'. She devised a musical theatrical production A Reawakened Monument of Antiquity, inspired by the music and cultural political context of A Collection of Highland Vocal Airs (1784). Isla holds a MMus Scottish Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and a BA Music (First Class) degree from Oxford University, for which she wrote her dissertation on the role of music in the Scottish Independence Referendum debate. Prior to this, she studied through the Suzuki method and at the City of Edinburgh Music School. Isla’s teachers have included Marie Fielding (fiddle), Alistair McCulloch (fiddle), Fiona Hunter (Scots song), Gill Bowman (Scots song), Ishabel T. MacDonald (Gaelic song), Mysie Ferguson (violin), Peter Markham (violin), Sophie Langdon (violin), Tamara Salomasova (violin), Gillian Gray (piano) and Maria Prew (piano). Isla is a fun and inspiring instrumental teacher with a DipABRSM Teaching Diploma with Distinction. As a community music practitioner, she has worked with early years, primary school children, young parents, and people with disabilities, delivering songwriting workshops, teaching violin and supporting music rehearsals. Isla enjoys hillwalking, cycling, cross-country skiing and reading.