Skye Consort & Emma Björling

Get ready for an exhilarating evening of trans-Atlantic folk music with Skye Consort & Emma Björling! This acclaimed ensemble weaves together traditions from Québec to Sweden with rousing instrumentals, soaring vocals, and infectious rhythms.

About Skye Consort & Emma Björling:

Skye Consort & Emma Björling perform trans-Atlantic arrangements of songs and tunes from Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, England, Québec, Acadia, and the USA, as well as original compositions. Each musician brings their own individual interpretation to these traditions to create this extraordinary collaboration, consisting of voices, fiddle, nyckelharpa, cello, bouzouki, banjo, and percussion. Collectively, the band presents an assortment of whirling polskas, groovy reels, passionate love songs, breathtaking hymns, and original compositions.

Skye Consort was formed in 1999, has performed and toured extensively, and has eight full-length albums. In late 2018, Skye Consort, in collaboration with Emma Björling, created a new repertoire grown from Scandinavian, Québecois, and Celtic roots. The recording was released on LEAF Music in May 2019 and is distributed worldwide on Naxos. Their self-titled debut album, Skye Consort & Emma Björling, won the OPUS (QC, Canada) award for best world music album 2020. Their second album, Ode & Ballade, released in 2024, has sent them touring the globe once again, across North America and Scandinavia, selling out venues and making new friends and fans wherever they go. This acclaimed album comprises stories of medieval saints and sacred wells, fair maidens outsmarting presumptuous knights, beautiful or boisterous drinking songs, thieves meeting their fate, heartbreaking love songs, and groovy dance tunes. Robert Rowat of CBD music gave this advice: “If you’re lucky enough to have a cottage to escape to when the warm weather hits, take this album with you.” And Leslie Barcza wrote: “I think it speaks for itself, the musicianship, the powerful invocation of times gone by. The whole CD is magical like that, sometimes in Swedish, sometimes French, sometimes English.”

The genre, dubbed “trans-Atlantic Chamber Folk” by Lyra Magazine (Sweden), creates a sound that is unique among folk artists and classical chamber ensembles. Through the group’s love of different folk traditions and baroque styles, they uncover and present many haunting texts and sonic elements from different worlds that take audiences on an unforgettable journey. For more information, visit: skyeconsort.org

Event Sponsored by Two Colonial Fans