Last week I had a fantastic time in Barcelona doing the “Suzuki Early Childhood Education” teacher training course. This will enable me to teach Suzuki music classes for 0-3 year olds. I met Suzuki teachers from all over the world - Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Iceland and Japan.

✨ COMPETITION ✨ Happy 8-month birthday to my album! 🥳 Here’s a competition to celebrate - how many plants on the album cover can you name? They’re all Scottish native plants. The first person to name at least 10 plants will get a free CD 💿 Thank you to Elly Lucas for this artwork!

❄️ JANUARY GIGS ❄️ ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’ 23rd Jan - Celtic Connections 24th Jan - Stockbridge Music Hub ‘Daughters of Donbas’ 28th Jan - Celtic Connections 29th Jan - St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh 30th Jan - University of St Andrews

🎶 NEW MUSIC VIDEO - OUT NOW 🎶 Happy Hogmanay! Here’s a waltz to celebrate ❄️ ‘The Hogmanay Waltz (Winter 2)’ is from my recent album ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’, which you can buy on Bandcamp or listen to on Tidal. youtu.be/lAobRQOndX0?...

‘The Hogmanay Waltz (Winter 2)’ - Isla Ratcliff (Music Video)

YouTube video by Isla Ratcliff

youtu.be

The Scottish Four Seasons by @islaratcliff.bsky.social now available on TIDAL to stream at high fidelity. Do listen 2 this stunning trad interpretation of Vivaldi s famous work. Support independent musicians by buying album together with poems & track notes islaratcliff.bandcamp.com/album/the-sc...

The Scottish Four Seasons, by Isla Ratcliff

14 track album

islaratcliff.bandcamp.com

Tune in to BBC Radio Scotland ‘Classical Now’ at 7pm tonight to hear me chatting about my new album ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’ 🌸☀️🍁❄️🎻

Voting closes at midnight tonight! 🕛

Isla Ratcliff@islaratcliff.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I’ve been nominated for ‘Musician of the Year’ at the @handsupfortrad.bsky.social Trad Awards 2025! 🥳 This is SUCH an honour ❤️ Now I need you to vote for me! Voting closes on Sunday 16th November. Vote here: projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotstradmus...

A weekend of signing CDs, writing handwritten track lists for my crowdfunder supporters, packaging them up & getting to know my local post office staff very well 💿✍️📦📮🎻 Thank you to everyone who has bought my album & sent lovely messages. I’m feeling very happily overwhelmed by the response so far ❤️

🌸☀️ THE SCOTTISH FOUR SEASONS - OUT NOW 🍁❄️ My album ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’ is out today! I’m SO excited that it’s finally out in the world for you to hear! 🥳 Listen / buy here: islaratcliff.bandcamp.com/album/the-sc... Film by Jack Hinks @jackhinksmusic.bsky.social

This moment ❤️ Almost 2 years of work have led up to this! Watch to the end for my absolutely genuine *I thought I was off camera* reaction 🥹 Album release is tomorrow! CDs will be in the post tomorrow! 🎻💿 Pre-order your CD here: islaratcliff.bandcamp.com/album/the-sc...

Vlog No.3: A day of 2 radio interviews, 1 film shoot, 1 rehearsal, a haircut (not featured) and some happy tears 🥹 Only 4 days until album release!!! 🥳 Pre-order now on Bandcamp! And only 6 days left to vote for me to be ‘Musician of the Year’ at the Trad Awards! Now for some sleep… 😴 Isla x

✨ Album artwork reveal!!! ✨ I’m delighted to reveal this gorgeous album cover art by Elly Lucas. Elly took such care in creating this stunning collage of Scottish plants 🌱 You can now pre-order my album on Bandcamp! islaratcliff.bandcamp.com/album/the-sc... Only 5 days until release day! Isla x

Vlog No.1: A day of admin, social media promo and a Hegedu rehearsal 💻🎻🎶 Vote for me for ‘Musician of the Year’ (deadline 16th Nov): projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotstradmus... Here is the first of several vlogs showing what being a professional musician actually involves (it’s not all music!).

I’ve been nominated for ‘Musician of the Year’ at the @handsupfortrad.bsky.social Trad Awards 2025! 🥳 This is SUCH an honour ❤️ Now I need you to vote for me! Voting closes on Sunday 16th November. Vote here: projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotstradmus...

✨ Friday 23rd January 2026 ✨ I am VERY excited to be performing my upcoming album, ‘The Scottish Four Seasons’, at Celtic Connections in the Barony Hall in January! I’ll be playing with a fantastic band 🎵 Tickets are on sale now from the Celtic Connections website! Can’t wait!! #CCFest2026

Thank you to @heraldscotland.bsky.social for a lovely write-up about my work, alongside Electra Perivilatis, Jay Capperauld, Gillian Walker & Seyoung Oh🎵🎻 My single ‘Autumn Leaves (Autumn 1)’ was released yesterday! Listen to it on Bandcamp & streaming services 🍁 Isla x

🍁🎻 SINGLE RELEASE 🎻🍁 My single “Autumn Leaves (Autumn 1)” is released today! islaratcliff.bandcamp.com/track/autumn... This track is about having fun in autumn - playing with leaves, foraging for brambles & eating crumble! I enjoyed turning Vivaldi’s original melody into a polka! 🎵

✨ 3 days left on my crowdfunder ✨ Thank you for supporting my crowdfunder so far. I have raised 70% of my target. I need to raise the remaining 30% in the next 3 days. If I don’t reach my target, I don’t get any money at all. Any help - financial or sharing - is appreciated. Thank you! Isla x

The Scottish Four Seasons - Isla Ratcliff's 2nd Album

A Scottish trad arrangement of Vivaldi's 300-year-old 'The Four Seasons', highlighting its dance tunes and Scotland's climate concerns

kickstarter.com

⭐️ My crowdfunder is live!!! ⭐️ I have just launched my crowdfunding campaign for my 2nd album, “The Scottish Four Seasons” - a Scottish trad reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s famous work to mark its 300th birthday! I have 30 days to raise £11,000. Thank you so much for your support! Isla x

The Scottish Four Seasons - Isla Ratcliff's 2nd Album

A Scottish trad arrangement of Vivaldi's 300-year-old 'The Four Seasons', highlighting its dance tunes and Scotland's climate concerns

kickstarter.com

✨ Please help me crowdfund my new album! I will be launching my crowdfunding campaign for my new album, “The Scottish Four Seasons”, very soon!!! I would really appreciate it if you could please help me in the lead-up to the launch by doing any of the following 3 actions:

🌟 ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT 🌟 “The Scottish Four Seasons” 🎻🌷❄️ My second album will be a Scottish trad reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” to mark its 300-year anniversary. Think jigs, reels & slow airs - keeping Vivaldi’s instrumentation, but rewriting his melodies & adding trad harmonies!

🔥 EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON 🔥 I’ve made best pals with this guy over the past year! Who is he and what have I been working on??? All will be revealed very soon…! #music #fiddle #scottishmusic #folkmusic #tradmusic #scottishfiddle #venice #classicalmusic #violin