June Tabor

Dubbed "the solemn and exquisite diva of British folk song" in 1998 by the San Francisco Chronicle, June Tabor has sustained an iconic reputation with recordings and performances since she released the album 'Silly Sisters' with former Steeleye Span lead singer Maddy Prior in 1976. Born in Warwick, she worked as a librarian and restaurateur as she established herself as a professional performer. Praised for the simplicity of her traditional album 'Airs and Graces' (1976), she recorded modern material on 'A Cut Above' (1980), 'Abyssinians' (1983) and 'Aqaba' (1988). She displayed her diverse range on 'Angel Tiger' (1992) and the live album 'Aleyn' (1997) and sang with the Creative Jazz Orchestra on 'A Quiet Eye' (1999). 'Rosa Mundi' (2001) celebrated the rose and she explored storytelling on 'An Echo of Hooves' (2003), for which she was named Singer of the Year at the 2004 BBC Folk Awards.

She has performed on BBC4 Sessions, 'Later With Jools Holland' and at the BBC Proms. She sang her song cycle 'Soldier, Sailor, Shepherd' with the Renga Ensemble of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, toured with saxophonist Iain Bellamy and her regular piano accompanist Huw Warren in the trio Quercus, which resulted in the self-titled album which went to number 34 on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart in 2013. She has appeared at the Manchester International Festival, the Basle Art Festival, London's Southbank and the Bristol Old Vic. Collaborators have included The Choir, Oysterband, guitarist Martin Simpson, harpist Savourna Stevenson and bass player Danny Thompson. Her 2018 dates with Quercus included performances in Leeds and Cardiff.