Awake Arise

The Oxted Sessions calendar for 2026 concludes with Awake Arise - A Winter Show For Our Times - an unmissable collaboration that brings together five of the English folk scene’s most inventive artists to celebrate the riches of our varied traditions and reflecting upon the hope and resilience in music and song that can bring joy to us all in the darkest season. This is truly “rousing stuff” (The Observer).

Award winning band Lady Maisery (Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans and Hazel Askew) have for over a decade produced “the most exquisite, thrilling vocal harmony work in the English folk scene” The Guardian.

Longtime collaborator Sid Goldsmith is a true stalwart of the folk scene in his much-loved bands Aldridge/Goldsmith and Tarren as well as in international theatre, most recently touring the world in Wuthering Heights.

Completing the powerful line-up this year is BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner Sam Carter, renowned for his vivid, keenly observed songwriting, which Uncut described as being "as penetrating as Richard Thompson's best work"

Featuring traditional songs, folk carols, spoken word and newly written music to galvanise and brighten this darkest season, Awake Arise is a warm gift to the wintertime from five of the most engaging and celebrated performers on the English folk scene.

True to these artists’ outspoken voices, it is also a rallying cry to embrace the power of collective endeavour as a vital support during times of hardship and loneliness.