05/06/2026
Artist Feature: Medusa Quartet
Every year, one thing comes through loud and clear in our audience surveys: you love discovering something new.
That spirit of curiosity is part of what makes Summerfolk so special. It allows us to bring artists to Owen Sound who surprise us, challenge us, and leave us talking about their performances long after the festival ends.
This week, Summerfolk Artistic Director James Keelaghan introduces Medusa Quartet — a group that draws on musical traditions from around the world and transforms them into something entirely their own. It's also one of the artists he's most excited for audiences to discover at Summerfolk 51.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Every audience survey we have ever conducted at Summerfolk emphasizes the same thing. Our audiences love to make discoveries and like to hear something new.
First, you have no idea how much fun that makes this job. I feel free to take chances because you like to take chances. I have a deep affection for music that lives outside the box. Music that begins in a tradition, then puts a curve in the delivery and carries that tradition somewhere it has never quite been before. It catches my ear every time.
May we present to you Medusa Quartet? Recommended listening attitudes: lying back staring into the star-filled night sky, alternating with dancing your ass off.
The first thing you are going to ask is how a string quartet can make me dance my ass off? I dare say an ordinary string quartet could not, but Medusa are no ordinary string Quartet.
The Toronto-based group is made up of Georgia Hathaway, Lea Kirstein, Marta Sołek and Saskia Tomkins. And they aren’t just packing violins, violas and cellos. You can add Nyckelharpa, S**a, Płock fiddle and Lyra to the palette. They are drawing from folk traditions from Poland, from the Nordic countries, Pakistan, Ireland, Great Britain, Brittany, and present it all with serious arrangements and grooves.
I’ve been listening to them , thinking about where I’ll place them over the course of the weekend, not only for the concerts, but for the workshops. I have a feeling they are built for the kind of collaborations that make our workshops so special.
I can’t wait for you to hear them."
---------------------------------------------------------------
👉Explore Medusa at Summerfolk
📍 Kelso Beach at Nawash Park, Owen Sound, Ontario
📅 August 21–23, 2026
🎟 Get your tickets now:
https://tproontario.ticketpro.ca/en/pages/1671012124?aff=sfolk
