Janice Burns & Jon Doran

Janice Burns & Jon Doran play The Lens Studio at Portsmouth Guildhall on Thursday 10 September, with the music starting at 20:00. They're an Anglo-Scottish folk duo who came together after finding a shared interest in traditional music. Their sound is built on tight vocal harmonies and a sensitive interplay between mandolin, bouzouki and guitar, and they've played the Cambridge Folk Festival, Celtic Connections, Edinburgh Tradfest and Cecil Sharp House.

Songlines described their approach as 'clever and uncluttered musical storytelling', and that's a good way to put it. They take songs from old books and manuscripts and arrange them to bring them back to life for a modern audience, keeping the energy contained rather than pushing it. The set they'll be playing explores the human connection to nature, love and loss, with songs that have survived the years and changed as they've passed from one singer to the next.

Their debut album, No More the Green Hills, came out in autumn 2022 and did well enough to enter the Official UK Folk Albums Chart, with airplay on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Scotland. They're known for a relaxed, close-to-the-audience way of performing, so the set should feel more like a conversation than a formal recital.

Tickets are £19.10, which includes a 13% booking fee and a venue restoration levy. It's all-ages, though anyone under 14 needs to be accompanied by an adult over 18. There's discounted parking available online or at the box office, but a few house rules to keep in mind: no cameras or tablets, no flash photography, and no outside food or drink unless it's for medical needs. The venue is run by The Guildhall Trust, which is a registered charity.