Maz O'Connor

Maz is a young ballad singer from Cumbria who was first inspired to sing when she attended a Folkworks summer school a few years ago. Since then she has appeared as guest singer with Last Orders, winners of the BBC Young Folk Award 2007, at festivals all over the UK,Spain and Germany, before going on to become a finalist in the competition herself in 2009.
She burst onto the folk scene in her own right when she finished her degree at Cambridge University. Since then she has performed at many summer festivals and lots of other venues accompanied by Matt Jones of Last Orders on guitar.
Maz's sets feature a mixture of contemporary,traditional and original songs with an honesty born of a love of folk song and a commitment to a good story. Her debut EP Maz O'Connor was recorded at Haystacks records and later her debut album "Upon a Stranger Shore" was recorded on Demon Barber Sounds and has drawn a lot of critical acclaim. Even before this album she merited a full page in Froots magazine.
A lot has happened in the last year including several festivals and two national tours supporting The Demon Barbers "The Lock in" show.
This year has started incredibly well with a nomination for The BBC Folk Awards, Horizon Award and a sellout concert at Cecil Sharp House,London. She is appearing at six more festivals and has been awarded a year long Fellowship by the BBC at EFDSS. The first ever folk artist to win this award.
Finally she has been given a singing part in The Royal Shakespeare Companys summer production of "As You Like It" with music written by Laura Marling. This will amount to sixtyfive performances through the year at Stratford and Newcastle Theatres.