The Rheingans Sisters

Rowan and Anna Rheingans are among the most visionary acts on the British folk scene. Raised in Derbyshire’s Peak District—their father was a violin maker, and their mother organized the local folk festival—the sisters developed a love for folk music from a very young age.

Rowan, a violinist and banjo player, studied traditional violin playing in Sweden and Norway and, in addition to The Rheingans Sisters, is active in several renowned folk projects, including Lady Maisery and Coven. She has twice won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award: in 2016 for Best Original Song and in 2017 for Best Album. In 2021, she received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.

Anna, a musician, composer, and textile designer, plays the violin, banjo, tambourin à cordes, and flabuta. Over the past 15 years, she has studied the musical traditions of Sweden, Norway, and southern France in depth and performs both as a soloist and with various projects throughout Europe.

Together, The Rheingans Sisters sing in English and French, drawing inspiration from the folk traditions of Great Britain, France, Scandinavia, and America. In 2019, they were nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Duo; their musical theater piece “Dispatches on the Red Dress”—about their German grandmother’s youth in Nazi Germany—won the Edinburgh Fringe First Award.

Their current fifth album, “Start Close In” (2024), was named Folk Album of the Month by The Guardian and ranked No. 2 on the list of the best folk albums of the year in December 2024.

WDR Recording