Recognized as a UNESCO City of Music, Glasgow will play host to the annual Celtic Connections festival from Jan. 19–Feb 2. For 18 days, the streets will reverberate with 300 venues offering concerts, art exhibitions, workshops, talks, late-night jams and world-class musical collaborations that include ceilidhs, where folk music, singing, storytelling and traditional dancing combine in great live entertainment. Award-winning folk singer and songwriter Laura Marling opens the festival, backed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. This year’s festival shines a special spotlight on women performers and musical artists who weathered personal hardships in the course of furthering their careers.

The 2017 performance lineup includes Unusual Suspects, fiddling super group Session A9, Gaelic rockers Manran and a special 20th anniversary concert featuring Phil Cunningham’s Highlands & Islands Suite. Public workshops offer a chance to hone musical skills, while multiple Grammy Award-winner Olivia Newton-John, Grammy nominee Beth Nielsen Chapman and SOCAN Award-winner Amy Sky will treat audiences to new work from their joint album Liv On. At The Main Auditorium of Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Jan. 28, this year’s Roaming Roots Revue will honor Women in Song with celebrated contemporary female songwriters including Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Gillian Welch, Joan Armatrading and Tracy Chapman.