For one weekend this month, the most cosmopolitan address in Yorkshire will be a Victorian pavilion perched above the North Sea.

Musicport returns to Whitby Pavilion from Friday October 23 to Sunday October 25, filling five stages with musicians, singers, poets and storytellers from Mali, Vietnam, the Sahara, Catalonia, Hungary, Morocco, the Balearic Islands, Tibet and India – and, this year in particular, from a good deal closer to home.

Under the banner Northern Stars, the festival is giving a dozen emerging and established acts from across the region a platform alongside its international guests. The 2026 programme takes its cue from the four classical elements of earth, water, fire and air, and it is hard to imagine a venue better suited to the theme: the Pavilion has stood on its foundation of Jurassic stone and shale for 148 years, taking whatever the sea air throws at it.

Top billing among the home-grown contingent goes to Eliza Carthy, who brings her band the Restitution to Whitby to launch their new studio album, Frenemies. Co-produced with Mercury nominee Ben Seal, the record is released on HemHem Records on October 30, so festival-goers get a week’s head start on everyone else. The Yorkshire-born fiddler, singer and songwriter, herself twice shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and appointed MBE for services to folk music, is the daughter of folk royalty Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson.

Also returning are West Yorkshire’s Hope & Social, a band whose own publicity likens them to Springsteen’s E Street Band and Elbow gatecrashing the same party – and squabbling over David Bowie when they get there.

Tyneside is strongly represented. Hector Gannet, the project of North Shields songwriter Aaron Duff, first came to notice in 2017 when Duff wrote music for a BFI commission; a support tour with Sam Fender followed, then a well-received debut album, Big Harcar, and shared bills with Richard Thompson, Sea Power, Peter Doherty and Kathryn Williams. Newcastle accordionist and theatre performer Tim Dalling, a founder member of the Old Rope String Band for a quarter of a century, brings a solo show that pairs nimble folk playing with comedy and storytelling, while poet, songwriter and dramatist Harry Gallagher offers a blend of spoken word and acoustic song rooted in working-class northern life.

Voices take centre stage elsewhere. Sätteli – Lancashire-raised sisters Helen and Louise – draw on their mother’s Swiss heritage to explore that country’s folk songs and wordless vocal traditions. York a cappella quintet PitchWitches, led by composer EM Whitfield Brooks, deal in close, near-unamplified harmony, and Shropshire’s Jessie Reid, whose songs have racked up millions of streams, combines a distinctive percussive “lap-tap” guitar technique with an intimate vocal style.

Yorkshire folk in its broader sense comes courtesy of East Yorkshire six-piece Hase Waits, whose line-up of hurdy-gurdy, twin low whistles, fiddle and percussion links medieval roots with contemporary energy; The Ballad of Blea Wyke, a collaborative piece built from the folklore and smuggling history of that remote stretch of coast; the narrative, groove-driven acoustic sound of Mackie and the Unknown; and Middlesbrough singer-songwriter Sue Conroy, equally at home with protest songs, comic numbers and ballads.

The international bill remains the festival’s backbone. “Every year, we endeavour to bring as wide a range of music as possible to Musicport from all corners of the planet,” says programme director Jim McLaughlin. That means acclaimed African diaspora artists Boubacar Samake and Ibibio Sound Machine, a Musicport debut for Vietnamese rock and soul outfit Saigon Soul Revival, and the Catalan and Balearic polyphonic singers Aluca Trio. Saturday night belongs to Hungary’s Romano Drom – the name means Gypsy Road – who perform in Romani.

Behind it all is a sizeable volunteer team and a festival that has deliberately woven itself into the town. Workshops and pre-festival concerts in surrounding villages are part of a drive to involve younger audiences and local communities. “Being an indoor festival creates a really special, friendly and intimate ambience for all ages,” says operations director Sue McLaughlin. “We’ve learnt over the years that Whitby and Musicport can’t be separated.”

That connection is most visible in the Lobster Lounge, which has its own bar and stage and a programme of talks from conservationists and environmental speakers alongside music and eco-minded poetry, curated by Joe Redfern of Whitby Lobster Hatchery. For general manager Nikki Orrell, it is “where Musicport’s global spirit meets Whitby’s local heart.”

Arrivals will also be greeted by Eko, a 13ft sea giant operated by five puppeteers and the star of Austin Dance Theatre’s touring show Out of the Deep Blue. Musicport 2026 is supported with National Lottery funding through Arts Council England.

With a giant on the door and a lobster hatchery running one of the bars, Whitby can at least guarantee that nobody will mistake this for an ordinary weekend by the sea.

Musicport Festival 2026
Friday October 23 – Sunday October 25
Whitby Pavilion, West Cliff, Whitby YO21 3EN
Line-up and tickets: musicportfestival.com
Access: The Pavilion has ramps and a lift giving access to all areas except the theatre balcony. Details at whitbypavilion.co.uk/plan-your-visit/accessibility/