The stage is set for Glasgow’s annual feast of Celtic music and culture which brings thousands of performers and visitors to the city early in the new year.

Celtic Connections has grown to be a world renowned festival which merges a diverse variety of musical genres into a three-week extravaganza.

While, clarsachs, bodhrans and fiddles will be present in abundance, the programme also encompasses Americana, world, indie, jazz, soul, fusion and more.

The opening concert in the Royal Concert Hall on January 17 inaugurates the 2019 theme of passing traditions between generations.

Celtic Connections’ first 25 years have witnessed the emergence of myriad young Scottish musicians, many going on to attain headline status - and plenty nowadays who weren’t even born when the festival began.

The opening night will also mark 15 years since Harvest, 2004’s landmark opening show, which teamed a battalion of then-youngsters - including such now-familiar names as Anna Massie, Rua MacMillan, Rachel Newton, Megan Henderson and Mairearad Green - with top Celtic soloists.

Alongside a number of revered performers from the folk scene, some 60-70 budding talents will assemble onstage, selected from the 45 Fèisean, now held annually around Scotland, Orcadian youth music project Hadhirgaan, and the extraordinary Galician folk orchestra SonDeSeu.

Working with the original composers, they will perform newly arranged excerpts of the Fèis Rois commissions, Kin & the Community by Duncan Chisholm, Lauren MacColl’s The Seer, and Donald Shaw’s Harvest itself, along with appearances by Dàimh, Aidan O’Rourke & Brighde Chaimbeul and some additional very special guests.

In addition to the midwinter festival at 20 venues around the city, Celtic Connections now has an ambitious education programme which has seen more than 12,000 school children across Scotland learn about traditional, folk and world music.

Details of all shows and “come and try” workshops at celticconnections.com.