What is Hilltop Sessions?

Hilltop Sessions (and Hilltop Live) are a series of live gigs featuring a range of independent artists performing original material.

Hilltop Sessions take place in the Sussex town of Lewes while Hilltop Live gigs are held across the Highlands of Scotland.

Who is behind Hilltop Sessions?

Hilltop Sessions was created in Lewes – and is curated - by artist and musician Maia Eden and her husband Oliver Dudok van Heel, a member of pop-up busking troupe The Magnificent Kevens.

When we moved to the Highlands of Scotland in the summer of 2024, we decided to continue the adventure and created Hilltop Live to offer opportunities to artists to perform in venues across the Highlands.

We are also able to continue offering Hilltop Sessions in Lewes thanks to the support of local musicians Sennen Timcke and Erika Olson who will host the evenings while we continue curating the music.

How did Hilltop Sessions come about?

We met through a shared love of music and had been talking for a while about finding ways to bring quality music into people’s lives. When the pandemic hit and we realised how much we missed live music and how much the pandemic threatened musicians’ livelihoods and careers, we created Hilltop Sessions to give musicians a platform, once restrictions were lifted.

What type of music can you expect at a gig?

We don’t want to limit it to one style of music. Our first series of sessions included legendary new wave pop, indie, piano ballads, indie-folk, rap and electronic music.

We don’t necessarily expect audiences to come because their favourite artist is playing – though fans are very welcome! We hope people come to a gig because they want to discover something new that they may not otherwise be drawn to. In other words, come with an open mind and let yourself be surprised. Think of it like the musical equivalent of monthly  surprise case of wine or crate of beer!

Our role as curators is to make sure that we bring quality singer-songwriters to each session. If you leave a session thinking ‘This was new and it was great’, we’ve done our job.

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Are you looking for established or unknown artists?

A little bit of everything. We were delighted to have Chris Difford perform at the first Hilltop Session as he is an amazing artist and songwriter, but for the most part we will support artists who aren’t quite as well-known but are very good at what they do. A typical gig will usually involve one headline artist with at least one album under their belt and a good following and one support artist who may not have recorded anything yet, but has already written some cracking songs and is ready to share them with a wider audience.

What have been the highlights of the last three years?

Hosting our first festival in September 2023 was definitely a highlight. We had 19 acts over 2 stages and the event was a huge success, even if it was hard work!

We are also proud to have raised over £7,000 to support local charities including the Lewes foodbanks and Starfish Youth Music.