Former Cumnock Academy student Jay Capperauld, 25, attended Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) for eight years after leaving high school.

Jay started playing the piano at eight-years-old, while a pupil at Castle Primary, although he confessed that he spent six years playing the one piece and just enjoying himself.

Initially music was just a hobby, as opposed to a career option, until he started playing saxophone under the guidance of John Miller at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, predecessor of the RCS.

While he studied playing the sax, he became aware that he preferred composition and that became his speciality and a lot of teachers encouraged him to go down that path.

He said: “I became a composer, first and foremost by being a musician and playing other people’s music, and how it’s made as opposed to just putting on a performance.

“Eventually I developed a dissatisfaction with playing other composers’ music, whether it was the material they were using, but I just felt no connection to it. That led me to the notion that I could make my own music and the first real piece I wrote was called Heroin Chic, which was a kind off big band sound.” That led to a few awards and prizes which led to much bigger things, such as writing for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and has brought him home for the festival.

Sir James MacMillan had heard of Jay’s reputation and got in touch to ask him to write a piece for last year’s inaugural festival.

It was played during a concert at Dumfries House, which Jay described as an amazing experience.

“My music was programmed alongside Nicola Benedetti, who played an incredible 20-minute violin piece.

“I have been commissioned again to write for this year’s event, and feel so honoured,” he said.

Following the Cumnock Tryst Jay has two new commissioned pieces, one for the Glasgow New Music Expedition, which will be performed in the Royal Concert Hall in the city, as well as a brass ensemble with a difference.

The composition is for the Association of European Conservatoires which will be played, as part of a conference, in front of around 90 heads of conservatoires from across Europe, which Jay says will be a great window of opportunity for his music.