The popular Cumnock Tryst has announced another festival programme for this year - including performances from 10 local groups.
From Thursday – Sunday October 5 to 8, The Cumnock Tryst is set to return with one of their most exciting and innovative programmes yet.
In the years since its inception, the festival has become a stalwart of the Scottish cultural calendar, as well as in the wider world of classical music.
Each year, the festival offers “a feast of music in the heart of East Ayrshire” - inviting a plethora of world-leading musicians to perform in some of the most picturesque venues that the region has to offer, such as Trinity Church and Dumfries House.
However, whilst the festival boasts an undeniably international reach, it is firmly rooted in community, exemplified by one of the most exciting events in this year’s festival: A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields.
The culmination of three years of work for 350 members of the Cumnock community - including members from the Coalfields Community Landscape Partnership and local musicians from groups such as Cumnock Youth Musical Theatre - the initiative sought to inspire the creation of original music, under the guidance of expert workshop leaders, that responds to the surrounding landscape and social history embedded in it.
The bulk of the celebration will take place on BIG Saturday, where members will join forces with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for two concerts showcasing the new music they have made together.
As well as performances of new music from Strings N Things, Things Tae Dae, Doon Academy Dalmellington, Robert Burns Academy Cumnock, Logan Primary School, Netherthird Primary School, The Cumnock Tryst Festival Chorus, Cumnock Youth Musical Theatre, Cumnock Area Musical Production Society and Dalmellington Brass Academy.
Students of the Robert Burns Academy’s Supported Learning Centre and students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland come together, led by Matilda Brown and James MacMillan, with a programme of music of their own in The Way We Are.
The Tryst’s collaboration with the Boswell Book Festival, The Cumnock Hour, this year brings a conversation between poet Michael Symmons Roberts and James MacMillan about their existing work together on opera and music theatre pieces and their plans for the future.
Sir James MacMillan CBE, Founder and Artistic Director said: “In addition to our community work, we continue to bring some of the most important international musicians to Cumnock, including the great soprano Danielle de Niese.
"She will give our opening recital, followed the next night by one of the world’s most brilliant choirs, Tenebrae, conducted by Nigel Short.
“The Tryst has been busy commissioning brand new music for this year’s festival. We will hear new work by Phillip Cooke, Gillian Walker, Michael Murray, Electra Perivolaris, Jay Capperauld, Janet Beat and Errollyn Wallen. And the great composers of the past are also featured – JS Bach, Francis Poulenc, Bela Bartok, Constant Lambert and various others."
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He added: “It’s always a great thrill and source of pride for me when I can present some of my own new music for our Cumnock audiences, and I’m especially delighted that Danielle de Niese has asked me for a couple of new songs which she will premiere in Trinity Church.
"Tenebrae also bring the Scottish premiere of a new work I wrote for them recently, as well as some other motets of mine which they will be recording soon – all this in Trinity Church.
“We will have wonderful folk music from Findlay Napier, a visit from one of Edinburgh’s top choirs, a couple of incredible string players from the BBC SSO and a chat with one of the country’s major poets, Michael Symmons Roberts.
“And The Tryst is committed to encouraging the next generation of musicians too.
"We are especially lucky to host the brilliant young percussionist Noah Chalamanda who will delight and amaze us at Dumfries House and we’ll also hear the results of a major creative project with pupils from the Supported Learning Centre on the Barony Campus.
“Come and join us this October for another edition of what is becoming one of Scotland’s boldest and most engaging musical events – The Cumnock Tryst.”
General booking and more information about this year's event is available at ng www.thecumnocktryst.com
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