In a huge celebration of Ayrshire composers, The Cumnock Tryst visits Glasgow this month for a concert in collaboration with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
The concert will take place on February 20 and falls during a time of momentum for The Tryst, following a nomination for the Royal Philharmonic Society Series and Events Award, and the announcement that the festival will receive Multi-Year Funding from Creative Scotland.
The concert culminates in the Scottish Premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s celebratory new Concerto for Orchestra, Ghosts, a work which launched the London Symphony Orchestra’s new season in September 2024 to great acclaim and has since been performed in Sweden and Australia.
The programme also showcases a dazzling array of new music from six of MacMillan’s younger contemporaries – Matthew Grouse, Gillian Walker, Electra Perivolaris, Scott Lygate, Jay Capperauld, and Michael Murray.
A passionate advocate for contemporary music, MacMillan has long championed works from contemporary composers, whilst fostering the next generation through mentorship, commissioning, and creative support.
Of these six composers, five belong to the seemingly endless flow of talented composers emerging out of Ayrshire.
All six have been mentored by MacMillan and extend his legacy by bringing their expertise into local schools, delivering workshops as part of The Cumnock Tryst’s year-round work in the community.
This work, and Tryst’s annual festival, is to continue to be made possible following the recent announcement that The Cumnock Tryst will receive Multi-Year Funding from Creative Scotland.
After winning the award in 2019, The Cumnock Tryst is also delighted to be nominated again for the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Series and Events Award, supported by Warner Classics.
The award is presented to a distinctive festival, themed series of performances, or truly unique event presented in the UK and the award ceremony takes place on Thursday, March 6.
Sir James MacMillan said: “It’s very exciting for me to bring this Cumnock programme to Glasgow and the BBC. Apart from one, all these composers are from Ayrshire and all the younger figures have been encouraged to develop their art through The Cumnock Tryst. There must be something in the water down there! This is a significant time of momentum for The Tryst.”
The Cumnock Tryst was established in 2014 and the festival name was inspired by a piece of music MacMillan wrote in the 1980s when he was still living in Ayrshire. This was a setting of William Soutar’s love poem, The Tryst.
Tryst is an old Scots word which means a meeting place, or a romantic rendezvous. The town of Cumnock itself ties into this sense of coming together as its Gaelic name, comunn achadh, means place of the confluence, as the town sits where the Glaisnock River and the Lugar Water meet.
He said: “I am from Cumnock originally. I went to school there, I grew up there and still have some relatives there. It is a place where I became a musician.
“My earliest musical experiences were of making music with friends, relatives, schoolmates and teachers in the town. “
He continued: “I always wondered if I would ever create something like Benjamin Britten’s renowned Aldeburgh Festival.
“Over time, it became clear that I would do it. I couldn’t think of a better place than Cumnock to bring this vision to life. It felt like a wonderful way to bring music and so much more back to the place I grew up.”
MacMillan continued: “In the past ten years, the festival has grown in ways I could never have imagined.
“What’s truly remarkable is how many people come to Cumnock Tryst from across the world. And yet, it’s been an amazing attraction for the local community. People from East Ayrshire have really taken Cumnock Tryst to heart, and it’s become a festival for everyone.”
At Cumnock Tryst, MacMillan finds it important to work with younger composers and provide them with a platform.
The concert with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, which will take place later this month, is an “important milestone” for MacMillan as a mentor and for young composers career.
MacMillan said: “Matthew Grouse, Gillian Walker, Electra Perivolaris, Scott Lygate, Jay Capperauld, and Michael Murray have been working with me over the years through Cumnock Tryst.
“They are beginning to make names for themselves throughout the whole of the UK.
“The fact that we are getting the music out at the concert in Glasgow, with one of the greatest symphony orchestra in the country, is truly astonishing and will be a big moment for them.”
One of the young composers, Electra Perivolaris, 28, said: “One of my first professional commissions was for The Cumnock Tryst and James’ input was, and still is, so valuable in these early stages of my journey as a composer.
“James’ practice and his view of the composer as a community figure, committed to the people and communities around them, has really shaped my view of the social role of being a composer and has meant that community based outreach work has become an important part of my own creative practice.
“I’m really excited to have two pieces performed in the BBC SSO concert on February 20. They are called A Wave Breaking and A Forest Reawakens and they are both influenced by the landscapes and seascapes of the West of Scotland, especially those of Ayrshire and Arran.
“A Wave Breaking traces the movement of a wave as it breaks onto the shore, the instruments of the orchestra building progressively like the crest of a wave through the piece, and A Forest Reawakens is influenced by the cycles of growth and regrowth of forests on Arran, linking these growth cycles to the cycles and loops of Gaelic psalm singing and traditional folk music which have influenced my writing for the orchestra.”
Gillian Walker, 26, said: “Having the opportunity to be commissioned and write music for the Cumnock Tryst whilst being mentored by James has allowed me to be actively engaged as a composer working with local communities whilst continuing to develop contemporary composition techniques. James has been amazing, providing musical/compositional guidance throughout projects and being an advocator for young people and composers living/working in Ayrshire.”
Gillian added: “I’m super excited to have two orchestral pieces played at the upcoming concert. That’s something that is very uncommon for a composer at my stage in career, and I have James and the Tryst to thank for this.
“The first piece was composed for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra called “Saat i de Blöd” which was named after a poem written by Roseanne Watt. I was really drawn to it because of the sound and shape of the Shetland dialect.
“The poem uses physiological sounds/images and compares them to the natural world in such a way that it brings to light the importance of the preservation of our local languages and dialects, whilst reflecting on a continual loss of words and therefore sounds. I was also influenced by recordings of Roseanne reciting the poem and I tried to emulate the lilting quality of her voice and the intonation of her dialect.
“The second piece was composed as part of my masters degree which was workshopped and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and students from the Guildhall Orchestral Artistry programme.
“It’s called ‘Jean Redpath’s Skippin’ Barfit Thro’ the Heather’ after famous Scottish folk singer Jean Redpath and a recording of her singing a favourite tune of mine. The piece consists of a series of chords composed of the folk tune’s pitch content and others which are not.
“The instructions ask for the musicians to engage with various instructions that use the folk song’s pitches, which include playing and humming, making every individual in the orchestra an interpreter of the folk song. I was attracted to her recording of ‘Skippin Barfit Thro’ the Heather’ as a compositional stimulus because I found myself singing and humming it nearly every day, and I would catch myself turning over a particular word and pitch or a melodic line repeatedly.
“This gentle obsession over the material ultimately led me to realise that this is what I wanted my orchestral piece to sound like, a rumination and learning of the tune in the moment.”
Tickets for the concert are now on sale here.
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