Darkness into Darkness: The Cumnock Tryst 2023

Andrew Duncan Overture
Cumnock Youth Musical Group
Jay Capperauld Linking Music
Cumnock Area Musical Production Society
Gillian Walker Linking Music
Strings N Things
Michael Murray Linking Music
Things Tae Dae
Electra Perivolaris Linking Music
The Cumnock Tryst Festival Chorus
Jay Capperauld Linking Music
James MacMillan Eleven

Image by project participant Ian Fraser, taken at the beginning of A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields.

Performers
Strings N Things; Things Tae Dae; Doon Academy, Dalmellington; Robert Burns Academy, Cumnock; Logan Primary School, Logan; Netherthird Primary School, Netherthird; The Cumnock Tryst Festival Chorus ; Cumnock Youth Musical Theatre; Cumnock Area Musical Production Society; Dalmellington Brass Academy. With the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Conducted by Sir James MacMillan

Workshop leaders
Ailie Robertson; Findlay Napier; Jenny Laahs; Patricia Panther; Stephen Deazley; Gareth Williams; Martin O’Connor; Karine Polwart and Andrew Duncan

Under the direction of Sir James MacMillan the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will perform two concerts with around 350 local people, showcasing the new music our community groups have written themselves under the guidance of our expert workshop leaders. The Cumnock Tryst has also commissioned four Ayrshire composers, Jay Capperauld, Michael Murray, Electra Perivolaris and Gillian Walker to write linking episodes between each new community song. Rounding off each concert will be a piece called Eleven specially composed by James MacMillan for this project. There have been various pieces of music inspired by sport over the decades, and by football in particular. Eleven is another one, inspired specifically by the local teams in East Ayrshire and dedicated to the supporters of Auchinleck Talbot, Cumnock Juniors, Glenafton Athletic, Lugar Boswell Thistle and Muirkirk Juniors.