Sir James MacMillan opens the 2019 edition of The Cumnock Tryst festival. It’s the East Ayrshire festival’s 6th iteration and boasts its most diverse programme to date.

The festival takes place from 3-6 October in and around the village of Cumnock in Ayrshire, where James MacMillan grew up.

The most varied festival programme so far, this year’s concerts range from a solo recital from Scottish pianist Steven Osborne to new works from Jay Capperauld and Gillian Walker, and informal evenings at the Dumfries Arms Hotel this year including Barbara Dickson and the Farmers Choir. As ever, The Cumnock Tryst welcomes a group of musicians as its resident artists, this year Mr McFall’s Chamber and also forefronts music education as part of the main programme including the chance for audiences to see inside the compositional process in a public masterclass.

Today the festival also announces The Cumnock Tryst Music Club, resurrecting the former success of the much-loved Cumnock Music Club run by RD Hunter in years gone by. This new project will bring fantastic, world-class musicians to East Ayrshire year-round, not just during the festival weekend.

Commencing on 1 December this year, the Music Club will welcome the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Piano Quartet. It will then bring the guitarists Knox and Ion Duo on 18 January, Scots folk duo Hannah Rarity and Luc McNally on 21 February and the Hebrides Ensemble with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Voices on 28 March. The final concert of the season will see a very special trio from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra perform on 3 May in the splendor of Dumfries House, including their new Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev on piano.

Sir James MacMillan CBE, Founder and Artistic Director of the Cumnock Tryst, said:

I love planning these festivals, and I always try to make them different and let them evolve and develop from year to year. The sixth festival will have its own unique character and mood again, and the quality of our performers will delight our audiences. I’m also very excited about the launch of our first, all-year round Music Club programme which shows that The Tryst is determined to spread our presence throughout the whole year.

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