User:LesleyBooth59/sandbox

The Cumnock Tryst is an annual music Festival which takes place at the end of September and beginning of October in venues in and around the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock and at Dumfries House. Tryst is an old Scots word which means a meeting place, or a romantic rendezvous and the Festival’s name was inspired by a piece of music composer James MacMillan wrote in the 1980s when he was still living in Ayrshire: a setting of William Soutar’s love poem, The Tryst.

History The festival was established by the composer Sir James MacMillan in his home town, Cumnock, with the festival taking place in 2014. Patron of the Festival is the violinist, Nicola Benedetti and Eamonn Dougan conducts the annual Cumnock Festival Chorus concert.

Repertoire and Artists The festival brings leading international performers to the town. It also gives a platform to local traditions in the former mining area, particularly brass band and choral music. Other major strands in the Cumnock Tryst are commissions from local composers and work with schools and young people. Artists appearing at the Cumnock Tryst have includes patron Nicola Benedetti, The Sixteen and Genesis Sixteen, Hebrides Ensemble, Headspace and Pandora’s Box, The Kings Singers, Jackie Oats

Commissions In 2015 Jay Capperauld was commissioned to write a piece for cellist Laura van der Heijden. The following year Scott Lygate wrote a work for Pandora’s Box which was inspired by the Barony A Frame, a local landmark remaining from the mining days.

Venues Many of the performances take place in churches in and around Cumnock including Cumnock including Old Church, St John’s, Trinity and Auchinleck Parish Church. The opening concert is staged in Cumnock Town Hall with the festival club and Cumnock Hour discussion taking place in the historic Dumfries Arms. The schools performance is presented in Cumnock Academy and the Festival Finale is staged in Dumfries House.

Community participation and additional events[ Education and community projects are central to the Cumnock Tryst Festival. Each year the Festival runs a project with senior school pupils from local schools and since 2015 Drake Music Scotland has worked with pupils and adults with special educational needs to create work that is performed as part of the festival. The Cumnock Tryst also has an ongoing relationship with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2015 the Cumnock Festival Chorus was established. It is an amateur choir which is open to local singers. In 2017 the festival set up a Junior chorus for young singers from across Ayrshire.