Genesis Foundation supports first concert by Genesis Sixteen at James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst

Monday, 6 July 2015

After the success in 2014 of James MacMillan’s inaugural Cumnock Tryst in Ayrshire, made possible by generous support from the Genesis Foundation and other organisations and individuals, the festival is returning in 2015. One of the highlights of this year’s Tryst will again be funded by the Genesis Foundation: the first appearance at the festival by the young singers of Genesis Sixteen, which follows last year’s sell-out Cumnock appearance by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen.

Taking place on Saturday 3 October, the concert will feature alumni of the first three cohorts of participants in the Genesis Sixteen programme, headed by Harry Christophers, which nurtures talented young singers. On the programme is the world premiere of a new work by James MacMillan, written especially for this occasion. It will feature alongside John Rutter’s version for chamber orchestra of the Fauré Requiem, in which the soprano and baritone solos will be sung by members of Genesis Sixteen, and Bach’s Partita in D minor for solo violin (played by Zoë Beyers) linked with Bach Chorales.  The orchestra will comprise members of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, complemented and mentored by the Edinburgh-based professional group the Hebrides Ensemble, specially invited by James Macmillan.

The concert will also mark the first appearance of the newly-formed Festival Chorus, comprising  young singers from the Cumnock area, and will be under the direction of The Sixteen’s Associate Conductor, Eamonn Dougan, who made a strong impression at the 2014 Cumnock Tryst when he led a Come and Sing Day for members of the public.

James MacMillan, whose collaboration with the Genesis Foundation dates back to 2008, will himself mentor talented young composers at the festival as they create new chamber works for the Hebrides Ensemble to perform. This echoes the mentoring he provided in 2014 to the three emerging composers commissioned by the Genesis Foundation to write new settings of the Stabat Mater; these were premiered by The Sixteen in London in June 2014 and received their Scottish premiere at the 2014 Cumnock Tryst.

To find out more and to read the press release click here.