Supported by Creative Scotland, twenty-four performances across five tours were awarded to Scotland-based musicians and music creators; Ailie Robertson, Glisk, Peaks, Katrina Lee and Lotte Betts-Dean, Sequoia and Stuart MacRae.
- Ailie Robertson (Solo Harp) – Touring her programme ‘Rondos, Reels and Ragas’ in Argyll & Bute in April/May going to villages across the region performing a diverse programme of works, featuring both women and global majority composers.
- Glisk (String Quartet) – Touring their ‘Stories of People and Trees’ project which features a rich and varied suite of music, written for the quartet as the culmination of a year spent collecting stories of personal connections to trees. They will go to Dundreggan (Highlands), Aviemore, Isle of Mull, Cove (Argyll) and Glasgow in May.
- Peaks (Violin, Cello, Electronics) – A tour of the Outer Hebrides & Skye in May, performing their own work ‘Cladach/Mullach (Shore/Summit)’ for acoustic instruments and recorded samples. It is based on an old folk tale describing how music first came to the Western Isles.
- Stuart MacRae, Lotte Betts-Dean & Sequoia (Mezzo-soprano, Violin, Cello, Harmonium) – Touring their ‘Earth Thy Cold is Keen’ album in June, promising a deeply personal and immersive experience which will go to Perthshire, Fife, Dumfries & Galloway and Glasgow.
- Katrina Lee (Solo Violin) – A tour platforming works for Solo Violin by female composers which is from her debut album ‘Chronicles’ set for release in 2025 on Delphian records. The tour will go to Durness (Sutherland), Deeside, Farr (Highlands) and Dumfries in October.
The tours will take place across Scotland during 2025. Less than 10% of performances are planned for Scotland’s Central Belt, with the majority of touring activity taking place in the Highlands, Western Isles and Argyll and Bute.
Peaks, image by Sean Patrick Campell.
All five tours will bring new music (composed or created in the last five years), to local community centres, arts venues, and village halls across Scotland. While some tours focus on presenting music from Scottish music creators others will focus on programming global works from both women and gender diverse composers and composers not of Western European descent. The pilot year was competitive, with demand for the fund four times the total available to award.
The aims of the fund are to:
- Support musicians’ own touring plans.
- Platform quality and innovation within the Scottish chamber music sector.
- Allow artists to decide where and what they play.
- Encourage tours rather than ‘one-off’ performances.
- Platform new and experimental as well as traditional chamber music.
- Reach new chamber music audiences and communities, where access to live arts experiences may be limited.
- Ensure fair work and pay for musicians.
- Create opportunities for musicians to develop and sustain creative careers through live performance.
"It’s brilliant to be able to support these Scotland-based musicians to tour innovative and diverse programmes to communities across Scotland. The quality of performers and the skillfully curated programmes reflects on what is a creatively exciting time in the Scottish chamber music scene” - Paul Tracey, Chief Executive, CMS.
“The invaluable support of CMS not only allows me to continue sharing my work but also to challenge established norms and advocate for meaningful changes in the sector, particularly by enabling greater autonomy for musicians through conscious curation of works and programmes.” - Katrina Lee, Fund Recipient
“Our music, and our compositional process, is very much embedded in the culture, history and landscape of the Western Isles, so it is really wonderful that we will have the opportunity to bring our music to those places in intimate, traditional settings, and at the same time be inspired by those places and people.” - Peaks, Fund Recipient.
“We're particularly pleased to be performing in such beautiful venues that are so strongly rooted in their local communities, and we are excited to share and celebrate the wonderful stories of nature connection that inspired this suite of music.” - Glisk, Fund Recipient.
Background
Chamber Music Scotland: Celebrating chamber music’s tradition and exploring its future.
CMS works with chamber music performers and creators; promoters and audiences; and communities to share and experience music that represents Scotland, its people, places, and culture. Our organisation has a truly national reach and offers space for artist expression and development alongside substantial opportunities for members of the public to engage with our work. Our work encompasses artist residency programmes, community partnerships, creation of new works, EDI sector development, concert series and touring funding, developmental support, as well as UK and international collaborations. We aim to cultivate an identity for chamber music in Scotland which draws on our places, peoples, and culture and is unique on the world stage.
Further information at chambermusicscotland.com.
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery, which, now in its 30th year, has supported over 14,600 projects with more than £501.9 million in funding through Creative Scotland and its predecessor, the Scottish Arts Council Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot
Media contacts
For more information contact: Lou Rowland, Admin & Comms [email protected]