Professor Pete Stollery - alongside some of the country's most renowned exponents in their field - will participate in A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields, a series of online workshops on creative process and self-expression through writing, photography, video and sound recording, which has been organised by the Cumnock Tryst.
He will be joined by naturalist, nature photographer and television presenter Chris Packham, internationally-renowned author Alexander McCall Smith, visionary landscape photographer Colin Prior and award-winning poet, novelist and librettist Michael Symmons Roberts.
Free Zoom workshops, chaired by the Tryst’s artistic director Sir James MacMillan, will refer to places of particular significance within the Coalfield Community Landscape area, such as disused mines, the Barony A frame, open cast mining areas, dairy farms, Kirk of the Covenant, the Scottish Industrial Railway Centre, and the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory.
Those taking part will be encouraged to bring their ideas to the online sessions, following which they will submit their writing, video, sound or photography by December 11, 2020. A team of professional writers, film-makers and sound designers will then develop these into four major pieces of sound and visual art to be presented at the Tryst’s Summer Festival, planned for June 2021.
Professor Stollery, who is Professor of Electroacoustic Music and Composition at Aberdeen, and founder of sound, a new music incubator based in north-east Scotland encouraging new music creation and discovery, said: “This a very innovative and exciting initiative by the Cumnock Tryst, and I am very much looking forward to being part of it.
“Anyone who is interested in developing their creative skills in writing, photography, music and video production is invited to take part, particularly those living in the Cumnock and the Doon Valley areas. This is an ideal opportunity to take part in what will be a unique musical celebration of the coalfields and their heritage.”
Workshop registration is now open. Explore more and sign up here.