Jennifer Martin appointed first Chief Executive of The Cumnock Tryst

Jen owens

The Cumnock Tryst is delighted to announce Jennifer Martin as its first Chief Executive.

The creation of the Chief Executive role is now critical for continuing the sustainable development of The Tryst, essential for the effective management and delivery of The Tryst’s activities during a time of growth and planned expansion.

The Cumnock Tryst is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, founded and established in 2013 by Sir James MacMillan CBE to deliver a celebration of music-making in his home town of Cumnock.

For the last six years The Tryst has been a four-day music festival in venues across Cumnock and surrounding towns and villages bringing together a rich and eclectic programme of international classical musicians and world premieres by both James MacMillan and the uncanny number of emerging young voices on Scotland’s composition scene who come from Ayrshire, alongside a community Festival Chorus, sustained composition projects in local schools and appearances at the Festival Club of everyone from Barbara Dickson to the Farmers Choir.   

In 2018 The Observer sited it as its Classical Music Event of the Year. 2019 saw the Tryst win the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Concert Series and Events and was nominated for the Classical Music Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

2020 will see the 7th Festival and a time of great development as the Tryst builds on its four-day festival into a year-round arts organisation which delivers a music club concert series with monthly performances and an exceptional engagement programme with many strands across the local community and with national and international significance.

The Tryst’s plans are ambitious. Recognising its potential impact and contribution Trinity College London has come on board as sponsor of the work to create a centre of excellence for the learning and teaching of composition and creative music-making, a project being delivered by the Tryst in partnership with East Ayrshire Council schools and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

This ambitious new strand of work develops and builds upon the mentoring and composition projects James MacMillan has led in recent years with The Sixteen, Genesis Sixteen and a wide range of exceptional emerging young composers in partnership with the Genesis Foundation.

The Tryst will continue its focus on nurturing emerging talent, local composers, singers and instrumentalists, cultivating their wellbeing and the social benefits of music making alongside major projects for children with additional support needs in partnership with The National Autistic Society, Drake Music Scotland, Live Music Now Scotland and Hebrides Ensemble.

There is also a plan to curate a programme of regular high-quality cultural events within a new professional standard concert hall at Cumnock’s Robert Burns Academy, to benefit both the community and the pupils within the school campus. The Academy is due to open in Autumn 2020.

All this work is devised to serve the Tryst’s purpose, which is to create vibrancy, be challenging, promote social regeneration, support emerging talent, and to connect artists and audiences through the transformational power of music. And to make Cumnock a renowned cultural destination through world class musical events, an exemplary year-round community engagement programme and an annual four-day festival.

Jennifer Martin is a composer who has spent almost 30 years working in music education and management, as a teacher and lecturer, an orchestral education manager and as a consultant. She joined the Tryst team as Senior Producer in 2019 having been on the Board since its inception. Her most recent posts were as Chief Executive of Hebrides Ensemble and Learning Manager at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra while also working as a Composer in Education across Scotland. The range and diversity of her work has allowed her to maintain a strong compositional output, in addition to her fulfilling a number of projects/consultancies working with organisations including Creative Scotland, Music for Youth, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Carnegie UK Trust, Horsecross Perth and Hear My Music.

James MacMillan, Artistic Director of the Cumnock Tryst said “This new role reflects the level of experience and knowledge required across strategic planning, creative development, governance and operational delivery. It sends an important message about The Tryst’s credibility and professionalism to our current and potential stakeholders, funders and patrons. Jennifer is perfect for this role and I look forward to working with her to build a wonderful future for music in Cumnock and further afield.”