Festival Foretaste of new Musical Opportunities for Young People

Young people all across region are set to benefit from a new collaboration designed to bring the best in musical education to Dumfries.

The town’s Music Room and the Gretna-based Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (SAMD) are joining forces to ensure talented boys and girls have the top standard of tuition, which is normally only available in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow.

And the first fruits of the collaboration can be experienced next weekend when around 30 SAMD students and tutors perform in the Theatre Royal as part of this month’s Maidens of Music festival.

The festival is dedicated to developing and promoting female talent and around 150 women and girls are taking part in events every Saturday this month.

The SAMD performance will take place from 3pm to 6.30pm on Saturday 27, May and will be a mix of classical and opera plus tunes from musical theatre too. There will also be Celtic singing and harp music.

Carol Brotherston, who founded The Music Room and is one of the festival organisers, said: “We are really looking forward to this event. Maidens of Music is proving a really big success and this will be a great showcase of musical talent from the south of Scotland. It’s also a taste of the kind of opportunities that our new collaboration will bring to children and young people in Dumfries and across the region.

“In future The Music Room will be working with SAMD to provide musical education to the very highest standards – something that’s so often only available if you live in a big city.”

Though the festival is promoting female musical talent, it does feature boys and men so long as they are no more than 50% of any act.

Many of SAMD’s top pupils will be performing including the youngest musical theatre diploma pupil in the whole of Scotland, Catriona Arthur age 15 as well as the top cellist Will Archibald who is only eight and about to take his Grade 6 cello exam.

This Saturday Maidens of Music will be presenting a series of exciting acts at The Globe Close and the Coach and Horses.