New commission for Sidmouth FolkWeek

FolkWeek partnership will link musicians from around the UK for new commission

SUPPORT to stage a brand new commission, combining ancient instruments with latest audio technology has been successfully obtained by Sidmouth FolkWeek organiser.

The commission, funded by the Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation’s Beyond Borders programme, will bring together harpists Gwenan Gibbard and Mary MacMaster, from Wales and Scotland, pipers Andy May and Tiarnan o Duinchann, from England and Northern Ireland, and sound artist Joe Acheson, to make new music based on the sounds and timbres of the traditional instruments. The commission is a partnership between Sidmouth FolkWeek, the Welsh folk development agency Trac, Edinburgh Harp Festival and the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh.

The partnership has been brokered by Distil, a project which, for the past 10 years, has been encouraging folk musicians to expand their creative horizons.

Distil is a leader in developing innovative projects and opportunities for artists and arts organisations to explore new creative ground together.

The new work will be performed in each of the home nations between spring and autumn 2012.

Joan Crump, artistic director for Sidmouth FolkWeek, which last year gained a �4,000 grant from PRS, said: “It is really exciting to be working with other companies and Distil does fantastic work.”