Celtic Connections nurtures young musical talent
Glasgow’s annual festival Celtic Connections that celebrates traditional Scottish music and culture has become an important to platform to showcase young musical talent.
From 17 January 2,100 musicians from around the world come to bring the city to life for 18 days of concerts, ceilidhs, talks, art exhibitions, workshops, and free events.
Cameron Ross, a fiddle player from North East of Scotland who was a finalist in BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the year award this year, said that Celtic Connections was essential in nurturing young talent: “Celtic Connections is absolutely the place to be for young traditional musicians.
There are so many concerts with amazing talents which attracts visitors and musicians from around the world. It’s the perfect place for young people to collaborate with other musicians and showcase their talent.”
Glasgow Caledonian University collaborates with Celtic Music Radio at Celtic Connections with live broadcasting involving audio students mixing the performances of musical artists from all over the world throughout the two-week festival. Celtic Music Radio has since moved its studios onto the GCU campus to work more closely with the University.
Patrick Quinn, a Senior Lecturer in Audio Systems Engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University says: “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students to be part of the world’s largest Celtic music festival. Bringing the real world into their studies in such a way gives them experiences that they will build their future careers on.”
In addition to the midwinter festival at 20 venues around the city, Celtic Connections now has an education programme which has seen more than 12,000 school children across Scotland learn about traditional, folk and world music.
Celtic Connections runs until 3 February. To find out more about the festival programme visit www.celticconnections.com.
