Festival friends

WELCOME TO OUR GUIDE TO 2018’s finest festivals, home and abroad, large and small. I was lucky, a few months ago, to be on a panel to decide which festival should be the winner of a Royal Philharmonic Society award. Of course, I can’t yet divulge who did win (you’ll find out in the June issue), but a browse through the nominees reminded me just how much vibrancy and joy festivals bring to areas of the country that are otherwise light on culture. As you’ll see on the contents page, I’m hoping to drop into James Macmillan’s Cumnock Tryst this summer – for the past few years Macmillan, as one the UK’S most celebrated musical voices, has set about welcoming world-class musicians to his home town of Cumnock for just four days, each one packed to the gunnels with events. But I know there are dozens of festivals that o er similarly inspiring programmes. If only I had the time… Oliver Condy editor