Troubadour tours Arran to promote music festival

This year’s festival, taking place between August 17 to 23, will include concerts and events in Brodick, Corrie, Whiting Bay, Kildonan, Kilmory, Blackwaterfoot and Dougarie.

Richard, who established the festival with the ambition of bringing world-class music and acclaimed artists to communities across Arran, will begin his fundraising walk in Corrie on Monday morning, heading south towards Brodick before continuing around the island over the following days.

This year’s festival is the most “international” yet, bringing together artists from nine countries. Among those making their Arran debut are outstanding young Ukrainian bandura player Mariia Petrovska and internationally acclaimed Polish violinist Magdalena Filipczak. Young musicians from the Hochschule für Musik Mainz return as part of the growing cultural exchange between Arran and Germany, performing alongside some of Arran’s finest musicians, including Findlay Napier, Gillian Frame and talented young performers from the Arran Music School.

Community participation also continues to grow since the festival’s hugely successful inaugural event in 2024. Embarking on the festival’s largest creative project to date, pupils from Kilmory Primary School have been working with Arran composer in residence Electra Perivolaris to create A Song for Arran - a new work that they will perform during the festival.