# New Voices (Celtic Connections musical commission)

New Voices is an award for emerging composers made by the Celtic Connections festival annually since 1998. It is a musical commission which enables recipients to compose and perform a significant new suite of music of about forty-five minutes, based on traditional themes. Usually there are three commissions each year, with each composer performing their work at a lunchtime concert on one of the three Sundays of the festival. The funding provides for the musician both to develop the work, and to direct its performance, typically by five to ten musicians, at its première. In the earlier years, the composer was invited to further develop the work and revisit it at the festival the next year, but this is no longer practised.
The selection process for the commissions is informal. Sometimes a musician may approach the festival with an idea for a new work, other times festival director Donald Shaw proposes participation to a musician he thinks would benefit and create something worthwhile.
Various sponsors have supported New Voices over the years. In 2020 the awards were sponsored by the Scottish edition of The Times and Sunday Times, and the composers were Marit Fält, Pàdruig Morrison and Catriona Price.

## New Voices commissions

All of the concerts were premières unless otherwise noted.
| year | composer | title of composition | notes and references |
| 2023 | Alice Allen | |
| 2023 | Ali Levack | |
| 2023 | Charlie Grey | |
| 2023 | Beth Malcolm | By Process of Folkmosis | |
| 2023 | Malin Lewis | Halocline | |
| 2023 | Eric Linklater | Out in the Flow | |
| 2022 | Jack Badcock | Life in Three Dimensions | |
| 2022 | Esther Swift | Emergence | |
| 2022 | Ross Couper | | |
| 2021 | Charlie Stewart | | |
| 2021 | Josie Duncan | | |
| 2021 | Steven Blake | | |
| 2020 | Marit Fält | Irrationalities | |
| 2020 | Pàdruig Morrison | | |
| 2020 | Catriona Price | | |
| 2019 | Gráinne Brady | Beyond: The Story of an Irish Immigrant | |
| 2019 | Mischa Macpherson | Bho Èirigh gu Laighe na Grèine (Sun | Moon | Land | Life | Sea) | First commissioned for the 2018 Blas Festival. |
| 2019 | Megan Henderson | | |
| 2018 | Sarah-Jane Summers | Owerset | Reprised at the 2020 festival. |
| 2018 | Innes White | | |
| 2018 | Ailie Robertson | Seven Sorrows | |
| 2017 | Seán Grey | The Hammering Tongue | |
| 2017 | Hannah Fisher | Around this View | |
| 2017 | Freya Thomsen | Community and Stardust | |
| 2016 | Hamish Napier | The River | Released as a CD in 2016. |
| 2016 | Ewan Robertson | Transitions | |
| 2016 | Kate Young | Umbelliferae | |
| 2015 | Graham Mackenzie | Crossing Borders | Later released as a CD. |
| 2015 | Ross Ainslie | Remembering | |
| 2015 | Siobhan Wilson | The Great Eye | Wilson performed as "Ella the Bird". |
| 2014 | Sarah Hayes | Woven | |
| 2014 | Lorne MacDougall | Collisions | |
| 2014 | Rachel Newton | Changeling | Released as a CD later in 2014. |
| 2013 | Rona Wilkie | Ceangailte (Connected) | |
| 2013 | Sorren Maclean | Winter Stay Autumn | |
| 2012 | Duncan Lyall | Infinite Reflections | Reprised at the 2013 festival. |
| 2012 | Fiona Rutherford | Sleep Sound | |
| 2012 | Laura-Beth Salter | Breathe | |
| 2011 | Angus Lyon | 3G | Reprised at the 2013 festival. |
| 2011 | Rachel Sermanni | Tramping | |
| 2011 | Innes Watson | The Glasgow Guitar Colloquium | |
| 2010 | Iain Morrison | Ceol Mor/Little Music | |
| 2010 | Mike Vass | String Theory | |
| 2010 | Lori Watson | Sanctuary | |
| 2009 | Rick Taylor | The Call of the Wild | |
| 2009 | Griogair Labhruidh | Fear-ealaidh | |
| 2009 | Mairearad Green | Passing Places | Released as live CD, and also a DVD of a journey through Wester Ross in music and film. |
| 2008 | Gavin Marwick | Journeyman | |
| 2008 | Catriona McKay | Flöe | |
| 2008 | Patsy Reid | Bridging the Gap | |
| 2007 | Nuala Kennedy | Astar: Journey | |
| 2007 | Kris Drever | | |
| 2007 | Calum MacCrimmon | Outside the Circle | |
| 2006 | Martin Green | First Sighting | |
| 2006 | Anna-Wendy Stevenson | My Edinburgh | |
| 2006 | Fraser Stone & Paul Jennings | JSP Voyager | |
| 2005 | Anna Massie | | $^{:80}$ |
| 2005 | Christine Hanson | The Cremation of Sam McGee | $^{:81}$ |
| 2005 | James Ross | An Cuan (The Ocean) | |
| 2004 | Maggie MacInnes | Òran na Mnà (A Woman's Song) | |
| 2004 | Adam Sutherland | | |
| 2004 | Jennifer Port | Silver Lining | |
| 2003 | Gillian Frame | Kinship Theory | Reprised at the 2004 festival.$^{:58}$ |
| 2003 | Aidan O'Rourke | Sirius | Reprised at the 2004 festival, and released as an album.$^{:53}$ |
| 2003 | Tom Richardson | | $^{:53}$ |
| 2002 | Finlay MacDonald | | $^{:49}$ |
| 2002 | Alyth McCormack | | $^{:47}$ |
| 2002 | Mary Macmaster | Three Days | $^{:52}$ |
| 2001 | Fraser Fifield | Traditions (for saxophone quintet) | Reprised at the 2002 festival.$^{:47}$ |
| 2001 | Chris Stout | | $^{:33}$ |
| 2001 | Wendy Weatherby | Daybreak on the World's Edge | Reprised at the 2002 festival.$^{:52}$ |
| 2000 | Rory Campbell | Purely Whistles | $^{:19}$ |
| 2000 | Phamie Gow | Lammermuir | A live recording of this concert was released as a CD in 2002. The work was reprised at the 2020 festival. |
| 2000 | Colin Reid | | Reprised at the 2001 festival. |
| 1999 | Andy Thorburn | Tuath gu Deas (North and South) | Reprised at the millennial (2000) festival, together with a new work by Thorburn called Heartful of Friendship. Reprised again at the 2013 festival.$^{:19}$ |
| 1999 | Karen Marshalsay | Journeying | Reprised at the millennial (2000) festival, together with a new work by Marshalsay, called Promise to Keep.$^{:18}$$^{:21}$ |
| 1999 | Karen Wimhurst | The Stones and the Sea | Performed by the Cauld Blast Orchestra. Commissioned by An Tobar and the Highlands Festival, and premiered in May 1998 at the An Tobar Arts Centre, Isle of Mull.$^{:22}$ |
| 1998 | Corinna Hewat | Making the Connection | Reprised at the millennial (2000) festival.$^{:20}$$^{:33}$ |
| 1998 | David Milligan | Lifting the Lid | Reprised at the millennial (2000) festival.$^{:20}$$^{:34}$ |
| 1998 | Simon Thoumire | Celtic Connections Suite | First presented at Celtic Connections 1997 as a stand-alone commission. Also reprised at the millennial (2000) festival, together with a new work by Thoumire called Scottish Requiem.$^{:20}$$^{:32}$ |