More articles Friday 12 December 2025 10:00am
Major new partnership with Celtic Connections
Two of Scotland's most dynamic festivals are joining forces to create ambitious new work at the intersection of literature and music. We're proud to announce a multi‑year partnership with Celtic Connections spanning 2025–2027, featuring a series of original commissions designed to celebrate Scottish creativity, reach new audiences, create new opportunities for Scottish artists, and reimagine what is possible when art forms meet in unexpected ways.
A major highlight of the partnership will be the world premiere of The Golden Road at Celtic Connections 2026, a unique collaboration inspired by William Dalrymple’s award-winning book. Following its debut in Glasgow, The Golden Road will evolve and return in an expanded form for a landmark performance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2026. This journey from Celtic Connections to the Book Festival will see the project grow and develop, offering audiences a fresh and ambitious reimagining of the work at each stage.
Dalrymple will appear at the Citizens Theatre on 31 January alongside India Alba, a collective of Indian and Scottish musicians whose fusion of Indian classical and Scottish traditional backgrounds has created a unique exploration of world culture. Their debut album Reels and Ragas (2009) and follow‑up High Beyond (recorded in the Himalayas) revealed striking resonances between raga gats and Highland melodies, with the drone sounds of bagpipes and tampura forming a shared musical language.
Alongside the headline commission, audiences can enjoy Rhymes and Reels on 27 January at the Mackintosh Church in Glasgow. This special performance will revive two EIBF‑commissioned works and premiere a new Celtic Connections collaboration.
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Harpist Esther Swift presents her musical settings of Jackie Kay’s poetry, with Kay herself reading from The Heartstrings of Poetry, commissioned by EIBF and first premiered at the 2025 festival.
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Another EIBF commission, award‑winning poet and novelist Angus Peter Campbell appears with his daughter Brìghde Chaimbeul, blending readings in English and Gaelic with accompaniment from small pipes.
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Former National Poet of Scotland Liz Lochhead collaborates with renowned Highland fiddler Duncan Chisholm in a brand‑new Celtic Connections commission.
The collaboration builds on our track record of commissioning and supporting cross‑disciplinary work. Recent highlights include the acclaimed Hamish Hawk project Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol. 0, a lyrical homage to poet‑eccentric Ivor Cutler that blends Cutler's original works with new stories and songs – the Festival’s first ever record release, which started its life at our sold‑out events in August 2025. We also created the innovative 2024 Perambulations of a Justified Sinner Experience, an immersive audio‑visual walk through Edinburgh's Old Town. These projects exemplify our commitment to reimagining literary heritage for contemporary audiences and fostering creative partnerships across art forms.
Expo funding has been secured for elements of the programme, demonstrating the strategic value of collaboration across Scotland's cultural sector and the commitment to supporting writers and musicians in developing new work that deepens engagement with communities and reaches wider audiences.
