NEWS AND REVIEWS
Three Rivers Festival featured on BBC Scotland's Classical Now: Festival Fever
13 July 2025, 7pm Click on image for link to programme (21.30 mins in), available until 10 August
Classical Confluence: The Three Rivers Festival
Susan Nickalls interviews Catherine Duncan about her plans
for the inaugural festival for Classical Music magazine
for full text click here or follow this link:
https://www.classical-music.uk/features/article/classical-confluence-the-three-rivers-festival
Three Rivers Festival featured on BBC Scotland's The Arts Mix
8 July, 3.30pm
Catherine joined Len Pennie in the studio to discuss her plans for the inaugural festival.
Link to interview available until 7 August 2025
The River That Defined Scotland: the Forth and its Tributaries
Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Thursday 26 May 2025
Our first festival event was a sell-out success! The ever-popular, ever-fascinating archaeologist/historian Murray Cook gave a lively and illuminating scene-setting talk about the pivotal role the rivers from which the festival takes its name played in the history of Scotland.
Before introducing Murray to the packed audience, our artistic director Catherine played two traditional Scottish airs on her violin, Fear a' Bhàta (The Boatman) and Fingal's Cave, a nod both to the festival's name and also to the inaugural festival's theme: Source.
Three Rivers Festival, Launch Reception and Concert
Blairdrummond House, Saturday 17 May 2025 by kind permission of Camphill Blair Drummond
A herd of cows ambling across the road towards Blairdrummond House in the late evening sunshine set the scene for a special concert to launch the Three Rivers Festival on Saturday night. It couldn’t have been a more auspicious start for Stirling’s newest cultural event which will take place in venues in and around the Forth, the Teith, and the Allan rivers.
The Three Rivers Festival is the realisation of the long-held dream of Dunblane pianist Catherine Duncan, currently finishing her musical studies at Guildhall School of Music in London. She is passionate about creating a wider audience for classical music in the heart of Scotland as well as providing much needed opportunities for young professional musicians at the start of their careers to perform repertoire classics as well as new compositions.
The wide-ranging programme gave the audience a sneak preview of what they can look forward to at the inaugural festival which runs from July 17– 20.
Joining Duncan in the stunning Blairdrummond House Library were two other outstanding young pianists from the local area – Anna Michels and Ethan Loch from Denny. Loch’s captivating offering of pieces included two of his own compositions alongside a dramatic account of Scriabin’s moody Poèmes. Duncan and Michels then gave a sensational performance of a variety of duets including movements from Ravel’s playful Mother Goose Suite, written especially for children, and three of Rachmaninov’s monumental, but gripping Six Morceaux.
But the highlight was the haunting piano duet by another local musician, Padruig Morrison, now based in Uist. Sileán Na Carraige (Trickling of the Rock) beautifully captured the theme of this year’s festival, ‘Source’, with Duncan unleashing deep resonant harmonics plucked from the bass strings inside the piano which underpinned Michels’s ethereal watery swirls sound at the upper end of the keyboard.
After the concert, guests had a chance to mix with the musicians and hear more about the inaugural festival’s concerts and events which will be held in some of the most iconic buildings of the area – Dunblane Cathedral, Pathfoot at Stirling University, Stirling’s Church of the Holy Rude and Park Church and a return to the elegance of Blairdrummond House library – although cows cannot be guaranteed.
Fiona Finch, trustee of the Three Rivers Festival
Catherine Duncan, Artistic Director
