Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust (ECAT)
Dates
- Existence: 1979 - 2013
Biography
Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust was formed by Geoffrey King and Peter Nelson in 1979, with a small subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council. The first concert took place on 24 May 1980 in the Reid Concert Hall, University of Edinburgh, and was a retrospective of the music of Peter Maxwell Davies, performed by members of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
The Trust Board initially consisted of Geoffrey King, Peter Nelson, Diana Milne, and Prof. Michael Tilmouth, Dean of the Faculty of Music of the University of Edinburgh, with Geoffrey King and Peter Nelson as Artistic Directors. In 1988, the team of artistic directors was expanded to include the Scottish composer James Macmillan and the New Zealand composer Lyell Cresswell.
ECAT received regular subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council, and became a core-funded organisation, promoting an annual series of concerts of new music, principally in Edinburgh, but also in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
ECAT commissioned new work from more than 100 Scottish and international composers, particularly supporting young composers, some of whom went on to make substantial artistic careers. Principal among those are: James Macmillan, Rebecca Saunders, Helen Grime, Anna Meredith, Eleanor Waller-Bridge. In 1990, ECAT presented a week-end of contemporary music at the Edinburgh International Festival. James Macmillan was commissioned to compose a companion piece to Laborintus II by Luciano Berio. He wrote Busqueda, which was a break-through moment in his career.
ECAT continued until 2013, when its core funding was ended by Creative Scotland. Its remaining funds were donated to the Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh, to support postgraduate study in music composition.