An exciting new project that will research, celebrate and share music from the Roseland area of Cornwall, is now underway. 

The project, which has received funding from FEAST, the Cornwall Community Foundation and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, will see a series of events including workshops, concerts and other events running throughout the year. 

The four Roseland primary schools and the Roseland Academy in Tregony will be learning the percussion parts for a ‘toy symphony’ written in 1972 for The St Anthony Players, while on February 8, students at the Roseland Academy will work on composition with Ian Stephens using archive material inspired by the Roseland 

On February 9, a Roseland Music Society concert will feature Ian Stephen’s ‘Carricknath’, for clarinet and small ensemble.

On the following day, February 10, St Anthony’s Noyse, a community concert band set up in 1979, will host a celebration day to include the Toy Symphony performance with the primary school children, a singalong, dancing and the sharing of musical memories and photos at Gerrans Memorial Hall, Portscatho. 

Later events in the year will include a ‘troyl’ – the Cornish word for ceilidh – taking place as part of the Roseland Festival in April. 

Emma Campbell, secretary of Roseland Music Society, has a strong family connection with music in St Anthony in Roseland where her mother’s cousins, Maisie and Evelyn Radford started the Roseland Concert Party in the 1920s and went on to lead St Mawes Choral Society and The Falmouth Opera Singers. She is a longstanding trustee of The Radford Trust, set up in 1970 to support young musicians in Cornwall. 

She said: “This is a hugely exciting project. There is an incredible legacy of music-making of all kinds on the Roseland Peninsula; the singing and classical music I’m most familiar with, the dance and rock bands and the aural traditions such as the carols and farming and fishing songs. 

“The research has already thrown up some great stories of local characters and traditions and I am sure we will discover many more gems throughout the year. It’s also interesting to discover how many contemporary musicians are inspired by their time here.”