Artists announced for Burns Big Night In 2022

Siobhan Miller, Laurie Cameron, Nevis Ensemble and Nae Plans will provide the music for the night. Janette Ayachi, Jenny Lindsay and Michael Pedersen will be bringing the spoken word to life with fresh interpretations of Robert Burns’s work and presentations of their own from Alloway, the birthplace of Robert Burns, on Saturday 22 January 2022. In the words of Michael Pedersen, it’s set to be ‘a whole gallimaufry of fantabulous poetry, music & lore’.

Tickets are on sale now at www.burnsbignightin.org.

Caroline Smith, the National Trust for Scotland Operations Manager at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway said: ‘This is a really vibrant programme full of top Scottish-based talent and they’ll help us celebrate the Bard in 21st-century-style. We’re proud to be bringing this celebration from the place where Burns was born, to those who love him, all over the world.’

The Burns Big Night In made its debut in January 2021 when coronavirus restrictions meant that in-person celebrations at the museum couldn’t take place. Traditionally, the National Trust for Scotland site – which includes the humble cottage where Burns was born on 25 January 1759, the Brig o’Doon and Auld Kirk, as well as 5,000 Burns artefacts – is a place of music, poetry, food and partying in January.

It will be hosted once again by Edith Bowman. The DJ and presenter launched the Burns Big Night In 2022 last week by inviting the public to record themselves reciting ‘To A Mouse’, one of Robert Burns’s most popular poems, and submit it to be part of the broadcast. A selection of recordings will be edited together into a video to be shown on the night to an audience of Burns fans.

Edith Bowman started the ball rolling with the opening lines of the poem.

Edith said: ‘I am so pleased to be heading back to Alloway for an even bigger and better Burns Big Night In for 2022. It’s really exciting to be able to offer Burns fans from all over the globe the chance to connect with the birthplace of the Bard, and to add their performance to proceedings for this special celebration.’

‘To A Mouse’ videos should be submitted as landscape MP4s to bbni@luxevents.co.uk by Wednesday 12 January. The full text of the poem is available to download from the Burns Big Night In website.

Tickets for the Burns Big Night In are available to buy online now and people can also snap up limited edition ‘Boxes of Braw’, which include goodies such as whisky miniatures, a family ticket to Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and a copy of ‘To A Mouse’.