AN outdoor extravaganza of aerial dancers, fireworks, the Royal Navy and the tower at Glasgow Science Centre, aims to light up Glasgow.

Cathie Boyd, the founder and artistic director of Cryptic is masterminding Sound to Sea, one of the biggest events of the city's 2014 cultural programme.

While others might baulk at the prospect of organising a large-scale outdoor event at the mercy of the notoriously unpredictable elements, Cathie is eternally optimistic.

She said: "Cryptic has a history of working with musicians and presenting music visually.

"What's fantastic about Sound to Sea is that it is an opportunity to work with more than 140 performers and such a wide genre of music from techno to traditional, classical and opera.

"One thing that is important for me is rather than having a fixed stage I was interested in the idea of Glasgow's history - the Clyde and shipping - so I thought, why don't we have boats as the stages for musicians?"

Canting Basin will be the setting for the evening nautical extravaganza on August 1 and 2, with the Science Centre the backdrop.

The musicians appearing on boats range from Frightened Rabbit and Treacherous Orchestra to Rachel Sermanni and Glasgow Phoenix Choir with a splash of bhangra-pop and opera in the mix.

Pyrotechnic specialists Walk the Plank, aerial dance company All or Nothing and the Royal Navy are joining forces with the Science Centre and Cryptic, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, for the big-budget production.

Cathie said: "It's important to remember that Cryptic's tagline is 'ravishing the senses' and I really hope Sound to Sea does that.

"What's fantastic about the 2014 cultural programme is that it is enabling large-scale projects to happen that we could only dream of in the past."

Since Belfast-born Boyd set up Cryptic after studying at Glasgow's RSAMD, the company has toured to more than 22 countries.

Cryptic associate Dan Ayling will direct Struileag as part of the Year of Homecoming and Josh Armstrong will premiere new work These Delicate Things in Glasgow in the autumn.

Worries aside about high winds affecting aerial dancers on the roof the Science Centre, Cathie is bubbling with excitement about the tower.

Cathie said: "It is on schedule and opening mid-June. We will us it as part of the performance but I don't want to give too much away.

"Our time on the water is restricted and all the pontoons have to be removed. There are so many challenges but I believe there's a solution to everything."

Ticket registration for the free event is opens on Monday, May 19.

Visit www. glasgowsciencecentre.org/soundtosea

angela.mcmanus@ eveningtimes.co.uk