St. Magnus International Festival – celebrating Orkney at midsummer
Have you heard of the St. Magnus International Festival in Orkney? It is a midsummer event which brings extraordinary artists to Orkney, to perform music, theatre, and poetry in these remote and inspiring islands.
The St Magnus Cathedral itself becomes an evocative concert hall. Hearing music soar within the ancient red sandstone building is an experience to treasure.
Various churches and venues throughout the islands host the events, giving audiences the opportunity to travel across these green islands, and take in the natural beauty of Orkney.
The St Magnus Cathedral itself becomes an evocative concert hall. Hearing music soar within the ancient red sandstone building is an experience to treasure.
Orkney is a magical place at midsummer, and this far north, the summer evenings are long and the sky doesn’t really get dark. This twilight around midsummer is known is Orkney as the ‘grimlins’, which comes from the Old Norse word ‘grimla’, which means to twinkle or glimmer.
Visitors to Orkney and the St. Magnus International Festival will enjoy a slower pace of life, delicious food, and a friendly welcome from islanders. Most of all, artists and audiences will savour exploring the beautiful Orkney midsummer landscape. Strolling around the ancient stone circle, the Ring of Brodgar, on the summer solstice is an enchanting experience – accompanied only by bird calls and a soft breeze.
It was almost certainly planned that way. The idea for the St. Magnus International Festival came from composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and the poet George Mackay Brown. Part of their plan must have been to transport artists and audiences to a place unlike any other. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s work has been premiered in previous festivals, and GMB’s work is often celebrated in festival performances.
The main focus of celebration though is the landscape, history, and culture of the isles, and this is certainly true for this year also.
In its 48th year, highlights of the 2024 festival include an unusual theatre space – an inflatable 50ft sperm whale! This will be the venue for outdoor performances from all-women’s theatre company Circo Rum Ba Ba whose show is about plastic in our oceans.
In addition to their own concert, The Edinburgh Quartet will perform at the St Magnus Cathedral in a very special concert with Erland Cooper, the composer from Stromness, and alongside Alon Sariel and Kathryn Stott.
Other top names in classical music appearing include percussion soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn, ensemble O Duo, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire percussion department and Ensemble Hesperi.
Celebrating Nordic and Scottish roots – Swedish chamber orchestra Musica Vitae with guest cellist and director Robin Michael will perform music by Bach, Highland composer Lisa Robertson, the UK premiere of cello concerto Storm Runes by Nicolson and a programme based on Swedish folk music.
The Orkney community is at the heart of the festival. The Rhythm Of Stones from Stephen Deazley and Orkney Voices will be performed by hundreds of local school children and the Assembly Project. There will also be late-night Sound of Local Folk concerts with music from young Orcadian pianist Jennifer Austin and fiddler Eric Linklater.
Gerda Stevenson‘s film, The Storm Watchers, based on the play by George Mackay Brown, will be shown in installation daily at the St. Magnus International Festival.
Finally, Magnus Mixtape presents an immersive experience with video mapping, special lighting and an ever-changing live musical performance in magnificent St Magnus Cathedral. This sequence, focussing on the Cathedral’s history and St Magnus’ story, allows the audience to experience the Cathedral as never before.
There’s something for everyone and it’s set in the most stunning of backdrops. We hope you’ll visit Orkney in June, to gaze out to sea from clifftops, to leave footprints across beautiful sandy beaches, to fill camera memory cards full of images of birds, seals, and ancient stones, and, of course, to see the St. Magnus International Festival, this year from Friday 21st to Saturday 29th June 2024.
By Magnus DixonOrkney and Shetland enthusiast, family man, loves walks, likes animals, terrible at sports, dire taste in music, adores audiobooks and films, eats a little too much for his own good.
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