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| Heiða Árnadóttir in Mörsugur by Ásbjörg Jónsdóttir & Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir |
This year the St Magnus Festival in Orkney celebrates its 50th birthday with some 50 events in and around Kirkwall from 19 to 28 June 2026. Things kick off with festival director, Alasdair Nicholson conducting the debut performance of the new Festival Orchestra at a new performance space created in Orkney Auction Mart. The performance, Welcome to Orkney features music by the festival’s founder, Peter Maxwell Davies written for an early festival, alongside music by Sally Beamish celebrating her 70th birthday plus Mozart and John Eccles.
Later on in the week, the Festival Orchestra is joined by the Festival Chorus for a performance of Mozart’s Requiem alongside Golijov’s Tenebrae. And festival director, Alasdair Nicholson‘s new piece Jasper the Kirkwall Cat is a new large-scale work for the Festival Orchestra and local children that celebrates Kirkwall’s celebrity cat, Jasper. Other new work is showcased in the latest of the festival’s Johnsmas Foy commissions, Veni Creator Spiritus where three saxophonists join with a singer/movement artist for a performance that builds on ancient plainsong themes and through free improvisation explores new interpretations of old echoes, alongside filmed images.
There is a strong Icelandic presence at this year’s festival. There is a rare UK performance from Voces Thules, an all-male group that is one of Iceland’s leading ensembles and their programmes celebrate Iceland’s vocal heritage. Mörsugur, which receives its UK premiere, is an Icelandic opera by Ásbjörg Jónsdóttir that blends voice, experimental music and visual art, inspired by a poetic tale by Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir and featuring a tour-de-force turn from soprano Heiða Árnadóttir. Icelandic-American cellist Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir juxtaposes Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 with the technically demanding Spuni 1 by Gudmundur Hafsteinsson.
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| Jasper, the Kirkwall cat |
Other visitors to the festival include pianistic duo, Samson Tsoy and Pavel Kolesnikov; percussion duo, O Duo who are joined by percussionists from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for music from George Crumb and more; the Hebrides Ensemble journey to the Isles; the Fibonacci Quartet; the Marian Consort whose programme moves from the Renaissance to contemporary including Daniel Kidane and Emily Hazrati premieres; Armenian-American viola da gamba player, singer Lucine Musaelian fuses music of the 16th and 17th centuries with traditional Armenian folk tunes. Guitarist Chris Amer is joined by pianist Fergus McCreadie and saxophonist Matt Carmichael for music inspired by photos taken by his Orcadian grandfather Danny Nicolson.
The Cooperation Band from Glasgow join forces with the Wallace Collection for a performance of Gabrieli’s The Invisible Symphony from the Canzoni et Sonata (1615). This work places five choirs of brass around the space filling the acoustic creating a surround-sound effects. It was transcribed by John Wallace (the late founder of the Wallace Collection), who always wanted this enormous and breathtaking work to be performed in Kirkwall’s Cathedral. The performance is dedicated to John, a frequent attender of the Festival and the Cathedral over many years.
The tradition of placing music in the landscape across the islands continues with an accordion tour across Hoy led by Neil Sutcliffe, who also travels to the island of Rousay with pianist Anna Michels, together they are The Bubblyjock Collective. The Collective also presents Quines– a new programme celebrating female Scottish composers and neglected women from Scottish history, with a newly commissioned song cycle from Highlander Lisa Robertson Quines, based on Gerda Stevenson’s poetry collection.
Full details from the festival’s website.
