Welcome to St Magnus International Festival

The dates of the 2017 St Magnus International Festival will be from 16-21 June inclusive and will mark the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Magnus. 

These limited-edition lambswool scarves are designed by Kirsteen Stewart and you can buy them online here!

We remember Sir Peter Maxwell Davies one of the founders of the Festival, who died in March 2016. 

...to the woods in Orkney at midsummer you're sure of some spooky goings on with our duo of operas: Hansel and Gretel and the Iris Murder.

Our spectacular family show for 2016, by Teatr Klinika Lalek from Poland, featured a circus with life-size puppet animals.

The programme for our brand new Steinway Piano included Alexei Volodin and the BBCSO performing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2

For 2016 we were joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra just ahead of their Proms season. Including a behind-the-scenes look at how an orchestra works.

The 2016 performance by the Festival Chorus with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was Stanford's Songs of the Fleet and Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

With the personal support of arts lovers like you, the festival presents an artistic programme the equal of many major city-based festivals across the world. It has won widespread international acclaim for innovative commissioning of new work and championing of community arts and arts education.

Orkney consists of a group of 70 islands off the North Coast of Scotland, of which around 20 are inhabited. The islands are on the same latitude as Anchorage, Stockholm and St Petersburg. At midsummer, the sun barely sets.

Find out more about our courses for composers, conductors and writers here.

You can support the Festival and be more involved by becoming a Company Member.