14:00 - 15:00 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
Behind the scenes at any recording studio, concert hall and Festival, one important, unseen member of the team is the piano technician. The modern grand piano is a feat of engineering and construction and needs to be in top condition to survive t...
19:00 - 20:15 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
DANCERS FROM THE ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND HEBRIDES ENSEMBLE The Hebrides Ensemble joins with the cream of Scotland’s young dancers in newly created arrangements of two of the most iconic Ravel scores underscoring brand new ...
21:00 - 22:20 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
SONORO A programme of music connected to sea and sky ranging across the centuries from plainsong to contemporary settings. Interspersed with the choral settings will be organ improvisations on the themes of sky, sea and stars by Michael Higgin...
10:30 - 11:30 Old Academy Stromness, KW16 3AW
FESTIVAL POET: JIM CARRUTH This year’s Festival Poet is Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, Jim Carruth, and he’ll read from his various collections in this hour-long event. Jim was born in Johnstone in 1963 and grew up on his parents&r...
11:00 - 12:00 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
HALF A STRING PUPPETS Be enthralled by this epic musical folktale told on a miniature scale. A Heart at Sea uses haunting live music to tell the story of a young Boy who bottles up his heart and throws it into the sea. Original song-writing is set...
12:30 - 13:30 Old Academy Stromness, KW16 3AW
FESTIVAL POET: JIM CARRUTH This year’s Festival Poet is Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, Jim Carruth, and he’ll read from his various collections in this hour-long event. Jim was born in Johnstone in 1963 and grew up on his parents&r...
14:30 - 16:00 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
ARGENTA TRIO Straddling three centuries of music, the concert begins with Schubert’s Op. 100 trio, one of his last works. Its epic scale and profound intensity show a composer of great maturity. Ravel’s Trio was completed just as W...
18:30 - 20:00 Highland Park Distillery Kirkwall, KW15 1SU
DAVID GANGE Over the course of a year, leading historian and nature writer David Gange kayaked the weather-ravaged coasts of Atlantic Britain and Ireland from north to south: every cove, sound, inlet, island. The idea was to travel slowly and ...
19:00 - 20:15 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
DANCERS FROM THE ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND HEBRIDES ENSEMBLE The Hebrides Ensemble joins with the cream of Scotland’s young dancers in newly created arrangements of two of the most iconic Ravel scores underscoring brand new ...
19:00 - 20:15 Sound Archive at the Old Library 8 Laing Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NW
HEADSTRUNG PUPPETS Roll up! Roll up! Roll up for the Freaky Sequin Puppet Cabaret for adults! Fire, circus, death-defying feats - and of course puppets - this adult cabaret has it all! Classic cabaret favourites are given a puppet makeover ...
20:30 - 21:50 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
SONORO AND THE FESTIVAL CHORUS One of the great cornerstones of choral repertoire brings together the exciting choir Sonoro with the Festival’s own chorus in the magnificent surroundings of St Magnus Cathedral. Brahms’ A German Req...
21:30 - 22:45 Sound Archive at the Old Library 8 Laing Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NW
HEADSTRUNG PUPPETS Roll up! Roll up! Roll up for the Freaky Sequin Puppet Cabaret for adults! Fire, circus, death-defying feats - and of course puppets - this adult cabaret has it all! Classic cabaret favourites are given a puppet makeover ...
12:30 - 13:30
A Johnsmas Foy Compiled and Produced by Yvonne Gray A compilation of words, poetry and reflections on the sea, coasts and coastlines by local writers, musicians and performers. Including a film by Mark Jenkins. Drawing inspiration from...
14:00 - 15:00 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
HALF A STRING PUPPETS Be enthralled by this epic musical folktale told on a miniature scale. A Heart at Sea uses haunting live music to tell the story of a young Boy who bottles up his heart and throws it into the sea. Original song-writing is...
14:00 - 15:40 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
DAVID CHADWICK AND MARIT FÄLT Taking the Year of Coasts and Waters as their point of departure, David Chadwick and Marit Fält collaborate to explore the traditional music of Scandinavia, as well as its musical connections across the ...
18:00 - 19:30 Orkney Distilling Ayre Road, KW15 1QX
SAILING THROUGH A STORM JANE HITCHINS Is it normal to have a teenage ambition to sail around the world? In 2012 Jane Hitchins decided to realise that ambition and, with her family grown up and a sabbatical granted from her work as a doctor...
20:00 - 21:10 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
FROM SHORELINE TO DEEP SEA The red sun sinks In golden floods of light; and with the breeze Comes faintly now across the grassy links The ageless music of the rolling seas. - Robert Rendall An immersive experience will allow you to take...
22:00 - 23:10 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
FROM SHORELINE TO DEEP SEA The red sun sinks In golden floods of light; and with the breeze Comes faintly now across the grassy links The ageless music of the rolling seas. - Robert Rendall An immersive experience will allow you to take...
10:30 - 12:00 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
OLIVER WASS A tour de force for harp and a tour round Europe in terms of the repertoire. From Bach’s exquisite suite to the quirky and surreal sound world of Oliver Leith, by way of music from France and Spain and the virtuosic version o...
11:00 - 12:00 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
JIM CARRUTH IN CONVERSATION Significant amidst Jim Carruth’s poetic work to date is his innovative poetry novel, Killochries, a major achievement from one of Scotland’s most important and influential voices. Here our Festival Poet ...
13:00 - 14:00 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
HEBRIDES ENSEMBLE Scotland’s foremost chamber ensemble brings a varied programme of music from the 20th Century. Penderecki’s unusual combination of clarinet and strings was written in 1993 and inspired by Schubert’s String Q...
15:30 - 16:45 St Ninian's Church Skaill, Deerness, Deerness KW17 2QJ
ROOKH HORN QUARTET The Rookh Horn Quartet draws from members of several Scottish orchestras to explore an unusual ensemble which reflects the conventional make-up of orchestral horn sections. The quartet formation has one famous concerto wor...
18:30 - 19:15 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
PRE-CONCERT TALK The Loves of Mars and Venus by John Weaver was the first modern ballet, telling a story through dance, gesture and music. Its first performance was at Drury Lane in 1717. The history books say the score and choreography are...
19:30 - 21:30 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
THE WEAVER ENSEMBLE An enchanting Double Bill from the Weaver Ensemble brings to life the story of the birth of modern ballet, told through baroque dance, music and theatre. In the Loves of Mars and Venus we find ourselves in 1717 in Drury Lan...
22:00 - 23:10 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
KUGONI TRIO This award-winning Belgian trio brings a late-night, relaxing selection of music for the unusual combination of violin, saxophone and piano. Music ranges from the familiar sultry tango world of Piazzolla to the hauntingly reflectiv...
10:30 - 12:00 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
TABEA DEBUS AND ALON SARIEL A specially created concert mixes poetry and prose against an eclectic musical backdrop. Taking the theme of the land, sea and the coastline of Scotland and mixing the poetry of Orkney poets George Mackay Brown, Edw...
13:00 - 14:00 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
ARGENTA TRIO Debussy’s only piano trio is an early work written when he was eighteen and created while the composer was accompanying Nadezhda von Meck and her children on their summer holiday as pianist. The manuscript was lost originall...
17:30 - 18:30 Orkney Theatre The Meadows, Kirkwall KW15 1QN
THE WEAVER ENSEMBLE Romeo and Me explores the iconically tragic romance of Romeo and Juliet through music and song. Two quintessential dance pieces of the 20th Century, Bernstein’s West Side Story and Prokofiev’s ballet, are the...
18:30 - 20:00 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
KUGONI TRIO AND MARCELO NISINMAN An electric performance is in prospect as the world-renowned bandoneon player Marcelo Nisinman joins the Kugoni Trio to perform his newly-created works alongside the iconic and sultry music of the most famous t...
20:00 - 22:00 Cromarty Hall Cromarty Square, St Margaret's Hope KW17 2SN
OLD TIME SAILORS A party not to be missed. This riotous flashmob-style musical show is designed to take you back in time, through an unforgettable trip to the 19th century, with a motley crew of talented men and women to serenade and speed you...
21:00 - 22:30 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
ROMAN KOSYAKOV Tchaikovsky’s Grand Sonata was written in the same period as his violin concerto and is a mighty work from a composer not known for his solo piano music. The sonata has often been thought of as ‘orchestral’ in ...
10:30 - 11:50 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
LOTTE BETTS DEAN AND JESSE FLOWERS The wind blows us across the sea from the UK to Spain in this recital which features music old and new. Dowland’s lute songs are perennially popular with their rather melancholy moods and Britten takes ...
13:00 - 14:00 St Magnus Cathedral Broad Street, Kirkwall KW15 1NX
DOHNANYI TRIO A lunchtime concert of light and shade begins with the trio of Sibelius. From his mature period, it is an unfinished form but with powerful and searching musical material much in the manner of his seventh symphony. Matthew Grouse...
14:30 - 15:40 Noltland Castle Westray, KW17 2DW
ROOKH HORN QUARTET Ensemble in Residence at the Festival, the Rookh Horn Quartet take their special blend to Westray for a concert in this historic monument. It should be possible to make a day trip to Westray if you want to visit the old cast...
17:30 - 18:30
A Johnsmas Foy Compiled and Produced by Yvonne Gray A compilation of words, poetry and reflections on the sea, coasts and coastlines by local writers, musicians and performers. Including a film by Mark Jenkins. Drawing inspiration from...
19:30 - 21:30 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
OLD TIME SAILORS A party not to be missed. This riotous flashmob-style musical show is designed to take you back in time, through an unforgettable trip to the 19th century, with a motley crew of talented men and women to serenade and speed you...
18:00 - 19:00 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
PRE-FILM EVENT New compositions by pupils from Orkney Schools performed live with film. A consideration of the nature of the sea, elements, renewable energy and global warming. Young composers have worked with Festival Director, Alasdair Ni...
20:00 - 21:30 Stromness Town Hall Church Road, Stromness KW16 3BA
LIVE MUSIC:SILENT FILM Premiered at HippFest with David Allison’s specially commissioned score in 2019, this impressive biopic of Scottish folk hero Rob Roy, starring David Hawthorne in tartan kilt and tammy, was shot entirely on locatio...
22:00 - 23:10 St Peter's Kirk Skaill, Sandwick, Skaill, Sandwick KW16 3LS
ALON SARIEL The mandolin is often overlooked as an instrument although it plays a part in folk and classical music across time. In recent years many works have been written to exploit the sound spectrum and effects which are possible, and fo...
St Magnus International Festival, 13 Albert Street, Kirkwall, KW15 1HP
T: +44 (0)1856 871445
St Magnus Festival is a charity registered in Scotland. Scottish Charity No SC011666. Company Number SC073825.
