2021 FESTIVAL PREVIEW
FIDDLERS AT THE HARVEST HOME
THE STORM WATCHERS
FOR THE ISLANDS I SING
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
LAND, SEA AND SKY
GMB 100
ORKNEY TAPESTRies
LIVE OUTDOOR EVENTS
2021
The journey towards our Festival in 2021 has been complex and challenging, and planning has been ever-changing as we all navigate through this Covid-19 Pandemic. We have, however, brought together an exciting programme of events to bring our usual midsummer celebration of the arts back to the stage in 2021. We are acutely aware of the safety of our audiences, performers and staff and, for that reason, a large amount of this year's Festival will be available online. The Festival is usually about live performances and so it's disappointing not to have busy venues with large audiences. We hope that what we have to offer will fill the gap while we all navigate back to something more normal. We have plans for some events outdoors where an audience could attend during our midsummer dates but these events can only go ahead if things change within the next dates on the roadmap to recovery. We are monitoring the Scottish Government advice all the time and working with industry bodies and will bring news of those 'live' events as soon as we can proceed.
VIRTUAL ARTS CENTRE
Certainly for everything other than the 'live' events this website will be a virtual Arts Centre with a mixed offering of music, poetry, visual art, drama, films, fiddle music, new work and wonderful film footage of the Orkney landscape, seascape, history and heritage to remind those that cannot be with us in person.
FREE AND PAY-TO-VIEW
Some of our online content will be free, but some will also be 'pay-to-view' with either individual oportunities to watch single chosen events or a rover ticket that allows access to all our paid content.
PREVIEW
Below is a flavour -a taster - of all the strands of activity we'll be presenting this year. Shortly we'll be filling in the details of individual concerts and tickets will be available for viewing and, we hope, our 'live' outdoor events programme. Keep checking the website and watch out for 'full programme' announcements. Do sign up for our mailing list to make sure you get any news instantly. You can read our Press Release here.
Fiddlers at the Harvest Home
NEW TUNES FROM ORKNEY
In celebration of George Mackay Brown's 100th Birthday, we have commissioned six of Orkney's finest fiddlers to write tunes inspired by the six verses of the poem Fiddlers at the Harvest Home: Quarry, Corn, Sheep, Fish, Dance, Wheels. Douglas Montgomery, Jeana Leslie, Kristan Harvey, Eric Linklater, Jennifer Wrigley and Graham Rorie have all written and performed their tunes on film and you will be able to see the results as our 2021 Festival goes live here on the website. Douglas Montgomery has also written a tune based on the poem's title for all six fiddlers to perform together; this has been filmed in isolation and brought together as a virtual session.
DRAMA ON FILM
Written originally in 1967 by George Mackay Brown as part of a pageant in Stromness, this extraordinarily powerful play presents women, wives and partners of fishermen, watching and waiting on the shore for the return of their men after a storm. This film is the result of a remarkable project which brought together community performers from across Orkney who have worked remotely with the well-known director and actress Gerda Stevenson. It is an unusual, dark and powerful play that the Festival has brought to the screen, much of it filmed on smartphones by the people of Orkney during the pandemic and it is a special tribute to a much-loved writer, created against the odds in many ways, by his own people. This will be a pay-to-view event.
PAY TO VIEW
FOR THE ISLANDS I SING
A POEM A DAY
We present daily readings of poems by George Mackay Brown in a series of newly commissioned films, bringing together Orcadians with beautiful landscapes. Each reader has been filmed in the landscape at interesting locations appropriate to the poetry. This not only gives a flavour of Mackay Brown's extensive collection of poetic works but also reveals the historic and everyday landscapes and culture that inspired him. Poems include:
Lobster Old Woman in No 20
The Gossip of Hamnavoe
The Elemental Stone
The Green Gate
For the Islands I sing
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
CONCERTS FROM THE CATHEDRAL
This series of concerts present a wide range of music all filmed in the beautiful surroundings of the medieval St Magnus Cathedral. Amongst the performers are Dinara Klinton (piano) Timothée Botbol (cello) David Chadwick (Nyckelharpa) Marit Fält (Mandola) O Duo (Percussion) and the Hebrides Ensemble (Oboe and Strings). There will be six concerts which include music from across the centuries and a world premiere. These will be pay-to-view events.
PAY TO VIEW