FIND OUT MORE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nUnder the directorship of Scottish composer Alasdair Nicolson, this year\u2019s multi-artform programme spans the world premiere of David McNeish\u2019s new play, Thora<\/em>, directed by Gerda Stevenson, brings superb dance in the form of Scottish Ballet\u2019s debut, sees its first major outdoor installation from Architects of Air, and of course a strong music line-up courses through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBringing performers to Orkney to be \u2018in residence\u2019 at the festival, Nicolson is exploring both sustainability and the deepening of relationships between artists and between visiting musicians and the Orkney Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Known for spotting and championing fantastic young talent, this year\u2019s St Magnus Festival pairs the young Scottish stars accordionist Ryan Corbett and trumpeter Aaron Akugbo for the first time, sees the Hebrides Ensemble perform Ravel\u2019s orchestral works in new arrangements by Nicolson, and welcomes a strong Dutch contingent including the award-winning young pianist Nikola Meeuwsen, rich Baritone Maarten Koningsberger and several performances by the internationally renowned and exciting Ragazze Quartet including Winterreise<\/em> in an arrangement by Dutch violist Wim ten Have.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Festival spans venues from Pier Arts Centre to St Magnus Cathedral, stunning churches nestled scenically on the coast, Stromness Town Hall, The Writing Room at Kirkwall Hotel and the Pickaquoy Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Festival Director, Alasdair Nicolson said<\/strong>: \u201cWe are excited to be presenting a<\/em>vibrant and eclectic 2023 Festival bringing the midsummer nights to life with concerts, theatre and much, much more. This year sees a Lowlands to Northlands series with performers from the Netherlands \u2018in residence\u2019 in the first days of the Festival, exploring the talents of astonishing young pianist Nikola Meeuwsen, the phenomenal artistry of the Ragazze Quartet and the elegant baritone voice of Maarten Koningsberger.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cA new play by local writer David McNeish turns the spotlight on the story of Thora, the mother of St Magnus, looking at the well-known events through her eyes. An amazing assembly of accordions makes for a mini festival in itself with solos, duos and ensembles filling St Magnus Cathedral with extraordinary sounds. New Scottish star performers Ryan Corbett and Aaron Akugbo collaborate for the first time and we have old friends of the festival, Florilegium and the Hebrides Ensemble, giving several performances. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cHot on the heels of last year\u2019s highly praised promenade performance, we have Solstice of Dark and Light, an evening of music, poetry and art. As usual you\u2019ll be able to see various parts of the Orkney Islands and venues not often visited as well as many chances to sample local foods and baking as part of some concerts. We look forward to seeing you in June.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Set in Orkney\u2019s incredible landscape in the light nights of midsummer, the St Magnus Festival carves out a beautiful and distinct shape in the UK\u2019s festivals landscape. FIND OUT MORE Under the directorship of Scottish composer Alasdair Nicolson, this year\u2019s multi-artform programme spans the world premiere of David McNeish\u2019s new play, Thora, directed by Gerda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-newsletter","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"simon","author_link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/author\/simon\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcv15g-4X2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19037,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036\/revisions\/19037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}