ORKNEY’S first ever Steinway Model D concert grand piano has arrived on the Islands for this year's St Magnus International Festival. Over £115,000 was raised to buy the instrument, which was selected from Steinway’s workshops in Hamburg by the festival’s artistic director, Alasdair Nicolson and world-renowned Scottish concert pianist, Steven Osborne earlier this year.
ST MAGNUS 2016: HIGHLIGHTS
Hansel and Gretel. Soloists and orchestra of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland stage Humperdink’s fairytale opera, conducted by Charles Peebles and directed by Kally Lloyd-Jones. (Orkney Theatre, Kirkwall, June 16, 18 & 19)
Danish Sinfonietta. Strong Nordic links this year kick off with Denmark’s only full-time chamber orchestra under their Scottish conductor David Riddell. Two concerts: the first includes a recently rediscovered Decet by Gustav Helsted and new work by Mogens Christensen and the second contains the first published work by Carl Nielsen, his Little Suite for Strings (St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, June 17 & 20).
The Biggest Marionette Circus in the World. Poland’s Teatre Klinika Lalek presents life-size elephants and giraffes plus a cast of tamers and acrobats. (Pickaquoy Arena, Kirkwall, June 17, 18 & 19)
Saltfishforty and friends. Orkney fiddle-guitar duo Douglas Montgomery and Brian Cromarty turn 40 this year and mark a long connection with the St Magnus Festival. (St Magnus Cathedral, June 18)
The Last Poet. New work for trumpet and electronics by Alistair MacDonald performed by trumpeter Tom Poulson around WWII letters written by his grandfather. It will be staged the Mess Hall at Ness Battery — a former military compound where hand-painted murals by a WWII serviceman have recently been uncovered. (Stromness, June 19)
Wendy’s Wedding Music. Probably the last Peter Maxwell Davies premiere St Magnus will ever present, this is a piece written for the wedding of Wendy Brown, head teacher of Sanday Community School. It will be performed by pupils from the school alongside RCS musicians. (Sanday Community School, 20 June)
The Iris Murder. Alasdair Nicolson’s eerie new chamber opera, performed by the Hebrides Ensemble. (Orkney Theatre, Kirkwall, 20 June)
Samson Tsoy & Pavel Kolesnikov. St Magnus Festival has spent years fundraising for a new Steinway concert grand and finally the piano has arrived. To christen it, Tsoy and Kolesnikov play music by Beethoven and Stravinsky’s four-hand arrangement of The Rite of Spring. (St Magnus Cathedral, June 21)
Purcell’s opera Dido and Aenaes performed by two crack vocal ensembles — Florilegium and Voces8 — and directed by Ashley Solomon. (St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, June 22)
BBC Symphony Orchestra. Testing the acoustic limits of Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Arena, the BBC Symph will play Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with Alexei Volodin as soloist (June 22) and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony closes the festival with the hearty St Magnus Festival Chorus (June 25).
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