St Magnus Festival

The Singing Saturdays team have spent the weekend in Orkney hearing and seeing music and art.

We are planning to take the group down to Orkney next year to perform so went to see the Festival in action. Along the way we visited the Italian Chapel, beautiful in its simplicity, heard music from Christine Brewer and Roger Vignoles in the Cathedral, a cabaret opera Eye for an Eye in the Orkney Arts Theatre and I learned about George Crumb, a composer who I did not know. We saw a poetry, music and storytelling piece about the relationship between Orkney and Canada and ended with a chamber performance of Schubert Octet in F.

St Magnus CathedralOrkney was beautiful in the sunshine, and, it being my first visit, it was amazing to see the Cathedral and hear music in the space. I think the favourite has to be listening to the ethereal and spare music of Crumb's Makrokosmos III - Music for a Summer Evening. Have a listen and tell us what you think.