The St Magnus Festival has grown into a unique event in the arts calendar, with classical music at its heart. GLENYS HUGHES, the artistic director of the festival, describes her own vision of this acclaimed event.

THE AIM of the very first St Magnus Festival, back in 1977, was to bring to these remote islands off the north coast of Scotland professional performances of the highest calibre, to commission and perform new music (with a natural emphasis on work being produced in Scotland), and, equally importantly, to involve local people in every aspect of the event.

Over the past twenty six years we have kept pretty closely to that initial vision.  Musicians such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andre Previn, Isaac Stern, Georgy Pauk and more recently Steven Isserlis, John Lill, Evelyn Glennie and Joanna McGregor have graced our festival programmes.

We are proud to have recognized the talent of and commissioned works from young composers who have since gone on to become established figures – James MacMillan, Judith Weir and Simon Holt spring to mind. Visiting orchestras have included the BBC SSO, the BBC Philharmonic, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since the Festival provides the only opportunity during the year when Orcadians can hear live performances by a professional orchestra, an orchestral concert is an artistic event in a very real sense.  So, despite the vast expense in bringing orchestras to these far-flung islands, such visits remain a cornerstone of our programming. Without a visiting orchestra, the festival programme would be much less attractive to both local and visiting audiences.

Once our performers are here we aim to keep them busy and to involve them whenever possible in the community aspects of the festival – rather than have them simply give one or two concerts and then disappear.

This year, as well as giving three major concerts, the BBC Philharmonic will split into groups to visit five of Orkney’s outer islands, where they’ll give workshops for the island schools and concerts for the local communities – and no doubt enjoy a taste of island hospitality.  Then they’ll collaborate with our 100-strong Festival Chorus, perform a specially devised event for family audiences and local schools, invite school pupils to an open rehearsal and to ‘meet the Phil’, and work with the conductors taking part in the first-ever Orkney Conducting Course.

The Orkney conducting course is a new initiative which takes advantage of the professional expertise present in Orkney at Festival time. Directed by the conductor Martyn Brabbins, an old friend of the Festival, OCC is a ten-day course for emerging professional conductors which, uniquely, enables them to gain ‘hands on’ experience with the likes of the BBC Philharmonic and the BT Scottish Ensemble.

This first course attracted an international field of 32 applicants for the 8 places on the course and is an example of the Festival’s work and influence spreading way beyond the bounds of the six-day event itself.

Similarly, the community work of the Festival can often spread over six months of the year, with preparations for drama productions and education projects and Festival Chorus rehearsals going on during Orkney’s dark, winter months.

Performances by the Orkney community are an intrinsic part of the Festival and are central to our programming. Often, local performers share a platform with professional ensembles: London Brass, the London Sinfonietta and Grand Union Orchestra have all led projects for schools which have culminated in shared Festival performances.  We are continually seeking to involve new individuals and groups within the community and projects, often led by visiting artists, include drama, visual arts, on one occasion film, and, this year, traditional and contemporary dance.

What of the future? Festivals provide an ideal opportunity to showcase new and experimental work and we must continue to be bold and innovative in our projects, commissioning and programming. Our Festival on Tour project – taking performances to Orkney’s outer isles – has been hugely successful in broadening our local audience base – and we must continue to reach new members of the community by programming festival events beyond Orkney’s main centres of population.

The Festival already enjoys a strong artistic profile nationally and internationally, and such initiatives as the Orkney Conducting Course will undoubtedly raise this profile still further.  And, most importantly, we will continue to bring the world’s finest artists to this small island community.

Glenys Hughes has been the artistic director of the St Magnus Festival since 1986.  The St Magnus Festival runs from 20-25 June 2003.