An Orkney flavour to Edinburgh’s New Year celebrations

December 31, 2016 at 4:25 pm

St Magnus Festival’s artistic director, Alasdair Nicolson (centre) and the Assembly Project. (Leslie Burgher)

New Year celebrations in Edinburgh tomorrow will have a distinctly Orcadian flavour, with the St Magnus Festival a part of the Scot:Lands programme.

The “festival within a festival” is fashioned and curated by some of Scotland’s most innovative artists and arts organisations, and takes place on Sunday, January 1, across nine spaces in the city’s Old Town.

Work from Orkney, Galloway and the Highlands will be featured, as organisers set out to give a snapshot of contemporary Scottish culture.

For Orkney’s mystery venue, Alasdair Nicolson, artistic director of St Magnus Festival has curated Orcadia:Land which will kickstart the Magnus 900 celebrations in 2017.

This will showcase Orkney’s own talent: Gnoss (Aidan Moodie and Graham Rorie) and the Mayfield Singers, led by Denise Stout, alongside the 2017 festival ensemble, The Assembly Project — all played and danced against the backdrop of the Sails created by local artists, which were originally hung in St Magnus Cathedral in 1993.

This opportunity allows the landscape and atmospheric history of Orkney, and its St Magnus Cathedral, to go to Edinburgh during the Hogmanay celebrations, and for St Magnus Festival to reveal a taste of the islands’ midsummer arts extravaganza.

Scot:Lands, now in its fourth year, is an integral part of Edinburgh’s three-day Hogmanay celebration, which is produced on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, and supported from the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund.

It brings Edinburgh alive on New Year’s Day, with free entertainment for so many international visitors who come to Edinburgh for Hogmanay, as well as the city’s residents.

Alasdair Nicolson, artistic director, said: “I’m delighted we’ve been invited to curate this event.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase Orkney and St Magnus International Festival to a wider audience, and to preview next year’s Magnus 900 celebrations on an international stage.”

Leslie Burgher, festival chairman, added: “The opportunity to be part of such a major showcase is a tribute to the work that has been done over 40 years, to establish the festival as a community-based event of international significance.”