Young composer from Harray picks up St Magnus Festival prize

June 23, 2017 at 7:00 pm

The winners of the St Magnus festival composers competition winners left to right George Stevenson, Gareth Flett, Joseph Rognvald Pickering and Andra Patterson. (photo: Leslie Burgher)

A young composer from Orkney has been announced as one of the four winners of the St Magnus Composers Competition.

Gareth Flett, from Harray, and the other three winners of the St Magnus International Festival Composers’ Competition each had their winning entries performed as part of this year’s festival by the Assembly Project, conducted by composer and festival director, Alasdair Nicolson.

There were around 50 entries internationally and the four winning pieces will be performed again in Canterbury Christ Church University in the spring next year.

To mark the 900th anniversary of the death of St Magnus, St Magnus International Festival in partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University, invited composers to write a new work based around the medieval Hymn to St Magnus, Nobilis Humilis.

Judges for the competition included British Com Sally Beamish and Alasdair Nicolson.

Two winners were selected for both the under-18 and over-18 categories. Joint first prize for the over 18s went to New Zealand-born Andra Patterson, and Scottish composer George Stevenson, both now based in London.

Aside from Gareth Flett, the other joint first prize-winners for the under-18 category Joseph Rognvald Pickering from Kinross.