The story
St Magnus International Festival in Orkney
A week-long arts festival held across Orkney each midsummer since 1977, founded by composer Peter Maxwell Davies and poet George Mackay Brown around new music and serious contemporary programming. Performances span historic churches, community halls and outdoor venues across the islands, centred on Kirkwall's St Magnus Cathedral.
St Magnus International Festival began in 1977, the idea of a group that included the composer Peter Maxwell Davies, who had recently moved to Orkney, and the Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown, who together envisioned a festival built around serious new music rather than a purely heritage-tourism event.