Introduction
Flight is a new project devised by Orkney Camerata for an Orkney-based composer – or one with a connection to these islands – to create a new piece of music on the theme of mechanical flight. This will receive its first performance at a concert due to take place on Sunday 23 May in St Magnus Cathedral next year, and will form part of a programme of music and readings.
The theme
For centuries the idea of flight has inspired ambition, courage and innovation.
2027 is the centenary of the first solo flight to connect the continent of America with the continental land mass of Europe. On 20 May 1927, Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974) took off in Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York and flew non-stop to Le Bourget Airport near Paris, landing 33.5 hours later at on 21 May 1927. It was a challenging flight, and at that time, the longest ever. It set a new world record for flight distance. Lindbergh’s book, The Spirit of St. Louis (1953), described the flight to Paris and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1954.
Further reading on Charles Lindbergh:
Franz Schell album collection SDASM Archives, via Wikimedia Commons
Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was a pioneering aviator renowned for her skill in aerial acrobatics. Barred from pilot training in the US, she trained in France and became the first African-American and American-Indian to hold a pilot’s licence. She aimed to establish a school for young black aviators, but died in 1926 when the plane she had just purchased crashed on a test flight.
For more on the life and achievements of Bessie Coleman:
Flight can provoke fear, excitement, awe. Writer Ann Scott-Moncrieff (1914-34) was born and brought up in Orkney. As a young reporter at The Orcadian, she wrote vividly for the newspaper of the thrill of being the first civilian passenger to fly with Captain Fresson on the route he pioneered between Kirkwall in Orkney and Wick on the Scottish mainland. She worked on Fleet Street for a short time, then went on to achieve success as a children’s novelist, script-writer and broadcaster.
Read the article Ann Scott-Moncrieff wrote for The Orcadian:
Frontiers Magazine, I Fly the Pentland
Flight connects us; links islands, continents and planets. It challenges, inspires and enables us, and brings new understanding.
It poses hard questions too. As contrails criss-cross the sky, and aircraft spiral, stacked around national and international hubs, flight adds to pollution; to the warming of the planet; to the militarisation of space – and drives the search for alternatives, solutions, new ways of thinking.
which connects the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf (14 August 2023)
Any type of mechanical flight may be a source of ideas and inspiration. Drones buzz over us and rockets reach for the moon and space beyond. Satellites are launched into orbit; map our journeys for us, monitor us, give clues about coming weather, beam down news – or entertainment – from around the globe. The International Space Station roves over us, crossing from day to night, sunrise to sunset multiple times in the loops of its orbit, taking in views of the changing earth in its troubled beauty, its fracturedness and wholeness.
If you would like to take up the challenge of writing a new piece, please read the brief for composers below.
Brief for composers
Orkney Camerata invites composers in Orkney – or with a connection to the islands – to express an interest in writing a short piece inspired by flight for string or chamber orchestra, and to outline their ideas for a composition of no less than 5 minutes duration.
The piece may be inspired by any form of mechanical flight; by the story of an aviator or aeronautical engineer; by a particular aircraft; by a particular flight – historical, experienced, or witnessed. It may arise from a piece of writing about flight. It may involve an imagined flight – perhaps one of the future.
Expression of interest
If you would like to put your name forward for this commission please send an email to Sandy Dennison, camerataorkney@gmail.com by 31 October 2026. It should include your name, contact details, experience as a composer, and an outline of how you plan to respond to the commission. Please include the following:
- a short statement about why you are interested in undertaking the commission
- an indication of musical form and scoring you plan to use
- a description of the ideas you have for developing the flight theme
- a working title for the piece.
Members of the Camerata Committee are not eligible for the commission.
Composers will be invited to discuss their ideas prior to the commission being awarded.
One composer will be selected by the Camerata Committee to develop their ideas in a new piece to be performed at the concert in St Magnus Cathedral on 23 May 2027.
The successful composer will be notified early in November.
Any questions about the project can be addressed to orkneycamerata@gmail.com
Writing the piece
Once the proposal has been selected, the successful composer will be asked to create a work inspired by the theme of flight for string or chamber orchestra lasting from 5 to 10 minutes. The piece will be performed by Orkney Camerata on 23 May 2027.
Scoring will be negotiable. In general, the following are likely to be available:
- Strings: normally 6-6-4-3-1
- Woodwind: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn
- Brass: trumpet, trombone
- Standard percussion
- Voice – sung or spoken
In respect of the level of technical difficulty of the piece as a whole and in its individual parts, it should be borne in mind that Orkney Camerata is an amateur ensemble and rehearsal time will be limited. Again, questions may be addressed to camerataorkney@gmail.com
Submitting your piece
The successful submission should be sent by e-mail to Sandy Dennison camerataorkney@gmail.com and should include:
- A full score in pdf format and one each of the individual parts
- A short programme note giving the title of the work and details of the flight/type of flight/aviator that has inspired your piece
- A short biography (not more than 250 words)
Deadline for Submission
5pm on 29 March 2027
Copyright and permissions
By submitting a score the composer grants Orkney Camerata the right to give the first performance.
If Orkney Camerata has not performed the work within one year of the submission deadline the composer will have the right to make alternative arrangements for performance.
Copyright after the first performance will remain with the composer.
Orkney Camerata
Founded in 1995, Orkney Camerata is established as Orkney’s own chamber orchestra. Led by violinist Elizabeth Sullivan, the ensemble is made up of instrumental instructors and other experienced musicians based in Orkney. Orkney Camerata aims to bring high quality performances to the local community and has performed in venues throughout the islands. The ensemble gives regular concerts in St Magnus Cathedral and its performances at the St Magnus International Festival have been well received. Orkney Camerata performs a wide range of repertoire from the 18thcentury to the present and has premiered many new works.
Explore our website and our Facebook page to find out more about Camerata’s activities.