30 years of music-making in Orkney

Orkney Camerata’s first performance took place in St Magnus Cathedral on a sunny midsummer evening as part of the St Magnus Festival in 1995.

From the start, it was agreed Camerata would be a flexible ensemble, exploring and sharing a wide musical repertoire, playing together as a chamber orchestra, and also in smaller groups.

Since that first concert, the orchestra has performed regularly in St Magnus Cathedral and in venues large and small throughout the Mainland – in the East Church, King Street Halls, St Olaf’s Church, the St Magnus Centre, Orkney Arts Theatre; in Stromness Town Hall, Cromarty Hall, Twatt Church, St Magnus Church in Birsay and in Orkney Brewery.

At our second concert, held in the Cathedral in December 1995, we welcomed a new member, a single manual harpsichord which would accompany us on trips to the isles and prove an asset not only to our own concerts, but to visiting ensembles over the years.

Camerata in the Isles

From its earliest days, Camerata has given concerts and workshops in a variety of venues in the isles, often joining forces with local musicians and singers. We have performed in Hoy, in Melsetter House and Hoy Kirk; in Beltane House in Papay, and in schools and churches in North Ronaldsay, Westray, Sanday, Stronsay, Rousay Shapinsay and Flotta. 

Working together

Conceived as an ensemble that would generally be led by its director, Camerata would also at times play repertoire for larger forces, and join with other groups, and work with different conductors.

Rehearsals and performances have been led and directed by violinists Julia Robinson Dean (from 1995), Andrew Garden (from 2000) and by our present Artistic Director, Elizabeth Sullivan, from 2012.

We have played under the baton of Glenys Hughes, Director of the St Magnus Festival 1998-2010; woodwind instructor and player David Griffith; brass instructor and player Brian Jones; viola player Iain Campbell; viola player and composer Sandy Dennison; and with flautist and composer Dr Gemma McGregor.

We have also worked with a number of guest conductors: Dr Roger Williams, renowned organist and Master of Chapel and Ceremonial Music at the University of Aberdeen 2006-2010; John Grundy, pianist, conductor and founder, in 2006, of Sheffield Music Academy; international conductor Martyn Brabbins; and organist and conductor Michael Bawtree.

We have taken part many times in the St Magnus Festival and in the Orkney International Science Festival. We have joined forces with the RSPB for programmes themed around birds and the natural environment. We have given concerts and workshops in schools.

We have played with local and visiting choirs and musicians: the St Magnus Festival Chorus; the Winter Choir; and the Mayfield Singers – now Orkney Chamber Choir. We have performed Bach’s St John Passion with the choir and orchestra of St Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh in St Magnus Cathedral and in Twatt Kirk.

We have performed in Hoy, Stromness and Kirkwall with the Stroma Bank Pub Choir – later renamed Hoy Sound – and with groups in Sanday, both in Sanday and in Kirkwall.

We have performed with soloists from the ranks of Camerata, and with guest soloists including tenor Neil Mackie; organist George McPhee; Russian free bass accordian player Olav Sharov; harpists Eilidh McRae and Esther Swift; violinist Rafał Zambrzycki-Payne, and the Icelandic Wind Quintet.

In 2020, unable to perform live due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we made a CD of Christmas music, a project with the Winter Choir and the Nø Boys which helped to raise money for the Malawi Music Fund, and was short-listed for a Royal Philharmonic Society Inspiration Award in 2021.

New work

We have, in our 30 year history, played a wide repertoire, from the baroque era to contemporary music, from film music to folk. We have performed new work by Peter Maxwell Davies, formerly Master of the Queen’s Music, and by Errolln Wallen, currently Master of the King’s Music.

And we have commissioned and given premieres of new work, including pieces by Sandy Dennison, Gemma McGregor and by composer and writer Andra Patterson.

In the centenary of the birth of George Mackay Brown, we collaborated with the GMB Fellowship on Words into Music and invited submissions of new writing and music inspired by the work of the Orkney poet. Work came from writers and composers in Orkney and across the UK, as well as from Europe and USA and was premiered here in St Magnus Cathedral in concerts in 2022 and 2023. 

 Looking back, looking ahead . . .

Since its early days, Camerata has encouraged young musicians by including promising young players in its concerts, and occasionally featuring students heading for music college as soloists, including  Charles Dearness (trumpet), Matthew Wilkinson (oboe), Aaron McGregor (violin), Rhiana Henderson (piano), Amy LeMar (viola).

In an exciting development in 2022, Junior Camerata was formed. Funded by Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative and tutored and supported by members of Orkney Camerata, the junior orchestra has, since then, regularly taken part in our concerts, playing their own programmes as well as joining the ranks of Camerata.

In 2024-25, in a project funded by the OIC Culture Fund, they took part in a series of four family concerts, Music from the Movies with compere Cameron Stout in Sanday, Stromness, St Margaret’s Hope and Kirkwall. 

. . . with thanks!

Camerata has, from the start, been supported in its music-making by a great many people: family and friends and volunteers; by businesses who have offered sponsorship; the staff at venues where we have played; the isles communities who have welcomed us and helped with transport and other logistics; the professional musicians both in and beyond Orkney who have helped to develop and enrich the group’s playing.

And of course, our audiences with their welcoming smiles, their applause and appreciation who have been so much a part of these 30 years of music-making. Our thanks to you all.