Double concert date for the cooperation band in Orkney

For the first time since its outstanding victory at last year’s Brass in Concert, the cooperation band will be restaging its winning performance of La Première at the St Magnus Festival on Saturday 27 June.

The set will be in the second half of a concert entitled Now Westlin’ Winds in the Orkney Auction Mart, Kirkwall, when the band is joined by actor Elizabeth McNally for the dramatic retelling of the infamous premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. In Paris in 1913, inside the glittering Théâtre des Champs-Élysées polite applause turned into riots and artistic chaos in a matter of minutes.

Blending original works, vivid arrangements and theatrical storytelling by Coco Chanel, this immersive production retells the hidden story behind one of the most notorious nights in musical history – a world of plotting, glamour, scandal and creative revolution, where modern music was born

The Orkney concert opens up with a programme inspired by wind, atmosphere, storytelling and theatrical colour, beginning with the world première of The Spirit of the North by Andrew Duncan, inspired by the extraordinary discovery of Scara Brae after a violent storm in 1850 uncovered the ancient Neolithic settlement from beneath the sand dunes.

Duncan’s score captures the elemental energy of Orkney itself: swirling winds, crashing seas and the raw force of nature that both conceals and reveals history.

From there, the music turns towards celebration with a Scottish reel from Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances, reimagined as a lively ceilidh scene. Whirling rhythms and flying melodies evoke the rush of dance and movement before the festivities spiral slightly out of control in a mischievous bass trombone solo.

The major work of the first half is Jan de Haan’s Mirage, inspired by the legend of the Flying Dutchman - the ghostly ship condemned to wander the oceans forever.

Bringing the first half to a close are two contrasting works. Now Westlin’ Winds, inspired by Robert Burns’ beloved song, showcases the brass band at its most lyrical and expressive, whilst Gold Saturday by Errollyn Wallen – Orkney resident and Master of the King’s Music – bursts with colour, rhythm and celebration, blending brass band sonorities with the spirit of Bollywood-inspired street music.

Tickets and further information are available here.

The evening before, on Friday 26 June, the cooperation band will be appearing in the St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall (above) in which it is joined by The Wallace Collection to perform John Wallace’s transcription of Giovanni Gabrieli’s Invisible Symphony.

This monumental work places five choirs of brass around the space filling the acoustic creating a surround-sound effect. The music for brass by Gabrieli is well known and was often written for St Mark's in Venice.

This grand scale work demonstrates the composer’s mastery of antiphonal music and dynamic counterpoint. To perform this work in St Magnus Cathedral was very important to John Wallace and following his sudden death earlier this year this concert stands as a tribute to him from the festival.

Tickets for this concert and further information are available here.