Join us between 19-28 August 2019 for the biggest ever tour of the Hebrides by an orchestra!

Conducted by our Artistic Directors Holly Mathieson and Jon Hargreaves Nevis will give 35 concerts in public spaces and community venues on Barra, Vatersay, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Berneray, Harris, St Kilda, Lewis and Skye, as well as in Garelochhead, Inverary, Ardfern, Oban, Fort William and Glasgow. 

A highlight of the tour will see the whole orchestra travelling on four chartered boats to Hirta, the main island of St Kilda, on 24 August. The most remote group of islands in the British Isles, and evacuated in 1930, the archipelago is now home to a million seabirds, National Trust rangers and military personnel.

We will also give the world premiere of a new work by Rufus Elliot GEILT (a number of ways), based on the composer’s experiences of hitch-hiking around the Hebrides, as part of our ongoing partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and arrangements of Waulking Songs from the Isle of Lewis.

Every performance is different in terms of programming, and other repertoire includes works spanning the whole of music from the earliest written down music by Hildegard of Bingen (born 1098!) to the present day via Handel, Mozart, Debussy, Lutoslawski, James MacMillan and Shiori Usui, as well as pop music by A-Ha and Toto, and arrangements of Scottish ceilidh tunes and Gaelic songs. There is even some Shirley Bassey for those who feel like testing out their lung power .

This tour is able to happen thanks to the support of Creative Scotland, The Robertson Trust, Calendonian MacBryane Ferries, Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust, Foundation Scotland, William Grant Foundation, An Lanntair, and Cubby’s Midge Salves.

Have a look through the performance list below, and please do get in touch if you would like to know more.

PERFORMANCES