Celebrating Nordic Viola’s 10th Anniversary with John Rae and The Northern Telegraph Route

New Podcast available now – poet Lesley Harrison and researcher Dr. Fleur Ward on the stories and poetry behind John Rae and The Northern Telegraph Route

Nordic Viola is 10 years old this September! I can hardly believe that 10 years have passed since I set off for Iceland and the Faroe Islands in September 2016, followed by Shetland in November 2016 and Greenland in February 2017. What an incredible journey it’s been from meeting so many incredible composers, musicians and writers to experiencing these incredible landscapes by bike, on foot and from the water, alone and with friends. And never in my wildest dreams did I expect Nordic Viola to have become such a big part of my working life.

What better way to celebrate this journey and all the musical and personal connections I’ve made since then than with the premiere of John Rae and The Northern Telegraph Route at Orkney International Science Festival on 9^th September and at Shetland Museum on 12^th September.

Learning about John Rae and The Northern Telegraph Route

This new project really epitomises everything that Nordic Viola is about, forging and celebrating connections, musical and cultural from the Northern Isles to Greenland. I learned of the story at the 6^th International St. Magnus Conference, hosted by the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Institute for Northern Studies at Shetland Museum in 2024. I knew instantly that this story of Orcadian John Rae’s 1860 expedition to the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland would be a perfect fit for Nordic Viola and I made contact with Dr. Fleur Ward, who presented a paper on the subject. I knew, too, that I wanted Lesley Harrison to write poetry for us. Lesley’s area of interest overlaps so well with mine and I love how she has such an affinity with the North Atlantic Region and also such a sensitivity towards music and its relationship with poetry.

Meet our composers!

Over the last 10 years I’ve made lasting friendships with many other musicians and composers and I wanted to celebrate this international project with Nordic Viola’s friends, Ensemble Aldubáran from the Faroe Islands and with composers Eli Tausen á Lava, also from the Faroe Islands, and Arnannguaq Gerstrøm from Greenland. Additionally, Scottish composer Ailie Robertson had contacted me, keen to make connections with the Faroe Islands and to research common traditions and I’ve long wanted to work with Stuart MacRae, whose opera “Anthropocene” captured my imagination and also showed me how vividly he can depict Arctic landscapes and tell a story of exploration in his music.

I’m delighted with how each of the creators (musical and literary) has approached the story from their own individual angle. This isn’t a simple retelling of the story, but rather a series of works that alternately look at the wider scale, with epic journeys and wild land and seascapes, contrasted with the deeply personal internal world of John Rae himself and those closest to him: the network of family and friends left at home.

Connecting the North Atlantic

The idea of connection runs throughout the programme, with the telegraph and morse code, of course, but also the thread of tradition between the North Atlantic nations; quite literally in the case of Ailie’s piece, Skeins, which takes the knitting traditions of the north as a metaphor for connection.

New podcasts – insights into the creative process.

Of course, I could go into great detail here about each piece, but instead, I’ve chosen to let the creators and also our researcher, Fleur Ward, speak for themselves in a series of podcasts. In Fleur’s words:

Dr John Rae is an iconic figure in Arctic exploration and an Orcadian hero. I’m excited to be part of bringing one of Dr Rae’s little-known explorations to life. It has been fascinating to work with diverse artists from the North Atlantic to bring this story to life.

And for Lesley Harrison:

The interconnection of peoples and languages across the northern islands and communities has always interested me, and this theme has appeared already in my writing.  Also, my father is a keen amateur radio operator and is delighted I am asking him questions about marine telegraphy and Morse!  The delay and time-lapse in communication and translation opens up very interesting spaces for us artists to explore – spaces filled with tides and depths ….

Our first podcast is now available on soundcloud here.

• Podcast 2 with Stuart MacRae from Scotland and Eli Tausen á Lava from the Faroe Islands will be released on 29th August
• Podcast 3 with Ailie Robertson from Scotland and Arnannguaq Gerstrøm from Greenland will be released on5th September.

Be sure to follow Nordic Viola on soundcloud to catch these as they come out or subscribe to this newsletter here:

I’ve really enjoyed talking with everyone about their approach to the project and I’m sure you’ll find these conversations interesting and insightful as well as getting the chance to hear what each composer and writer has to say about their own work and interests.

Of course, above all, we hope that learning more about the creative process and the personalities behind the music will inspire you to come to our performances:

Tickets are selling well, so be sure you buy in advance!

I’m also delighted that in Orkney, our concert will be part of a series of events on John Rae and the Telegraph, so you can really immerse yourself in the subject on Tuesday 8^th and Wednesday 9^th September.