2011
Our supporters who make Festival 2011 possible. Grants
Corporate Friends Bank of Scotland Caledonian Hilton Heineken UK HSBC
Project Grants Supported through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund
Principal Supporters
Dunard Fund Harold Mitchell Esq, AC Léan Scully EIF Fund
Production Sponsor
Maclay Murray & Spens LLP
Government of Victoria, Australia
Planet Flowers Prestige Scotland
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi
The Royal Bank of Scotland
The Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh
Shell U.K. Limited
Korean Cultural Centre UK
Turcan Connell Solicitors and Asset Managers
The Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China
Principal Donors
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea
Edinburgh International Festival Capital Fund
Swiss Cultural Fund in Britain – SCFB Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan
Edinburgh International Festival Endowment Fund
Taipei Representative Office in the U.K.
Corporate Associates
Taipei Representative Office in the U.K., Edinburgh Office The United States Consulate General, Edinburgh Visiting Arts
Production Sponsor
Trusts and Foundations
Cullen Property Dimensions (Scotland) Ltd
The Binks Trust
The Glasshouse
The Peter Diamand Trust
Hotel du Vin, Edinburgh
The Evelyn Drysdale Charitable Trust
Johnston Press plc
Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust
The Miller Group Limited
The Hamada Edinburgh Festival Foundation
Omni Centre Edinburgh Production Sponsor
Mobile Phone Provider
Audience Development Partner
Internet Services Provider
Production Sponsor
Edinburgh Hotel Partner
Springbank Distillers Ltd
Production Sponsor
Cruden Foundation Limited
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A Festival for Everyone Get the most out of your experience
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Make Friends with the Festival And get great benefits
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The Opening Concert Das Paradies und die Peri
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Dance Classic ballet and contemporary dance from China, India, Korea, Vietnam and Europe
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Theatre Classic storytelling from Arabia to Japan
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Opera Shanghai to Moscow
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Music Orchestras, solo artists and ensembles Classical, folk and contemporary
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Asian Traditional Music Exploring Rajasthan and Indonesia
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Virgin Money Fireworks Concert Fiery spectacle, great music, stunning setting
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Philip Glass: Music meets Film The stunning Qatsi Trilogy
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The Queen’s Hall Series Intimate morning music
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Visual Art: Hiroshi Sugimoto Photogenic Drawings and Lightning Fields
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Visual Art: Heirlooms Historical textiles and contemporary craft
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Get Involved Discover new ways to get closer to the Festival
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Continental Shifts Debates and talks
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Conversations with Artists Up close with artists
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Fringe Prize, Masterclasses and more Creative glimpses
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Festival City To help plan your Festival
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Booking Information Find out about discounts
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Festival Diary At a glance, events day by day
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The Inches Carr Trust Eda, Lady Jardine Charitable Trust
STRATHMORE SPRING WATER
The Morton Charitable Trust
International Partners and Agencies
Peter Moores Foundation
Australian High Commission, London
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Austrian Cultural Forum London
The Stevenston Charitable Trust
Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Edinburgh
The Sym Charitable Trust
Consulate of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, Edinburgh
Edinburgh Festivals Partner
Embassy of Finland, London
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The Negaunee Foundation Risk Charitable Fund
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Scottish Enterprise
Official Car Provider
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© Hiroshi Sugimoto
Document Solutions Partner
Clydesdale Bank
Moving Conversations ®
Production Sponsor
12 August – 4 September 2011
Alba Water
Edinburgh Hotel Partner
Production Sponsor
Contents
The Nehru Centre, London Provincial Government of Yogyakarta, Republic of Indonesia
Production Sponsor
Edinburgh International Festival
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia
Edinburgh International Festival Benefactors
Edinburgh International Festival Friends and Patrons
Opening Concert Partner
Embassy of Switzerland, London The Embassy of the United States of America, London
The Director’s Circle
Production Sponsor
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, London
Macdonald Holyrood Hotel
American Friends of the Edinburgh International Festival
Festival Partners
Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, London
Fireworks Concert Partner
Edinburgh International Festival Society is registered as a company in Scotland (No SC024766) and as a Scottish Charity (No SC004694) Registered Address: The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE
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02 A Festival for Everyone
A Festival for Everyone 03
Welcome to Festival 2011 In 2011 the Edinburgh International Festival draws inspiration from the subtlety and timeless beauty of the rich and varied cultures of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam; places whose economic importance and artistic influence grows by the year. European artists, explorers and philosophers have drawn inspiration from the Far East for centuries; from Marco Polo’s visit to the legendary court of Kublai Khan in the 14th century to the fascination of musicians such as Debussy and Mahler and their first encounter with the music and instruments of China, India, Indonesian and Japan during the great Paris Exhibition of 1896. A decade ago Festival 2011 might have been described as coming from the East or indeed the Far East. Today in recognition of a much changed world, we have chosen to describe it as a journey of discovery and revelation in which the finest artists of these Asian countries and cultures share their virtuosity and skill with all of us in the Far West. Jonathan Mills
An Accessible Festival for All
Virgin Money Fireworks Concert
Look out for these Festival logos in the brochure.
We welcome Virgin Money as new partner in our thrilling finale. We also have new ticketing arrangements – so to make sure you don’t miss out see page 41 for more.
Audio Described
Speech-to-Text Reported
British Sign Language
Touch Tour
Talking Programmes
Our goal is to make the Festival accessible to as many people as possible. In this brochure you will find details of accessible, sign language interpreted, audio described, speech-to-text reported, talking programmes and supertitled performances, talks and conversations. We have a new venue guide on page 65 and even more detail on venues and how to get to them at eif.co.uk/venues. People with a disability can buy the seats most suited to them for the lowest price for that performance, with a free seat for a companion. This brochure is available, with extended venue guide, in audio and Braille formats. Simply call 0131 473 2089 or go to eif.co.uk/accessguide for digitally accessible versions. And don’t miss our special ticket prices – see page 64 for details.
Festival Online
Get connected and follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook or catch our video channel on YouTube. There’s even more on our website – sign up for your regular e-bulletin, plan your Festival with our online diary and buy tickets quickly and easily. Regular updates make it easy to stay on top of what’s happening. Visit us at eif.co.uk/interact
Value for Money With prices starting from just £10, and some events even cheaper, the Festival offers prices to suit every pocket. Special discounts on selected performances, such as half price for young people and students, £8 on-the-day tickets for under 26s and senior citizen standby concessions, help to make the Edinburgh International Festival accessible to as many people as possible. Plus if you book online at eif.co.uk you won’t be charged a transaction fee. See pages 64-65 for details.
Thanks to BBC Radio 3, our Radio Broadcast Partner, 19 Festival concerts are recorded for broadcast, with details indicated throughout the brochure. So catch up with what you missed or hear your favourite moments again on Radio 3. Full details at bbc.co.uk/radio3
We’ve teamed up with The Times as our Media Partner for 2011. You’ll find great previews, interviews and reviews on a wide range of Edinburgh International Festival events in the paper, and online, to help you plan your Festival.
Festival City Edinburgh is a city bursting with festivals. See page 62 for details.
04 Make Friends with the Festival
Make Friends with the World’s Favourite Festival
Edinburgh International Festival Benefactors and Patrons
Membership starts from just £50. Show your support by joining today.
Benefactor
In return for your support, membership brings a range of exciting privileges including: – 10 days priority booking ahead of tickets going on sale to the general public – exclusive access to a year round programme of special events including behind-the-scenes tours and talks with artists. To join go to eif.co.uk/membership or phone us on 0131 473 2065.
Thank you to the following individuals for their support of Festival 2011.
Mr and Mrs James Anderson Ewan and Christine Brown Claire Enders Joscelyn Fox Gavin and Kate Gemmell Frank Hitchman Donald and Louise MacDonald David McLellan Michael Shipley and Philip Rudge Keith and Andrea Skeoch Jim and Isobel Stretton John-Paul and Joanna Temperley Zachs-Adam Family Platinum Reserve Geoff and Mary Ball Richard Burns Aileen and Stephen Nesbitt Mr Hedley G Wright Platinum Supporter J Attias Katie Bradford The Rt Hon Lord Clarke Lord and Lady Coulsfield Sue and Andy Doig Jo and Alison Elliot Mr and Mrs Ted W Frison Raymond and Anita Green David and Judith Halkerston
Shields and Carol Henderson André and Rosalie Hoffmann J Douglas Home Peter Horvath and Barnett Serchuk Alan M Johnston Fred and Ann Johnston Norman and Christine Lessels Alan Macfarlane Chris and Gill Masters Duncan and Una McGhie Jean and Roger Miller David Milne and Liz Sharpe Mr and Mrs R H Mitchell Allan Myers AO QC and Maria Myers AO Patricia and Alex Neish Nick and Julie Parker Lady Potter Donald and Brenda Rennie Sir Duncan Rice and Lady Rice Mr Andrew and Mrs Carolyn Richmond Ross Roberts Fiona and Ian Russell Richard Simon Charles Smith Andrew and Becky Swanston Susie Thomson Ludmila and Hodson Thornber Claire and Mark Urquhart Robin and Sheila Wight Ruth Woodburn Neil and Philippa Woodcock And others who prefer to remain anonymous
The Opening Concert
Das Paradies und die Peri ROBERT SCHUMANN
Are You IN? IN your 20s and 30s? Love opera, music, theatre and dance? Join IN for just £25. Expand your Festival experience with benefits including:
Friday 12 August 7.30pm Usher Hall
– ‘money can’t buy’ experiences
Tickets £46 £39 £32 £26 £20 £12
– invites to exclusive VIP parties
2 hours 25 minutes approximately
– a year round programme of events and discounts with partner organisations
eif.co.uk/opening
– 50% ticket discounts on a range of Festival performances. See page 57 for more or visit eif.co.uk/INsider In association with The List
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Iskander, costume sketch for Paul Dukas’ ballet “The Peri”, 1911. Private Collection. Photo: akg-images / Erich Lessing
The Opening Concert
Sponsored by
Scottish Chamber Orchestra Sir Roger Norrington Conductor Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master Susan Gritton Soprano Lydia Teuscher Soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis Mezzo soprano Maximilian Schmitt Tenor Benjamin Hulett Tenor Florian Boesch Baritone
In Persian mythology the peri, an exquisite, winged, fairy-like creature, is descended from fallen angels and has been denied paradise until she has done penance. For this she must search for and retrieve the most precious gift in the world. Neither the blood of a martyred soldier nor the last sigh of a dying maiden are acceptable. It is the tear of a repentant sinner that ensures the peri regains paradise. Das Paradies und die Peri is a perfect musical example of the vogue for orientalism in Europe in the 19th century. For his oratorio Schumann sets a section of Thomas Moore’s oriental verse-tale Lallla-Rookh and lavishes on it some of his loveliest choral writing. With Sir Roger Norrington at the helm of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Schumann’s exotic and beguiling work will make a memorable opening to the 2011 Festival. This concert will be broadcast on 12 September 2011 on BBC Radio 3’s Performance on 3.
Dance
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The Peony Pavilion European Premiere
National Ballet of China National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra Feng Ying Artistic director Zhang Yi Conductor Li Liuyi Adaptor and director Fei Bo Choreographer Guo Wenjing Composer, music arrangement and orchestration Zhao Ruheng Producer Michael Simon Stage designer Emi Wada Costume designer Michael Simon and Han Jiang Lighting designers
Beautiful Du Liniang falls asleep by the Peony Pavilion and dreams of Liu Mengmei, a lover she has never met. She wakes in despair and asks the Flower Goddess to find her lost love. Unable to find him, Liniang dies of a broken heart and is forced to turn to the Infernal Judge of the Underworld for help. Fei Bo’s sensuous choreography is a mesmerising fusion of western classical ballet, complete with a full corps de ballet, and traditional Chinese dance. The Peony Pavilion is one of the most famous love stories in Chinese literature, a deeply romantic tale of the power of love to conquer death.
‘Remarkable and unique Chinese Ballet’ Time Out Hong Kong
This is a full-scale ballet production with lavish sets and sumptuous costumes. It is set to an enchanting and passionate original score by Guo Wenjing, incorporating references to Debussy’s Daphnis et Chloé, Holst’s The Planets and Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite, performed by the National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra. This is a ballet for dance-lovers of all ages.
‘It is hard to praise too highly the exceptional quality of the dancing’ The Times on Raise the Red Lantern
Saturday 13 – Monday 15 August 7.30pm
Photo: Liu Yang
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Tickets £44 £37.50 £30 £24 £19 £12 2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/peony
Supported by
The Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China
Sponsored by
08 Dance
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Photos: Youngmo Choi
Dance
Princess Bari Sponsored by
Eun-Me Ahn Company Eun-Me Ahn Choreographer and scenographic designer Yong-Gu Park Scriptwriter Young-Gyu Jang Composer Jin-Young Jang Lighting designer Young-Hoon Oh Sound
‘brilliant visual imagination and wit… one is never quite prepared for the magic wrought by Ms. Ahn.’ The New York Times
When the Queen bears him a seventh daughter instead of a longed for son, the King throws the child into the sea. Brought up by a fisherman, the 16 year-old Princess Bari is told the truth of her identity. On her journey to her father’s kingdom she faces many trials and adventures. Once there, she finds the King is gravely ill. She is the only one who can save him. In desperation, she embarks on a harrowing journey to the underworld to plead for his life.
Friday 19 – Sunday 21 August 7.30pm
Dressed in elaborately embroidered and richly coloured costumes, dancers and musicians transform a dark tale of devotion, identity and adventure into a very modern allegory.
eif.co.uk/bari
This opulent production, from one of Korea’s most exciting contemporary choreographers, Eun-Me Ahn, fuses traditional artforms, including Pansori, with scintillating and highly original dance theatre. Please note this show contains partial nudity.
The Edinburgh Playhouse Tickets £30 £27 £22 £17 £12 £10 1 hour 30 minutes approximately
Supported by
With additional support from
Korean Cultural Centre UK
Dance
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Scottish Ballet ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA SIAN EDWARDS CONDUCTOR
New Work (2011)
Song of the Earth (1965)
World Premiere
Kenneth MacMillan Choreographer Gustav Mahler Music
Jorma Elo Choreographer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Steve Reich Music
Katarina Karnéus Mezzo soprano Peter Wedd Tenor
Scottish Ballet and the Edinburgh International Festival are delighted that Jorma Elo, resident choreographer of Boston Ballet and a rising star in contemporary ballet both in the US and Europe, is creating a new work for Festival 2011.
Created by Scottish choreographic genius Kenneth MacMillan, former Director and Principal Choreographer of the Royal Ballet, Song of the Earth is set to Mahler’s beautiful song cycle Das Lied von der Erde which explores mankind’s struggle to accept mortality and the hope and eventual renewal that comes with death. Mahler set texts from Chinese poems of the T’ang Dynasty, translated into German. His use of Chinese motifs in the music is subtle and sublime. Joining the dancers of Scottish Ballet are mezzo soprano Katarina Karnéus and tenor Peter Wedd with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra led by Sian Edwards.
Hot on the heels of his recent triumphs at San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Jorma Elo’s much anticipated new commission for Scottish Ballet features Mozart’s First Violin Concerto and music by Steve Reich.
‘Everything Scottish Ballet does seems to be characterised by vibrant energy, brilliant coherence and an effortless visual elegance.’ The Daily Telegraph Friday 26 – Sunday 28 August 7.30pm
Song of the Earth Photo: Nisbet and Wylie
The Edinburgh Playhouse Tickets £44 £37.50 £30 £24 £19 £12 2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/scottishballet
Supported through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund
Peter Wedd: ‘assured us of a deeply affecting experience.’ The Times on Das Lied von der Erde ‘Katarina Karnéus floated an exquisitely rich and expressive mezzo line.’ The Times
Dance
Dance
Sriyah ‘Superbly sensuous… A piece of temple sculpture come alive!’ The Hindu
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble Surupa Sen Artistic director and choreographer Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi Music composer assisted by Srinibas Satapathy Dhaneswar Swain and Surupa Sen Rhythm composers Lynne Fernandez Executive director and lighting director Ghulam Rasool Tailor Costumes
In vibrantly coloured traditional costumes of deep crimsons, ochres and greens, The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble transports you to the ornately carved surroundings of a traditional Indian temple – and make it spring to life.
Drought and Rain ( re-creation 2011)
With a title derived from the sanskrit word Sri meaning ‘the divine female principle’ Sriyah is a selected programme of works created by the company over the past decade. Aakriti is an abstract dance, accompanied by a singer repeating a simple refrain, starting slowly and building to a crescendo of intricate patterns created by dancers with bells on their feet. The lyricism and curved body lines of Indian temple sculptures are evoked in the fluid, sensuous movements. The intimate, understated beauty of Srimayi is inspired by a 12th-century romantic poem.
Friday 26, Saturday 27 & Monday 29 August 8.00pm Sunday 28 August 3.00pm King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Tickets £30 £24 £17 £12 2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/sriyah
Supported by
Vibhakta, named by The New Yorker as Best Dance of the Year at its premiere in 2008, brings the programme to a life-affirming climax. The piece is both love song and celebration of the ‘duality’ of the human spirit as one voice and one dancer become joyously, endlessly entwined.
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Photo: Le Anh
Photo: Uma Dhanwatey
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Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September 8.00pm King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Tickets £30 £24 £17 £12 1 hour 30 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/drought
Ea Sola Ea Sola Choreographer, dramaturge, set, video, lighting and costume design Nguyen Xuan Son Composer Ea Sola and Nguyen Xuan Son Vocals, music arrangement and orchestration Nguyen Duy Lyrics
French Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola celebrates historical and cultural memory and meditates on the human cost of war and imperialism in Drought and Rain (re-creation 2011). Together with a group of elderly women from the north of Vietnam, whose singing had consoled soldiers on the front line, and an ensemble of virtuoso traditional musicians, Ea Sola has re-created this moving and beautiful work. First seen in 1985 it offers deep insights into the tumultuous history and sufferings of Vietnam. Shifting between hypnotically slow, graceful movements and urgent, almost visceral reactions, the choreography creates a spare, powerful and bittersweet account of the human legacy of war with performers who lived through it. A co-production with Napoli Teatro Festival, Italy and Sadler’s Wells, London.
Dance
Dance
ReTriptych
Shen Wei Dance Arts Shen Wei Choreography, set design and costumes Jennifer Tipton Lighting designer Shen Wei and Daniel Hartnett Production designers Traditional Tibetan chants Music Re- (I) John Tavener and Shen Wei Music Re- (II) David Lang Music Re- (III)
Tibet, Angkor Wat and China’s Silk Road are the inspiration behind this trilogy from New York based Chinese choreographer Shen Wei. These moving, transcendent stories of spiritual and geographic homecoming are told through breathtaking and bold movement, music and visuals.
‘One of the most expansive, creative minds in the arts’ The New York Sun
Re- (I)
Re- (III)
Set to haunting traditional Tibetan chants, this deeply personal, almost spiritual, dance draws on Shen Wei’s time on the dizzying heights of the Tibetan plateau. A massive circular pattern made of confetti-like paper covers the stage floor. The design is slowly, deliberately destroyed as the dancers sweep and glide around the space, providing an ever-shifting setting literally scored by their movements.
The dance grows to a frenetic pace as Shen Wei celebrates China’s vast mix of languages, religions and cultural histories, and juxtaposes them against a China of the future – a 21st-century exporter of goods, ideas and populations. Dancers vibrate with kinetic energy across the stage, driven into electrifying action by David Lang’s fizzing electronic soundscape.
Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September 7.30pm The Edinburgh Playhouse
Re- (II) Shen Wei creates a fluid, dynamic dance inspired by his time spent in Cambodia. The soundtrack mixes his own field recordings from Cambodian villages and temples with indigenous folk music and John Tavener’s Tears of the Angels as his dancers create an immersive, atmospheric world of twisted, knotted banyan trees and lost temples, deep in the jungle.
Tickets £30 £27 £22 £17 £12 £10 2 hours 15 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/retriptych Saturday 3 September 7.15pm
Please note this show contains partial nudity.
Supported by
The Embassy of the United States of America, London
Photo: Roberto Ricci
Photo: Alex Pines
‘Rhapsodies of colour and design… a world apart’ South China Morning Post
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Photo: Alex Pines
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Theatre
Theatre
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Photo: 2DOHEE 2010
Photo: Provided by CLT
‘This master from Taipei has transformed the theatre into a stunning place beyond imagination.’ Der Tagesspiegel
The Tempest ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY TAE-SUK OH ADAPTED FROM THE TEMPEST BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Performed in Korean with English supertitles Tae-Suk Oh Director Eun-A Cho Stage designer Aikawa Masaaki and Kyung-Chun Lee Lighting designers Seung-Mu Lee Costume designer Keun-Sung Moon Choreography Eun-Jeung Wu Music arranger
King Lear WRITTEN, DIRECTED AND PERFORMED BY WU HSING-KUO ADAPTED FROM KING LEAR BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare’s The Tempest is transported to 5th century Korea in this dramatic re-imagining and adaptation of his final and most poetic play. King Zilzi, immersed in his study of Taoist magic, leaves the care of his kingdom in the hands of King Zabi. While he is away, Zabi takes control and, with the help of Zilzi’s brother, Soji, banishes him from his lands.
European Premiere
Saturday 13 – Tuesday 16 August 7.30pm King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
Supported by
Tickets £30 £24 £16 £12 £10
Léan Scully EIF Fund
1 hour 30 minutes approximately
Mokwha Repertory Company
Supported by
eif.co.uk/tempest Monday 15 August
Inspired by a true story from the Korean Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Tae-Suk Oh’s The Tempest blends extraordinary historical fact with Shakespearean fiction, infusing both with elements of traditional Korean culture and folklore. Prospero’s book of magic transforms into a multi-coloured magical fan, Caliban becomes Ssangdua – a two-headed monster – and Ariel becomes Zewoong, a Shaman priestess made of straw and the protector and dispeller of evil spirits. With music played on traditional Korean instruments and incorporating richly layered costumes, this fantastical production explores the limitations and possibilities of human nature through the acts of betrayal, love, forgiveness and eventual reconciliation.
7.00pm
Korean Cultural Centre UK
Performed in Mandarin with English supertitles Cast Wu Hsing-kuo Tim Yip Costume designer Chang Wang Set designer Tommy Wong and Wong Choo-yean Lighting designers Lee Yi-chin Music composer Lee Men and Wu Hsing-kuo Singing arrangers Li Han-chiang Music arranger
In a unique combination of the gorgeous gestures, exquisite movement and extraordinary stagecraft of traditional Chinese Peking Opera, celebrated Taiwanese actor Wu Hsing-kuo adapts themes and relationships from Shakespeare’s monumental tragedy of power and deception, King Lear. Delivering a one man tour de force, Wu Hsing-kuo simultaneously depicts multiple characters, from the maniacal Lear and his ally Gloucester, to his evil, grasping daughters and the pitiful, lonely Fool. Further pushing the boundaries of traditional theatrical convention, he also appears as himself, exploring his own identity as an actor in relation to the fictional characters he portrays.
Saturday 13 – Tuesday 16 August 8.00pm Royal Lyceum Theatre Tickets £30 £24 £20 £16 £10
Supported by
Combining richly embroidered and colourful costumes, dazzling martial arts, contemporary dance, traditional live music and song, Wu creates an hypnotic experience for all the senses.
1 hour 50 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/lear Sunday 14 August
With additional support from 6.15pm
Contemporary Legend Theatre
6.45pm
7.30pm
Taipei Representative Office in the U.K.
Theatre
Theatre
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle BY STEPHEN EARNHART AND GREG PIERCE BASED ON THE NOVEL BY HARUKI MURAKAMI
World Premiere
Supported by
Supported by
The Embassy of the United States of America, London
The Director’s Circle
Performed in English and Japanese with English supertitles Cast James Yaegashi, Stacey Yen, James Saito, Maureen Sebastian, Toshiji Takeshima, Mina Nishimura, Akira Takayama, Akira Ito and Yoshihiro Watanabe Stephen Earnhart Director and co-writer Greg Pierce Co-writer Tom Lee Set design and puppet director Adam Larsen Projection designer Laura Mroczkowski Lighting designer Jane Shaw Sound designer Oana Botez-Ban Costume designer Produced by Pamela Lubell in association with Wind-Up Productions. Executive Producers Rafe Fogel and Erin Craig.
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (the novel) ‘mesmerising… daring, mysterious and profoundly rewarding.’ The Baltimore Sun
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage and a dramatic revelation of long buried Second World War secrets.
Saturday 20 – Wednesday 24 August 7.30pm
Toru Okada is an unassuming everyman. His cat has disappeared, a seemingly innocuous event that triggers a series of increasingly bizarre encounters. His wife inexplicably vanishes, leading Toru on a search during which he encounters a strange and compelling cast of characters, each with their own intriguing stories. Crossing the boundary between reality and dreams, these interactions open doors to a hallucinatory world charged with sexuality and violence. As the lines between fantasy and reality dissolve, Toru must confront the dark forces that exist inside him to begin to understand the mystery of his life.
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
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Sunday 21 August 2.30pm
Tickets £30 £24 £16 £12 £10 1 hour 50 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/wubc Tuesday 23 August 7.30pm
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is adapted from the award-winning novel by Japan’s most celebrated writer, Haruki Murakami and directed by Stephen Earnhart, formerly Director of Production for Miramax Films where he oversaw such films as A Rage in Harlem and Hardware. This truly imaginative production, combines performance, music, puppetry, dance and film to create a hypnotic theatre of dreams.
Photos: Stephen Earnhart and Tom Kincaid
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20 Theatre
One Thousand and One Nights Alf Layla wa-Layla DRAMATISED AND DIRECTED BY TIM SUPPLE STORIES ADAPTED BY HANAN AL-SHAYKH
Theatre
‘The most magical, fantastical Dream that will be remembered for decades.’ The Daily Telegraph on Tim Supple’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
European Premiere
One Thousand and One Nights (Part 1)
Performed in Arabic, English and French with English supertitles
Tuesday 23, Thursday 25 & Tuesday 30 August 7.00pm
Tim Supple Director Hussein Baydoun Designer Sabri El Atrous Lighting designer Ahmad El Sawy and Bastien Lagatta Music Imen Smaoui Movement Commissioned by Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity. Produced by Dash Arts.
Sunday 21, Saturday 27, Sunday 28, Wednesday 31 August, Friday 2 & Saturday 3 September 2.00pm Tuesday 30 August 5.45pm 6.30pm Additional supertitles for English dialogue Wednesday 31 August 12.45pm 1.30pm Additional supertitles for English dialogue
Erotic, brutal, witty and poetic, One Thousand and One Nights are the never-ending stories told by the young Shahrazad under sentence of death to King Shahrayar. Maddened by the discovery of his wife’s orgies, King Shahrayar believes all women are unfaithful and vows to marry a virgin every night and kill her in the morning. To survive, Shahrazad spins a web of tales night after night, leaving the King in suspense when morning comes, thus prolonging her life for another day. Written in Arabic from tales gathered in India, Persia and across the great Arab empire, these mesmerizing stories tell of the real and the supernatural, love and marriage, power and punishment, wealth and poverty, and the endless trials and uncertainties of fate. Dramatised and directed by Tim Supple, with stories adapted by the acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh, One Thousand and One Nights comes from the pulsating heart of today’s Arabic speaking world and is performed by actors, musicians and a creative team from Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Paris and London. One Thousand and One Nights is told in two compelling parts each of which can be seen and enjoyed on its own; or see both in the same day and fully immerse yourself in these remarkable tales for a truly intoxicating Festival experience. Get a 10% discount on each ticket when you buy for both parts in the same transaction. Please note these performances contain adult themes that may not be suitable for children.
One Thousand and One Nights (Part 2) Sunday 21, Wednesday 24, Friday 26, Saturday 27, Sunday 28, Wednesday 31 August, Thursday 1, Friday 2 & Saturday 3 September 7.00pm Wednesday 31 August 5.45pm 6.30pm Additional supertitles for English dialogue One Thousand and One Nights (Parts 1 & 2) Sunday 21, Saturday 27, Sunday 28, Wednesday 31 August, Friday 2 & Saturday 3 September 2.00pm and 7.00pm Royal Lyceum Theatre Tickets £36 £30 £24 £20 £16 £10 Parts 1 & 2 each 3 hours approximately
Sponsored by
Design: feast
eif.co.uk/1001
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Opera
Opera
The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan STORIES ADAPTED FROM ZHU SHENG-HAO’S CHINESE TRANSLATION OF HAMLET BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sung in Mandarin with English supertitles
Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe Cast includes Fu Xi-ru, Guo Rui-yue, Zhao Huan, Chen Yu and Zhu Heji
Friday 19 & Saturday 20 August 8.00pm Sunday 21 August 3.00pm Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Feng Gang Script writer Shi Yu-kun Director Jin Guo-xian Music
Tickets £35 £28 £22 £15 £10 2 hours 15 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/revenge
The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan is an interpretation of Hamlet unlike any you will ever have experienced. When King Bo dies suddenly, his younger brother Yong Shu usurps his throne. His accomplice is the widowed Queen Jiang Rong whom he has seduced and married. So smitten is the Queen with her new husband that Jiang Rong is even prepared to betray her own son Prince Zi Dan. When Zi Dan learns of this treachery from the ghost of his father, the scene is set for tragedy. The Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe is a virtuosic ensemble dedicated both to preserving the ancient artistry of Chinese opera and extending its repertoire beyond traditional boundaries. With gorgeously embroidered costumes, extraordinary acrobatics and brilliant music, Peking Opera was designed to be seen and heard by large crowds in open air settings often lit only by oil lamps. Also known as Jingju, it developed as a distinct art form in the 18th century. It is a unique combination of sweeping, symbolic dance, graceful singing, subtle mime and compelling martial arts.
Supported by
The Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China
Sponsored by
Photo: Liu Haifa
With an orchestra playing traditional Chinese instruments, and a percussion ensemble to accompany the battle scenes and physical conflicts, The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan is a lavish, gripping entertainment which captures the imagination and the heart.
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Opera
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Semiramide
‘Pure bliss.’ Opera Now
GIOACHINO ROSSINI LIBRETTO BY GAETANO ROSSI AFTER SÉMIRAMIS BY VOLTAIRE
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Vlaamse Opera Semiramide Myrtò Papatanasiu Arsace Hadar Halevi Assur Josef Wagner Idreno Robert McPherson Oroe Igor Bakan Azema Julianne Gearhart Mitrane Eduardo Santamaria L’ombra di Nino Charles Dekeyser Alberto Zedda Conductor Nigel Lowery Director / Set / Costumes Lothar Baumgarte Lighting designer Yannis Pouspourikas Chorus Master Luc Joosten and Ute Haferburg Dramaturgy
In a world of politics, lust, violence and murder, Queen Semiramide rules over Babylon – a broken society in which the desires and cravings of the elite are destroyed by their own intrigues and machinations. It’s a world waiting to be punished.
With echoes of Oedipus, Phaedra, Hamlet and Macbeth, Semiramide is Shakespearean in its atmosphere. Rossini’s use of the chorus is masterful and evocative of classical Greek drama, propelling the action as the tragedy unfolds.
Having murdered her husband, Semiramide seized power with her lover Assur. Meanwhile Arsace, the son Semiramide thought was dead, returns to court as a young soldier. As Semiramide falls in love with her own son, the ghost of his murdered father, King Nino, warns that crimes must be avenged.
In Semiramide, Rossini’s music achieves an epic power that makes this melodramma tragico among his most intense and passionate scores. Renowned Rossini interpreter Alberto Zedda conducts Nigel Lowery’s inventive production, laced with contemporary political allusions.
A co-production between Vlaamse Opera and Royal Opera Copenhagen.
Thursday 25 & Saturday 27 August 6.00pm
Photo: Annemie Augustijns
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Tickets £68 £60 £52 £42 £30 £20 £16 4 hours 20 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/semiramide Saturday 27 August 6.00pm
Supported by 5.45pm
26 Opera
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Opera
Mariinsky Opera Valery Gergiev Musical director Jonathan Kent Stage director Lloyd Wood Assistant director Paul Brown Production designer Tim Mitchell Lighting designer Sven Ortel and Nina Dunn Video and projection designers Denni Sayers Choreographer Pavel Petrenko Principal chorus master Dmitry Ralko Children’s chorus master
The Woman without a Shadow RICHARD STRAUSS LIBRETTO BY HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL
Supported by
Sung in German with English supertitles
Harold Mitchell Esq, AC
When spirits enter the human world they can bring only ruin. The daughter of the King of the Spirits is barren – she is a woman without a shadow. Her father has threatened that if she doesn’t cast a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, her husband, the Emperor, will be turned to stone. Only a human woman can help her… An unhappy young wife, married to a poor dyer, is tempted by thoughts of a luxurious life, free from the numbing boredom and drudgery of her daily existence. All she has to do is give up her shadow. Die Frau ohne Schatten is a sublime operatic fantasy in which the lives of humans and spirits become ever more tragically intertwined.
Requiring huge forces, Die Frau ohne Schatten boasts perhaps Strauss’s most sumptuous score, poignantly illuminating the magic, mystery and earthy warmth of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s characters. Led by Valery Gergiev, this epic production from St Peterburg’s famed Mariinsky Opera is a collaboration between two British artists, director Jonathan Kent and designer Paul Brown. Die Frau ohne Schatten is a spectacular and opulent dramatic tour de force, radiantly evoking the contrasts between the spirit world and human existence.
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Thursday 1, Friday 2 & Saturday 3 September 6.00pm Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Tickets £72 £68 £60 £52 £42 £30 £20 £16 4 hours approximately eif.co.uk/diefrau
Mariinsky UK tour Supported by BP
Photos: Valentin Baranovsky
‘strikingly realised… a shattering impact.’ FT.com
28 Opera
Thaïs
Orlando paladino
Concert performance sung in French
Concert performance sung in Italian
Thaïs Erin Wall Athanaël Quinn Kelsey Nicias Eric Cutler Crobyle Sarah-Jane Brandon Myrtale Clara Mouriz Albine Clare Shearer Palémon Stefano Palatchi La Charmeuse Stacey Tappan
Orlando Stéphane Degout Angelica Sine Bundgaard Medoro Magnus Staveland Rodomonte Pietro Spagnoli Eurilla Sunhae Im Pasquale Victor Torres Alcina Alexandrina Pendatchanska Licone / Caronte Arttu Kataja
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Conductor Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra René Jacobs Conductor
JULES MASSENET
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
A turbulent tale of a 4th-century Egyptian monk’s relationship with the courtesan he sets out to save, Massenet’s opera Thaïs is an engrossing portrait of romantic and religious love. Written for a virtuoso soprano and baritone, the opera became an immediate popular sensation at its 1894 premiere in Paris. Thaïs contains some of Massenet’s most luminous and lyrical music including the great violin solo, ‘the Meditation’, which exquisitely evokes the crisis of conscience and conversion to Christianity of the heroine Thaïs at the climax of the opera. Erin Wall, returning to the Festival after the triumph of her performance in Mahler’s Symphony No 2 in 2010, and Quinn Kelsey, making his Festival debut, take the leading roles with a distinguished cast under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis.
Haydn’s Orlando paladino is an exotic story of love, jealousy and magic and is a beguiling mixture of heroism and comedy. The opera features an exotic cast of mythic and historical characters including the Queen of Cathay, the King of Barbary, a chorus of shepherds, savages and Saracens alongside the fabled warrior of medieval France, the Paladin of the great Charlemagne. Making his Edinburgh International Festival debut, the renowned Belgian conductor René Jacobs leads a brilliant cast of singers, accompanied by the peerless interpreters of the classical repertoire, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and René Jacobs: ‘makes music with often intoxicating verve.’ Die Welt
Thursday 25 August 7.00pm
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
3 hours approximately eif.co.uk/thais
Supported by
Ilan Volkov Conductor
Mozart Sonata for piano, four hands, in D K381 Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Schubert Rondo for piano, four hands, in A D951 Ravel Ma mère l’oye Ravel La Valse
IRCAM Computer Music Design for Speakings Jonathan Harvey Body Mandala Speakings …towards a Pure Land
Body Mandala, Speakings and …towards a Pure Land are described by the composer Jonathan Harvey as exploring ‘the Buddhist purification of body, mind and speech’. Using technology developed at IRCAM, the cutting edge music research institute in Paris, Speakings explores the possibilities of realising human speech in an orchestral context. Body Mandala is influenced by the sounds associated with Tibetan purification rituals, while …towards a Pure Land evokes a utopian state of mind. One of Britain’s finest living composers, Jonathan Harvey has been greatly influenced by both electronic music and eastern spiritual philosophies. This concert will be the first occasion when these three works have been performed together as the composer intended.
3 hours 20 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/orlando
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Photo: Adriano Heitmann
Martha Argerich Piano Nelson Goerner Piano
The charismatic virtuoso Martha Argerich continues to thrill audiences and critics around the world. In her first Festival appearance since 2003, she performs a programme of works for two pianos and piano duet alongside fellow Argentinean Nelson Goerner, who has established an impressive international reputation. Martha Argerich: ‘a brilliant musician whose playing combines prodigious technique with uncanny musicality’ The New York Times Nelson Goerner: ‘a player of exalted poetic verve’ Gramophone This concert will be broadcast on 30 August 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
‘Speakings explores the evolution of speech through timbre and texture. As ever with Harvey, the results are both calming and vital.’ The Guardian This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at a future date.
Saturday 13 August 8.00pm
Sunday 14 August 8.00pm
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £35 £26 £22 £15 £12
Tickets £34 £26 £22 £19 £15 £12
Supported by
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
2 hours approximately
The Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh
eif.co.uk/bbcsso
eif.co.uk/argerich-goerner
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £10
The Stevenston Charitable Trust
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
This concert will be broadcast on 17 September 2011 on BBC Radio 3’s Opera on 3.
Thursday 18 August 7.00pm
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £10
Photo: Simon Butterworth
Photo: Cedric Roulliat
Photo: Thomas Cato
Udjat the Eye of Horus the falcon god. Photo: Christine Osborne Pictures / Alamy
Music
30 Music
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
The Sixteen
02
Kent Nagano Conductor
Kent Nagano Conductor
Wang Beibei Percussion
Waltraud Meier Mezzo soprano
Debussy La Mer Tan Dun Water Concerto Beethoven Symphony No 6 ‘Pastoral’
Takemitsu A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden Mahler Rückert Lieder Stravinsky The Firebird (1910)
World-renowned conductor Kent Nagano leads the Grammy award-winning Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in their first appearances at the Festival.
Toru Takemitsu’s compositions are a seamless blend of eastern and western influences which create sumptuous soundscapes. Perhaps his best known piece, A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, was inspired by a dream and described by the composer as a ‘shifting panorama of scenes’.
One of China’s most important composers, Tan Dun describes his Water Concerto as ‘music that is for listening to in a visual way and watching in an audio way’. Using three large bowls of water as instruments, percussionists flick, slap and beat the surface to create a truly unique sound-world. The concert culminates with Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral Symphony’, a glorious celebration of the sounds, solitude and drama of the natural world.
Rosemary Joshua Soprano The acclaimed British baritone Simon Keenlyside delights audiences around the world with a voice rich in expression and character. Following last year’s appearance at The Queen’s Hall, Keenlyside returns with works by Mahler, Strauss and Schubert alongside more intimate songs by Duparc and Debussy.
Handel Nisi Dominus Silete venti Dixit Dominus
Renowned German mezzo soprano Waltraud Meier makes her Festival debut bringing her distinctive vocal brilliance to Mahler’s beautifully poetic Rückert Lieder, a dramatic and moving song cycle encompassing themes of love, loneliness and death.
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen return to the Festival to perform magnificent vocal repertoire by Handel. Internationally acclaimed Handelian and Festival favourite Rosemary Joshua joins as soloist for the cantata Silete venti. The concert concludes with perhaps Handel’s best-loved choral work, his uplifting Dixit Dominus. ‘sang with the same combination of talent and unbridled joy that has earned them worldwide fame.’ The Guardian
Simon Keenlyside: ‘a sound so honeyed and so enticing that whilst listening to it you can’t imagine that there is a lovelier lyric baritone on the planet.’ The Independent Malcolm Martineau: ‘outstandingly eloquent, stage-managing the emotional drama of a lover’s dawn song, or a huntsman’s heartsick soul-storm.’ The Times
‘a tiny soundbite of Heaven’ The Times
This concert will be broadcast on 31 August 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
From its magical opening to the triumphant finale, Stravinsky’s The Firebird is an enchanting and innovative masterpiece. This concert offers the opportunity to hear the original 1910 version in all its glory, the first performance of the complete ballet score at the Festival for 20 years.
‘an orchestral sound of supreme elegance… that must be applauded for the excellence of its performance.’ El Mundo
Tuesday 16 August 8.00pm
Wednesday 17 August 8.00pm
Monday 15 August 8.00pm
Friday 19 August 7.30pm
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £34 £26 £22 £19 £15 £12
2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/montreal1
Supported by
Edinburgh International Festival Friends and Patrons
2 hours approximately eif.co.uk/montreal2
Supported by
Edinburgh International Festival Friends and Patrons
1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/sixteen
Sponsored by
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Photo: Uwe Arens
Simon Keenlyside Baritone Malcolm Martineau Piano
Harry Christophers Conductor
01
La Mer is perhaps Debussy’s finest orchestral work – a masterpiece of suggestion and subtlety that conveys a rich impression of the wind, waves and ambience of the ocean.
Photo: Mark Harrison
Photo: Dominique Lafond
Music
1 hour 50 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/keenlyside
Supported by
Frank Hitchman
32 Music
Magdalena Kožená Mezzo soprano Yefim Bronfman Piano Musorgsky The Nursery Shostakovich Satires Ravel Histoires naturelles Rachmaninov 6 Songs Op 38 Bartók Dorfszenen
Ravi Shankar
Philharmonia Orchestra
Robin Ticciati Conductor
Ravi Shankar Sitar Tanmoy Bose Tabla Ravichandra Kulur Flute Parimal Sadaphal Sitar
Esa-Pekka Salonen Conductor
Magdalena Kožená Mezzo soprano Simon Keenlyside Baritone
‘Ms. Kožená boasts a true lyric mezzo-soprano voice, with dusky colorings that stem from her low register yet carry through into her shimmering high notes.’ The New York Times
Kelley O’Connor Mezzo soprano Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy Ravel Shéhérazade Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Evening Ragas
Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin Toshio Hosokawa Blossoming (EIF commission, World Premiere) Duruflé Requiem
Ravel’s poignant Le tombeau de Couperin is a beautifully emotive tribute to friends who died in the First World War; a heartfelt tribute to those who gave their lives during the conflict. Toshio Hosokawa’s recent commissions include works for the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Cleveland Orchestra. An Edinburgh International Festival commission made possible by Donald MacDonald, Blossoming is a re-working of his 2007 string quartet of the same name, inspired by Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower-arranging. Hosokawa musically depicts the life-cycle of the flower creating what he describes as ‘newly born sounds with a very short life span’.
Legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar is the most widely admired contemporary Indian musician, who over a long career has helped to popularise Indian classical music around the world. Now celebrating his 10th decade, Shankar makes his first appearance at the Festival for over 20 years with a programme of evening ragas. Originally played during traditional Indian ceremonies and rituals, this meditative and serene music envelopes the listener in an atmosphere of calm tranquillity. ‘Shankar is one of the greatest musicians of modern times, in any genre.’ The Guardian ‘Ravi Shankar is the Godfather of World Music.’ George Harrison
Toshio Hosokawa: ‘fascinating, imaginative music’ The Times
This concert will be broadcast on 1 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
This concert will be broadcast on 15 September 2011 on BBC Radio 3’s Performance on 3.
Saturday 20 August 7.30pm
Sunday 21 August 7.30pm
Supported by
Tuesday 23 August 8.00pm Usher Hall Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £34 £26 £22 £19 £15 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £34 £26 £22 £19 £15 £12
Supported by
eif.co.uk/kozena-bronfman
Jim and Isobel Stretton
1 hour 50 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/sco
Supported by
Donald and Louise MacDonald
Inspired by a primordial vision of an ancient ritual, Stravinsky’s visceral The Rite of Spring evokes the exhilarating spectacle of a pagan ceremony, in which a young girl dances herself to death as a sacrifice to the God of Spring.
Monday 22 August 8.00pm
Usher Hall
Supported by
Mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor returns to the Festival following her triumphant performance at the 2010 Opening Concert. She sings Ravel’s Shéhérazade, a song cycle based on three symbolist poems by Tristan Klingsor of the eponymous heroine’s tales of the Orient.
Kelley O’Connor: ‘an unexpectedly deep, entrancing voice, tinged with a sense of timelessness and exoticism.’ The Denver Post
The Binks Trust
1 hour 50 minutes approximately
Scriabin’s powerful Poem of Ecstasy is a masterpiece of orchestration. A single 20-minute movement which gradually builds in sound, combines what the composer described as the highest state of human emotion with the highest form of human art: ecstasy and music.
‘Rite was phenomenal.’ The Guardian
Written in memory of the composer’s father, Requiem is one of Duruflé’s best loved works.
Yefim Bronfman: ‘A marvel of digital dexterity, warmly romantic sentiment, and jaw-dropping bravura’ Chicago Tribune
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Photo: Karen Robinson
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
National Youth Choir of Scotland Christopher Bell Chorus Master
One of the world’s most sought-after mezzo sopranos, Czech born Magdalena Kožená performs a programme by five great composers from the early 20th century. Musorgsky’s The Nursery and Rachmaninov’s Opus 38 songs exemplify the expression and passion of the Romantic movement. Based on five poems by Aleksandr Glukberg, Shostakovich’s Satires poke fun at literary and musical pretensions of the period, while Ravel’s Histoires naturelles are sophisticated and satirical descriptions of five members of the animal kingdom. The programme is completed by Bartók’s wonderfully earthy Slovak folk songs ‘Village Scenes’. Magdelena Kožená is accompanied by internationally acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman.
Photo: Vincent Limongelli
Photo: Chris Christodoulou
Photo: Mathias Bothor / DG
Music
1 hour 30 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/evening-ragas
eif.co.uk/philharmonia
Supported by
Joscelyn Fox
34 Music
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra of the Myung-Whun Chung Conductor Age of Enlightenment Messiaen Les offrandes oubliées Unsuk Chin Šu – Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 ‘Pathétique’
Music director and chief conductor Myung-Whun Chung leads the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in its Festival debut. Les Offrandes Oubliées ‘The Forgotten Offerings’ is one of Messiaen’s finest early works and is characteristically influenced by the composer’s Roman Catholic faith. Completed in 1930, it features three movements which in turn represent the cross, the descent of man and his eventual salvation. With a title derived from an ancient Egyptian symbol for air, Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s Šu beautifully illustrates the versatility of the sheng, a 17-pipe traditional Chinese mouth organ capable of a vast range of sounds. More commonly known as the ‘Pathétique’, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6 was premiered a week before his death in 1893. Its tunefulness and lush sweeping movements take the listener on an emotional journey reflecting the composer’s tumultuous life, from triumph to tragedy.
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Vladimir Jurowski Conductor
Murray Perahia Conductor and Piano
Alina Ibragimova Violin Kim Begley Tenor
Ries Overture: Liska, oder Die Hexe von Gyllensteen Beethoven Piano Concerto No 2 Schubert Sonata in C major ‘Grand Duo’ (arr Joachim)
Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master Weber Der Freischütz: Overture Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Liszt Faust Symphony
Murray Perahia’s elegantly poetic performances have made him one of the most sought-after pianists in the world. He makes his first appearance at the Festival since 2003 as soloist and conductor with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
The overture to Weber’s Der Freischütz, considered by many to be the first great German romantic opera, adeptly weaves themes and motifs from the opera itself, elevating its importance and setting the standard for generations of composers to come. One of the world’s finest violinists, young Russian Alina Ibragimova, performs Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, a passionate work regarded as one of the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire. Inspired by Goethe’s eponymous drama, Liszt’s Faust Symphony features the tale’s principal characters – Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. From the grand first movement to the dramatic finale, the work is a masterpiece of musical characterisation.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 2 is a masterpiece of its genre featuring an especially serene and emotionally charged slow movement. Originally composed for piano duet, Schubert’s vast ‘Grand Duo’ was, for many years, thought to be an unfinished symphony. This arrangement, made by the great Austro-Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim in 1855, perfectly encapsulates the work’s brisk energy and expressiveness. ‘The straightforward joie de vivre of Perahia’s account was a pleasure. Rhythms were tautly sprung and textures cleanly maintained, while the ASMF’s wonderful wind section excelled themselves once more’ musicalcriticism.com
Mahler Symphony No 2 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Donald Runnicles Conductor Meagan Miller Soprano Karen Cargill Mezzo soprano Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master
Following last year’s Festival performance of the immense and majestic Symphony No 8, this year Donald Runnicles leads the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No 2. His ‘Resurrection’ symphony is a powerful and eloquent statement of the composer’s fascination with spirituality and the eternal. American soprano Meagan Miller makes her Festival debut alongside mezzo soprano Karen Cargill, one of Scotland’s most prominent artists who has recently performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Boston Symphony Orchestra. ‘monumental triumph and a memorable and deeply moving experience.’ The Herald, Mahler 8, Festival 10 ‘brought the Festival to an ecstatic, and redemptive, close’ The Times, Mahler 8, Festival 10 This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Performance on 3 at a future date.
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: ‘Britain’s indisputably best period-instrument ensemble’ The Independent
Wednesday 24 August 7.30pm
Friday 26 August 8.00pm
Saturday 27 August 7.30pm
Sunday 28 August 8.00pm
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £46 £39 £32 £26 £20 £12
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
2 hours 15 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/seoul
eif.co.uk/oae
Sponsored by
1 hour 50 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/perahia
Supported by
Dunard Fund
35
Photo: John Wood
Photo: Wanatabe courtesy of Sony Classical
Photo: Roman Gontcharov
Photo: Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Music
1 hour 30 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/mahler2
Sponsored by
36 Music
Music
Philadelphia Orchestra
‘Dutoit is a master sonority builder.’ Philadelphia Inquirer ‘The playing was both mighty and elegant, sweeping in its scope, tender in its attention to detail.’ Washington Post
01
02
Charles Dutoit Conductor
Charles Dutoit Conductor
Stravinsky Le chant du rossignol Ravel Ma mère l’oye (suite) Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Ravel La Valse
Janine Jansen Violin
Chief Conductor Charles Dutoit leads the ‘Fabulous Philadelphians’ through a programme of 20th-century masterworks. Stravinsky’s Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale), is set in ancient China and is based on a Hans Christian Andersen fable that recounts the enchanting tale of a nightingale’s song as told by a fisherman. Ravel’s charming Ma mère l’oye (Mother Goose suite) was originally a work for piano duet. The orchestral version, completed in 1911, is an enchanting musical evocation of five traditional fairytales including Sleeping Beauty and Little Tom Thumb. Rachmaninov’s final composition, the Symphonic Dances was completed in 1940. Combining energetic music with some of the composer’s lushest melodies, the work references several of his major compositions in a reflective ode to the Russia of his youth.
Sibelius Finlandia Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Sibelius’s rousing and turbulent Finlandia was written in 1899 to accompany a series of tableaux celebrating significant events in Finnish history. Designed at the time to encourage protest against Russian censorship, this dramatic work confirmed Sibelius’s place as a major figure in Finnish nationalism. Dutch virtuoso violinist Janine Jansen brings intensity and passion to Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. With its virtuosic solo writing and lush orchestral melodies, this is one of the best loved and most challenging works in the repertoire. The first and perhaps greatest of all Romantic programmatic symphonies, Berlioz’s monumental Symphonie fantastique is subtitled ‘Episodes in the Life of an Artist’. It inhabits a world of fantasy and opium-induced dreams, as the composer dramatises the pursuit of his beloved, in music of ground-breaking originality.
Photo: Chris Lee
Ravel described La Valse as an ‘impression of a fantastic, fatal whirling motion’. This gloriously decadent score has an underlying sense of tragedy that reflects the mood of Paris in the aftermath of the First World War.
Tuesday 30 August 8.00pm
Wednesday 31 August 7.30pm
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
2 hours approximately
2 hours approximately
eif.co.uk/philadelphia1
eif.co.uk/philadelphia2
Supported by
Dunard Fund
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38 Music
Tonhalle Orchestra David Zinman Conductor
Karita Mattila Soprano Malcolm Martineau Piano
Maria João Pires Piano Anders Hillborg Cold Heat Mozart Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat K595 Dvorˇák Symphony No 8
Cold Heat is a beguiling new work by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg, commissioned jointly by the Tonhalle, Berliner Philharmoniker and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Virtuoso concert pianist Maria João Pires has thrilled audiences around the world with her spontaneity, poise and imaginative playing. One of the finest exponents of Mozart’s piano concertos, Pires performs Mozart’s final concerto, a deeply emotional and melancholic work. Dvorˇák’s Symphony No 8 is a cheery and energetic piece which draws its inspiration from Bohemian folk music, colourfully suggesting birdsong, country life and rustic dance through some of his most memorable melodies.
Grammy award-winning Finnish soprano Karita Mattila is one of the world’s most illustrious singers. She makes a welcome return to the Festival with a programme of German, French and Finnish songs full of dramatic characterisation and melodic innovation. Included in this recital are well-known works by Debussy, Sibelius and Brahms as well as Berg’s Seven Early Songs and Richard Strauss’s Wiegenlied and Allerseelen. She shares the platform with Malcolm Martineau, one of the most accomplished accompanists in the world today. ‘the Finnish soprano has it all.’ Classical Voice This concert will be broadcast on 14 September 2011 on BBC Radio 3’s Performance on 3.
‘rich, spirited string playing and expressive winds – this is a well-integrated, finely balanced ensemble.’ The Guardian
Thursday 1 September 7.00pm
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £34 £26 £22 £15 £12
1 hour 50 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/tonhalle
Supported by
David McLellan
01
02
Jonathan Nott Conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard Piano
Jonathan Nott Conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard Piano
Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master
Edinburgh Festival Chorus Christopher Bell Chorus Master
Messiaen Chronochromie Sept Haïkaï Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin (complete ballet)
Ravel Valses Nobles et Sentimentales Piano Concerto for the left hand Daphnis et Chloé (complete ballet)
Chronochromie and Sept Haïkaï explore Messiaen’s fascination with colour, birdsong, Hindu rhythms and Japanese music. Literally meaning ‘the colour of time’, Chronochromie draws an extraordinarily varied range of sounds from the orchestra. Sept Haikai was inspired by a trip to Japan and the convergence of traditional and modern cultures Messiaen encountered there.
Valses Nobles et Sentimentales display Ravel’s imagination and inventiveness, deftly combining the classical with the contemporary in an unusual and subtle fusion of orchestral colour and harmony.
Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin, a seedy story of prostitution, exploitation and robbery, has one of his most enthralling and inventive scores. The complete ballet, as performed in this concert was premiered in 1926, when it caused scandal and uproar, only subsequently being recognised for its formidable power.
Late
Maria João Pires: ‘She is one of the concert world’s supreme artists.’ The Times
Monday 29 August 7.30pm
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
1 hour 30 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/mattila
Sponsored by
With its menacing opening bars and the dramatic introduction of the piano, Ravel’s Piano Concert for the left hand, was written for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost an arm in the First World War. Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé, originally staged by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, is an Arcadian tale charting the erotic education of Daphnis and his lover Chloé. Ravel’s sumptuous, richly orchestrated score includes a ravishing depiction of sunrise and a tumultuous concluding bacchanale. This concert will be broadcast on 19 September 2011 on BBC Radio 3’s Performance on 3.
Ainars Rubikis Conductor Yeree Suh Soprano
Late
01
02
Thursday 1 September 10.30pm
Friday 2 September 7.30pm
Saturday 3 September 7.30pm
Mahler Symphony No 4 (arr Stein)
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Usher Hall
Tickets £18
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
Tickets £42 £35 £26 £24 £17 £12
1 hour 5 minutes approximately
1 hour 50 minutes approximately
2 hours approximately
eif.co.uk/bamberg-late
eif.co.uk/bamberg1
eif.co.uk/bamberg2
Young Latvian conductor Ainars Rubikis, winner of Bamberg’s Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition 2010, leads a colourful arrangement for 12 musicians.
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Photo: Thomas Müller
Photo: Lauri Eriksson
Photo: Priska Ketterer
Music
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40 Asian Traditional Music
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Photo: Hema Narayanan
Virgin Money Fireworks Concert
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIONAL MUSEUMS SCOTLAND Lakha Khan Sindhi sarangi and voice (Manganiyar tradition) Bhanwari Devi Voice (Bhopa-Bhopi/Phad tradition) Kadar Khan Sarangi and voice (Sarangiya Langa tradition)
The voices and instruments of the Langa and Manganiyar desert communities reverberate around the magnificent redeveloped National Museum of Scotland. These concerts feature three legendary folk musicians, each revealing aspects of the rich musical heritage of this spiritual part of India, evoking sunsets, sunrises and full moons. Produced by the Jaipur Virasat Foundation.
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan Kridha Mardhawa In the humid early evening air of Java, the gentle sounds of metal and wooden instruments of the Gamelan orchestra have delighted listeners for thousands of years. In a rare international appearance the orchestra of the Royal Palace in Yogyakarta in Indonesia brings the meditative style of Javanese Gamelan music to the Festival. Dressed in traditional Javanese costumes, these musicians and dancers offer a quintessential experience of this ancient indigenous musical tradition. The bronze percussion instruments are named after the Javanese word ‘gamels’ which means strike or hammer. According to legend their origins date back over two thousand years when Sang Hyang Guru, King of all Java, invented the first gong to summon the gods. The Gamelan sound has been an ever-present sound on this enchanted island since then.
Photos: Peter Sandground
The Legendary Music of Rajasthan
Virgin Money Fireworks Concert Scottish Chamber Orchestra Garry Walker Conductor
Sunday 4 September 9.00pm Princes Street Gardens
The world’s biggest and most spectacular fireworks concert is set to wow the city and bring Edinburgh’s summer festival season to a close once again. The Edinburgh International Festival and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra are delighted to welcome Virgin Money as our new partner in this popular event. Fiery music, full of passion and energy and inspired by Asia, Arabia and the east, this year’s Virgin Money Fireworks Concert brings Festival 2011 to a close with an exotic crescendo.
Saturday 27, Sunday 28 & Monday 29 August 9.30pm Sunday 28 & Monday 29 August 7.30pm
Friday 19 – Sunday 21 August 7.30pm and 9.30pm
Supported by
National Museum of Scotland
The Hub
David McLellan
Tickets £17.50
Supported by
Tickets £17.50
Supported by
1 hour 20 minutes approximately
1 hour approximately
eif.co.uk/rajasthan
eif.co.uk/gamelan
The evocative Chinese, Russian and Arab Dances from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Glière’s rollicking Rebellion from The Red Poppy and Borodin’s Prince Igor are among the music performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and choreographed by leading international fireworks artists Pyrovision.
Over 100,000 fireworks, tonnes of explosives and hundreds of firing sequences launched from Edinburgh’s iconic castle and intricately designed to enhance the music, combine to make this the biggest fireworks concert in the world.
Tickets Ross Theatre (seated) £27.50 Princes Street Gardens (standing) £12.50 45 minutes approximately
Around a quarter of a million people gather across the city and beyond to share in the grand Festival finale. Visit eif.co.uk/virginmoneyfireworks for up to the minute news, features and advice on how to make your evening the best possible. Due to the popularity of this event special ticket arrangements apply. Ross Theatre tickets go on sale with all other Festival tickets. An allocation of Princes Street Garden tickets will be on sale until 30 April, a second allocation will be released on 18 July and your final opportunity will be a limited number of tickets held until 10.00am on Saturday 3 September.
eif.co.uk/virginmoneyfireworks
Sponsored by
Philip Glass: Music meets Film
Philip Glass: Music meets Film
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Philip Glass Ensemble Michael Riesman Conductor Godfrey Reggio Director Philip Glass Music
A rare opportunity to experience the visionary films of Godfrey Reggio with live music performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble, conducted by Michael Riesman, and featuring Philip Glass on keyboards, making his Festival debut.
Koyaanisqatsi Life out of balance (1983) PG
Powaqqatsi Life in transformation (1987) U
The first in the trilogy caused a sensation when released and is now a cult classic. Reggio’s film is a simple but searing vision of an urban society moving at a frenetic pace, detached from the natural environment and overwhelmed by technology, in images at once stark and beautiful, assaulting and hypnotizing.
Reggio went out into the world, into parts of developing nations rarely seen on screen in any format, to capture the impact of technological progress on native cultures. Over six months, he and his crew journeyed to 12 countries, including India, Egypt, Brazil, Peru, Kenya, Nepal and Nigeria capturing ordinary people at work and play and revealing their complicated relationship with such new additions to their lives as cars and high-rise buildings.
‘a masterpiece.’ The New York Times
Reggio conceived these films over a period of 20 years using streams of raw, emotional and honest images, with no dialogue or linear narrative, to create three unique works of art and forging an entirely new form – concert cinema. One of the defining composers of our time, Glass composed each continuous soundtrack working with Reggio to choreograph the music and images precisely. Qatsi means life in the Hopi language and the trilogy is a powerful commentary on the planet we live on. Haunting and beautiful, the films explore the challenges and dangers humankind imposes on the world.
Powaqqatsi image: Northsound Ltd
The Qatsi Trilogy
Naqoyqatsi image: Getty One / Image Bank
Koyaanisqatsi image: 1983 IRE
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Naqoyqatsi Life as war (2002) PG Matt Haimovitz Cello Naqoyaqatsi takes us from a world controlled by the beauty of nature to a world dominated by technology and digital manipulation. Unlike the previous two films, Naqoyqatsi features little location work, but instead uses a method described by Godfrey Reggio as ‘image as location.’ Created shortly before September 11 2001, the film is considered somewhat prophetic in its depiction of modern society.
‘A stunning tour-de-force… A powerful emotional experience.’ Variety
‘Gorgeous!’ Time Out New York
Saturday 13 August 8.30pm
Sunday 14 August 8.30pm
Monday 15 August 8.30pm
The Edinburgh Playhouse
The Edinburgh Playhouse
The Edinburgh Playhouse
Tickets £35 £28 £22 £16 £14 £12
Tickets £35 £28 £22 £16 £14 £12
Tickets £35 £28 £22 £16 £14 £12
1 hour 30 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 35 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/qatsi1
eif.co.uk/qatsi2
eif.co.uk/qatsi3
‘ought to be hung in the Tate’ The Times ‘Reggio’s images haunt the viewer, accompanied by one of the most startling and original soundtracks ever written.’ The New York Times
Sponsored by
44 The Queen’s Hall Series
A ubiquitous and hugely popular component of the Festival for many decades, The Queen’s Hall Series in 2011 extends the experiences of audiences with contributions from many of the finest chamber music ensembles and soloists from Europe as well as India, Russia, Singapore and the USA. Explore well-known works by Beethoven, Ravel, Debussy, Mahler and Schubert and immerse yourself in the soundworlds of contemporary composers from China, Japan and Korea. Leave the bustle of the world’s festival city behind and start your day with an unforgettable Festival concert at The Queen’s Hall.
The Queen’s Hall Series is supported by
Edinburgh International Festival Benefactors eif.co.uk/queenshall /
Bo Skovhus Baritone Stefan Vladar Piano Mahler Lieder (selection) Der Abschied (from Das Lied von der Erde)
In 1907 German poet Hans Bethge published a volume of translations of ancient Chinese poetry entitled The Chinese Flute. Inspired by this, the following year Mahler started work on what has become one of his most famous song cycles, Das Lied von der Erde. Moved by the earthly beauty and transcendence of the poems, he produced one of his most personal works. Skovhus and Vladar perform the epic final movement Der Abschied ‘The Farewell’. The first half of this all-Mahler programme includes wonderful settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert such as Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft and Um Mitternacht as well as a selection of Mahler’s early songs including Scheiden und Meiden and Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Scandinavian baritone Bo Skovhus is one of the leading Lieder baritones of his generation. Bo Skovhus: ‘he was simply unforgettable. A great recital by a remarkable artist’ The Guardian
Melvyn Tan Piano Scarlatti Sonatas (selection) Cage Sonatas and Interludes
This concert is dedicated to two widely different styles of keyboard sound, contrasting the refined and elegant eighteenth-century sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti with the twentieth-century hybrid inventions of John Cage. One of Cage’s finest achievements, his Sonatas and Interludes is performed on a ‘prepared’ piano whose strings are fitted with odd items including bolts, screws and erasers. These alterations allow the instrument to create a wide variety of timbres which are used to evoke heroism, eroticism, fear or tranquillity, amongst other emotions, from the Indian tradition of rasa. Cage’s groundbreaking soundscape is framed by the very traditional sonata structure of which Scarlatti was an early master. Singapore-born British pianist Melvyn Tan is acclaimed for his performances of piano works from early to modern.
Xuefei Yang Guitar Originally from Beijing, now based in the UK, Xuefei Yang is acclaimed as one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. Born in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, when western music was banned, the story of Fei’s rise to the world stage is inspiring. She is a true pioneer; the first guitarist in China to enter a music school and the first to launch an international professional career. Fei performs a programme of eastern and western music including Invocation y Danse by Rodrigo, The Miller’s Dance by de Falla, Yi Dance by Huiran Wang, Sevilla by Albéniz, Carnival of Venice by Tarrega and works by Stephen Goss and Toru Takemitsu. ‘The guitar world has a new star.’ Gramophone (2008) ‘One of the most extraordinary instrumentalists in the world.’ The New York Sun
‘exuberant showmanship’ Independent on Sunday ‘a life affirming experience’ The Herald
Stefan Vladar: ‘left you breathless with undeniable excitement.’ The New York Times
Saturday 13 August 11.00am
Monday 15 August 11.00am
Tuesday 16 August 11.00am
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/tan
eif.co.uk/xuefei
1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/skovhus
Supported by
The Peter Diamand Trust
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Photo: Wai Tong Kwang
Photo: Elisabeth Novick
Photo: Copenhagen Artists
The Queen’s Hall Series
The Queen’s Hall Series
Supported by
Mr and Mrs James Anderson
46 The Queen’s Hall Series
T’ang Quartet Schubert Quartettsatz Barber String Quartet Aulis Sallinen Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik’s Funeral March Bright Sheng String Quartet No 3
From Barber’s String Quartet, and its famous Adagio, to Chinese composer Bright Sheng’s String Quartet No 3 inspired by his memory of Tibetan folk song, Singapore’s T’ang Quartet brings its artful blending of east and west, its fresh perspective on classic works and its winning stage personality to The Queen’s Hall in its first appearance at the Festival since 2007. ‘this ensemble is outstanding. These are plainly minds which share a wavelength’ The Evening Standard ‘a lively and excellent young ensemble’ The Spectator
Soloists of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Conductor Kent Nagano (for Fantaisie mécanique) Ravel Introduction and Allegro Unsuk Chin Fantaisie mécanique Schubert Octet
Soloists from the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal perform three contrasting chamber works. Ravel’s virtuosic Introduction and Allegro exploits shimmering sounds and timbres from the flute, clarinet, harp and strings. Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s lyrical music is performed by many major orchestras and soloists throughout the world. Her beguiling Fantaisie mécanique features trumpet, trombone, piano and a large battery of percussion. The Octet is Schubert’s largest chamber work and was inspired by Beethoven’s Septet. Schubert aficionados will recognise familiar themes from Der Wanderer and Die Freunde von Salamanka woven into this masterpiece. Unsuk Chin: ‘a formidable ear for sonority’ The Guardian
Angelika Kirchschlager Mezzo soprano Helmut Deutsch Piano Austrian mezzo soprano Angelika Kirchschlager enjoys an international career as one of the most acclaimed artists of her generation. In this concert she is joined by pianist Helmut Deutsch in a performance of songs by Brahms, Schubert and Mozart, music of which she is considered a foremost interpreter in the world today. Brahms’s folksong-inspired pieces, Schubert’s settings of Goethe’s Gretchen and Erlkönig, and Mozart’s beautifully simple Das Veilchen and dramatic Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte, are among the vocal gems offered in this recital. Angelika Kirchschlager: ‘a very fine imagination is at play, doing things with tone, colour and dynamics that are utterly beguiling.’ The Guardian ‘What a generous communicator is the vivacious Angelika Kirchschlager’ BBC Music Magazine
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Photo: Evy Ottermans
Photo: Nikolaus Karlinsky
Photo: Nicolas Ruel
Photo: T’ang Quartet
The Queen’s Hall Series
Belcea Quartet Haydn String Quartet Op 20 No 5 in F minor Mark-Anthony Turnage Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad Beethoven String Quartet Op 130 in B flat
The six quartets Opus 20, written in 1772, earned Haydn the nickname ‘father of the string quartet’. They are landmark pieces which were to help to define the genre for over 200 years. Along with one of Beethoven’s great late works, the Belcea Quartet performs a new addition to the string quartet repertoire, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad. Written for the Belcea Quartet, Turnage’s piece was inspired by the British rock band Led Zeppelin and the poetry of W.H. Auden. ‘radiant string playing, uncanny intercommunication and rare depth of feeling.’ Baltimore Sun ‘my pulse-rate tells me that they are not just on a par but maybe even top of the heap.’ Gramophone
‘One of the world’s finest lyric mezzo-sopranos’ The Times
This concert will be broadcast on 2 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
Wednesday 17 August 11.00am
Thursday 18 August 11.00am
Friday 19 August 11.00am
Saturday 20 August 11.00am
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/tang
eif.co.uk/sosm
eif.co.uk/kirchschlager
eif.co.uk/belcea
Sophie Koch Mezzo soprano Sophie Raynaud Piano French mezzo soprano Sophie Koch delighted audiences in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole at Festival 2010. This year she appears in recital with regular collaborator Sophie Raynaud in a programme that includes songs by Debussy, Duparc and Liszt alongside Schumann’s Liederkreis Opus 39. ‘Sophie Koch’s coquettish Concepcion… mischievous, wild or wistful, she had us hooked on every conniving word, while wrapping her colourful confection of male admirers around her little finger.’ The Scotsman, Festival 2010 This concert will be broadcast on 6 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
Osborne Weithaas Tetzlaff Trio
Amjad Ali Khan Sarod
Antje Weithaas Violin Tanja Tetzlaff Cello Steven Osborne Piano
Morning Ragas
Ravel Miroirs Sonata for Violin and Cello Piano Trio
One of India’s greatest musicians, the virtuoso Amjad Ali Khan plays a series of morning ragas on the sarod, a multi-stringed traditional Indian lute.
This trio of superb solo instrumentalists pays homage to Ravel with performances of three of his greatest works. Miroirs for solo piano comprises five sections, each dedicated to a member of the French impressionist group Les Apaches (literally the hooligans). His Sonata for Violin and Cello was dedicated to Debussy. The Piano Trio is a technical masterpiece, requiring extreme virtuosity from each performer, with the second movement, Pantoum, inspired by the Malayan poetry of the same name. Antje Weithaas: ‘astounds with her clear, elastic, and unbelievably precise style of playing, which has a splendiferous beauty that shines’ Ruhr Nachrichten Bochum Tanja Tetzlaff: ‘beguiling… refined and finely tuned’ The Arts Desk
Photo: Rosa-Frank.com
Photo: Dilip Bhatia
Photo: Patrick Nin
Photo: Marco Borggreve
The Queen’s Hall Series
Ragas are described in ancient Indian texts as ‘a combination of tones… with beautiful illuminating graces’. It is commonly believed that ragas have their maximum effect when played at the time of day for which they were conceived. Amjad Ali Khan takes you on a journey from Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall to the colours and sounds of India. ‘Widely considered to be the greatest sarodist active today’ The Washington Post ‘Amjad Ali Khan’s name represents the sure-fire guarantee of quality.’ Folk Roots Magazine
Christoph Prégardien Tenor Julian Prégardien Tenor Michael Gees Piano Two exemplary lyric tenors, father and son Christoph and Julian Prégardien, join forces with Christoph’s long-term collaborator Michael Gees. In this recital they perform a selection of well-loved and lesser-known works, both solo songs and duets, by Schumann, Brahms, Mozart and Schubert. Christoph Prégardien and Michael Gees: ‘masterful control of pace and mood, colour and nuance… an evening to rejoice in human creativity and artistry’ Opera Today Julian Prégardien: ‘The voice is full of sonority, translucent sheen.’ Ekkehard Ochs This concert will be broadcast on 8 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
‘When Amjad Ali Khan performs, he carries with him a deep human spirit, a warm feeling and a sense of caring.’ His Holiness the Dalai Lama
‘I thought the roof would come off yesterday at the eruption of applause from the capacity audience after the first half of Steven Osborne’s recital… What a concert… A tour de force.’ The Herald, Festival 2010 This concert will be broadcast on 7 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
Monday 22 August 11.00am
Tuesday 23 August 11.00am
Wednesday 24 August 11.00am
Thursday 25 August 11.00am
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/trio
eif.co.uk/khan
1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/koch
Supported by
Zachs-Adam Family
With additional support from
Simon and Swati Best
49
Photo: Johanna Aumüller
48 The Queen’s Hall Series
1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/pregardien
50 The Queen’s Hall Series
Olli Mustonen Piano
Kopelman Quartet
Schumann Kinderszenen Scriabin Sonata No 10 Vers la flamme Rodion Shchedrin Preludes and fugues (selection) Martinu˚ Fantasie et toccata
Borodin String Quartet No 1 Prokofiev String Quartet No 2 Shostakovich String Quartet No 4
Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen returns to the Festival with an enticing and varied programme. Schumann’s Kinderszenen are fresh, playful pieces capturing the innocence of childhood, Scriabin’s Vers la flamme employs exotic harmonies and thrilling tremolos to create a fiery brilliance. Czech composer Martinu˚ wrote his dark and troubled Fantaisie et toccata during the Second World War. ‘He gives his whole body to the performance every time… He gives his soul too. He is a living dream of pianism, having broken through an expressive barrier that other players do not know exists.’ The Sunday Times
A programme in which the Russian folk influences in Borodin’s String Quartet No 1, the use of Kabardino-Balkar folk themes in Prokofiev’s String Quartet No 2 and the Middle Eastern Jewish melodies of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No 4 demonstrate a pervasive influence of eastern cultures in the works of these important Russian composers. The Kopelman Quartet made its mark at the Festival in 2003. The Scotsman referred to their appearance as having ‘every hallmark of distinguished musicianship’ and ‘great humanity in the finesse of their playing’. More recently The Strad described them as ‘formidable’ and said they were ‘transported to a place where music meets the soul and transcends all earthly concerns’.
Jean-Guihen Queyras Cello Alexandre Tharaud Piano Debussy Cello Sonata Kodály Sonata for solo cello Marais Suite in D minor Poulenc Cello Sonata
Jean-Guihen Queyras in partnership with Alexandre Tharaud performs repertoire for piano and cello that contrasts the poise and balance of French Baroque master Marin Marais with the fiery passion of Kodály’s immense Sonata for solo cello. ‘Elegance is the duo’s keyword.’ The Vancouver Sun ‘unified in their spontaneity and finesse… The element of surprise is winningly deployed’ The Daily Telegraph This concert will be broadcast on 13 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
This concert will be broadcast on 9 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
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Photo: CLB Management
Photo: CLB Management
Photo: AMC Artists
Photo: Kim Hensen / Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
The Queen’s Hall Series
Alexandre Tharaud Piano Couperin Pièces de clavecin (selection) Satie Gnossiennes Nos 1, 3 and 5 Ravel Sonatine Gérard Pesson Butterfly’s Note-Book (extracts) Debussy Preludes Book 1
French pianist Alexandre Tharaud is widely acclaimed for his championing of French piano music from the Baroque to the contemporary. This concert includes some of the genre’s most famous works including Couperin’s Le Tic-Toc-Choc, Satie’s Gamelan-inspired Gnossiennes, Ravel’s Sonatine and the first book of Debussy’s Preludes. Tharaud also introduces Festival audiences to the work of Gérard Pesson in a selection of pieces from Butterfly’s Note-Book. ‘his sound clear, shining and sensuous; altogether breathtakingly beautiful.’ The Observer This concert will be broadcast on 14 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
Friday 26 August 11.00am
Saturday 27 August 11.00am
Monday 29 August 11.00am
Tuesday 30 August 11.00am
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/mustonen
eif.co.uk/kopelman
eif.co.uk/queyras
eif.co.uk/tharaud
The Queen’s Hall Series
Chanticleer
Photo: Astrid Karger
Arditti Quartet
Chanticleer, the Grammy award-winning male vocal ensemble from San Francisco, was the first group of its kind to enter the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. In its Festival debut, the group performs works from the Spanish Renaissance, Richard Strauss’s Drei Männerchöre, songs by American composers including Eric Whitacre and Spring Dreams by Chinese composer Chen Yi. ‘The singing of Chanticleer is breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, variety of color and swagger of style.’ The Boston Globe ‘Precise, pure and deeply felt singing.’ The New York Times ‘Chanticleer fascinates and enthralls for much the same reason a fine chocolate or a Rolls Royce does: through luxurious perfection.’ Los Angeles Times ‘The world’s reigning male chorus.’ The New Yorker ‘There are a number of composers these days trying to forge a musical link between East and West, but few who bring as much pizzazz to the task as Chen Yi. The colorful genius of Chen Yi’s writing shines through.’ San Francisco Chronicle
Toshio Hosokawa Blossoming Dai Fujikura Flare (EIF co-commission) Takemitsu A Way a Lone Ravel String Quartet
The world renowned Arditti Quartet returns to the Festival to perform Ravel’s famous String Quartet alongside string quartets by Japan’s finest composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Toru Takemitsu’s A Way a Lone was inspired by James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and contains many musical references on a journey heavy with symbolism of the sea, rivers and water. Toshio Hosokawa’s Blossoming and a new work by Dai Fujikura, co-commissioned by the Festival, demonstrates the ensemble’s commitment to contemporary Japanese chamber music. ‘The world’s pre-eminent contemporary music quartet.’ The Guardian
Diana Damrau Soprano Xavier de Maistre Harp Star of opera stages around the world, acclaimed for her stratospheric soprano range, musical intelligence and dramatic talent, Diana Damrau performs with Xavier de Maistre, celebrated soloist and harpist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The intimate Queen’s Hall provides a wonderful setting for this concert featuring the music of Debussy, Fauré, Chausson, Duparc and Richard Strauss. ‘She is simply one of the best singers in the world’ New York Sun ‘Xavier de Maistre is a virtuoso of the highest order, profoundly musical and capable of realizing a remarkable range of nuance.’ Gramophone This concert will be broadcast on 15 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
Yundi Piano Chopin Nocturnes (selection) Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante Four Mazurkas Op 33 Sonata No 2 Polonaise in A flat Op 53
Winner of the Chopin International Piano Competition in 2000, Yundi is that competition’s youngest ever winner. Known in China as the ‘Prince of the Piano’, Yundi makes his Festival debut in this final concert of The Queen’s Hall Series. ‘a remarkable pianist’ The New York Times ‘an authority that will make lesser mortals pale with envy and admiration.’ Gramophone ‘Yundi’s touch and tone truly showcased his extraordinary skills’ Bangkok Post
‘They are way beyond praise.’ The Daily Telegraph
This concert will be broadcast on 16 September 2011 as BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert.
‘The Ardittis performed at a dizzyingly top class level’ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Wednesday 31 August 11.00am
Thursday 1 September 11.00am
Friday 2 September 11.00am
Saturday 3 September 11.00am
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
The Queen’s Hall
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
Tickets £29 £26 £21 £17.50 £11 £8
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
1 hour 45 minutes approximately
eif.co.uk/arditti
eif.co.uk/damrau
1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/chanticleer
Supported by
Dunard Fund
53
Photo: Michael Tammaro / Virgin Classics 2007
The Queen’s Hall Series
Photo: Lisa Kohler
52
Supported by
John-Paul and Joanna Temperley
1 hour 45 minutes approximately eif.co.uk/yundi
Supported by
The Inches Carr Trust
Visual Arts
Hiroshi Sugimoto PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART
Lightning Fields and Photogenic Drawings Curated by Simon Groom
Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto is one of the world’s leading photographers. This exhibition presents, for the first time in Europe, works from two of his most visually poetic series, Lightning Fields and Photogenic Drawings. Together they demonstrate Sugimoto’s exploration of the very nature of photography. Using a Van der Graaff generator to induce electrical charges on photographic film, Lightning Fields is an extraordinary series of images that captures in minute detail the remarkable effects of light particles not visible to the human eye. The results evoke a fascinating range of interpretations, from powerful lightning strikes to strange primordial ‘life-forms’.
Photo: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lightning Fields 168 (detail) © The artist
The Photogenic Drawings series was inspired by the innovative techniques of 19th century photographer Henry Fox Talbot, whose pioneering ‘photogenic drawings’ used light-sensitive paper to produce a paper negative. Working from Fox Talbot’s original negatives, Sugimoto’s vastly scaled-up images are startling in their detail, with a haunting, almost painterly power. By returning to the very origins of photography, the series demonstrates how capable the art of mechanical reproduction is in revealing powerful inner phenomena.
Towards the Light Colour woodcuts from Britain and Japan To complement the exhibition, this free display draws on the print collections of both the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Scotland, examining the influence of traditional Japanese colour woodcut techniques on artists working in Britain and Japan during the early 20th century.
Thursday 4 – Wednesday 31 August Open daily 10.00am – 6.00pm Thursday 1 – Sunday 18 September Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Tickets £7 £5 concessions eif.co.uk/sugimoto
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56 Visual Arts
Get Involved
57
Get Involved
Heirlooms PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DOVECOT STUDIOS
Thursday 4 August – Sunday 4 September Open daily 10.30am – 5.30pm Dovecot Studios Free eif.co.uk/heirlooms
Historical exhibition curated by Jonathan Hope and Ben Divall Contemporary display and exchange coordinated by Elizabeth Guest
Linking fine historical textiles with innovative contemporary craft practice, Heirlooms celebrates the centuries-old exchange between Indian and Javanese textile traditions. Bright, colourfast cotton cloths and highly-prized silk double ikats were produced in India to suit the specific tastes and sophisticated requirements of the intended markets and were traded with gold, pepper, sandalwood and other spices. The designs of locally produced Javanese batiks were, in turn, influenced by such prestigious imported cloths. Featuring rarely seen work from the Jonathan Hope collection, Heirlooms emphasises the exquisite skill, imagination and creativity embodied in fine textiles and their continued importance to contemporary visual culture. A display of three specially commissioned works, inspired by visits to India, illustrates the creative impact of Indian textile traditions on leading Scottish textile artists. Indian weaving traditions are reflected in the work of Naomi Robertson and Sarah Sumsion while Deirdre Nelson’s work explores kantha embroidery.
Visit eif.co.uk/INsider for more.
In association with
Photo: iStockphoto.com
Get in with the IN crowd with our initiative for young people in their 20s and 30s. We have partnered up with The List, Scotland’s leading events guide, so you can have exclusive access to ‘money can’t buy’ experiences including invitations to dress rehearsals or preview performances, cool parties and events that get under the skin and behind the scenes of the Festival. For only £25, get the real INsider’s view, with substantial discounts for selected events.
The Edinburgh Festival Chorus is one of the finest in the world. Made up of enthusiastic amateur singers from across Scotland, it gives spectacular performances with internationally renowned conductors, orchestras and soloists. Every year we hold an open rehearsal so come along, find out more and decide if singing in the Chorus could be for you. You can then audition to become a member of the Chorus and may find yourself taking part in Festival 2012! For further information visit www.eif.co.uk/chorus
Photo: Claudine Quinn
The Edinburgh Festival Chorus
Speed of Light Speed of Light is a major Edinburgh International Festival 2012 commission, one of Scotland’s signature contributions to the Olympic cultural programme. Conceived and produced by NVA, the transformation of Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh’s iconic mountain, combines innovative public art and sport. Using energy-harvesting technologies to illuminate walkers and runners, Speed of Light harnesses collective action to create a beautifully layered night-time animation. Additionally, a daytime ultra marathon, 21 x 21, will take place over 21 days exploring the power of mind over matter in endurance running. Why not take part in the making of the work? Simply register your interest at www.SpeedofLight2012.org Funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to create a cultural legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK.
With additional support from
Creative Scotland and Dunard Fund
‘Speed of Light’, NVA. Photo: Toby Williams
Late 16th – early 17th century Indian ceremonial cloth. Jonathan Hope Collection. Photo: Alicia Bruce
Come on IN
58 Continental Shifts
Continental Shifts
Continental Shifts
59
The Hub Tickets £6 1 hour approximately
Why China isn’t the New West Professor Jonathan Spence explores the relationship between China and the west against the backdrop of China’s continued growth and increasing power on the world stage. Spence, one of the world’s leading authorities on Chinese history, is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University.
Photo: iStockphoto.com
eif.co.uk/continental
Continental Shifts is a series of talks and debates on Festival themes and ideas, presented in association with the British Council, The Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Confucius Institute for Scotland. A diverse range of Festival performers, cultural commentators, international academics and intellectuals come together to discuss perspectives and ideas effecting our understanding and shifting perceptions of the global landscape with special reference to Asia.
In association with
Global Philosophies
A Changing India
Divided
Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre joins Tu Weiming, Professor of Philosophy at Peking University and writer, philosopher and broadcaster Dr Richard Holloway to discuss changes and shifts in religious faiths and belief systems in the east and west.
The eminent author and editor of the outstanding Indian weekly publication Tehelka, Tarun J. Tejpal, is joined by award-winning journalist and literary critic Shoma Chaudhury in discussion of the dramatic shifts taking place within India and its emergence as an influential world power.
Tim Supple, director of One Thousand and One Nights, joins Korean cultural specialist Dr Michael Shinn and Indian and Bollywood expert Dr Rachel Dwyer to explore the cultural impact of partition on nations.
Saturday 27 August 5.00pm
Saturday 13 August 2.30pm
All the World’s a Stage Korean theatre director Tae-Suk Oh, theatre critic Michael Billington and Shakespeare scholar Professor Alexander C.Y. Huang discuss the enduring legacy of Shakespeare’s plays. Monday 15 August 2.30pm
Wednesday 31 August 2.30pm
Monday 22 August 2.30pm
How Chinese Money is Changing the World In this keynote lecture, eminent author and journalist James Kynge analyses the history of, and recent developments in, the Chinese economy and the impact its growth is having across the world. Editor of China Confidential, a specialist research service at the Financial Times, he has lived in China for over 20 years, with experience as a Reuters reporter and as the FT Bureau Chief in Beijing.
Song of the Earth To complement Scottish Ballet’s Festival performances of Kenneth MacMiIlan’s Song of the Earth, based on Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, historian Dr Kirsteen McCue and Chinese poet Yang Lian join Scottish Ballet’s artistic director Ashley Page to discuss the cycle’s influence and impact. Presented in association with the Scottish Poetry Library. Sunday 28 August 2.30pm
Heirlooms Textile curator Ben Divall, Asian textiles and tapestry collector Jonathan Hope and Indian writer and artist Shakti Maira discuss the unique threads of history and tradition to be found in the current exhibition of rare south east Asian textiles at Dovecot Studios. Thursday 1 September 2.30pm
Ritual and Memory
Wednesday 24 August 2.30pm
Transmission
India
Princess Bari choreographer, Eun-Me Ahn, Anglo-Indian author Anita Nair and writer and biographer Jonathan Clements, who has written extensively on Japan and China, explore the influences and values that have emerged from within the popular cultures of India, Japan, China and Korea.
Dr Sashi Tharoor will explore the changing position of India in a modern globalised world. Currently a member of the Indian Parliament, Dr Tharoor is also a prolific author, columnist and journalist.
Tuesday 16th August 2.30pm
Saturday 27 August 2.30pm
Contemporary Chinese Thought
French Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola joins Indian writer Swati Chopra and German anthropologist Dr Rita Langer in a wide-ranging discussion exploring the poignancy of lost and living traditions, rituals and cultural memory in Vietnam, India and south east Asia. Friday 2 September 2.30pm
Professor Wang Hui from Tsinghua University Beijing explores contemporary Chinese thought as the country attempts to balance a changing position within the global market and reconcile this position with traditional cultural values. Monday 29 August 2.30pm
60 Conversations
Fringe Prize, Masterclasses and more
Philip Glass
Danish baritone Bo Skovhus has graced the stages of some of the world’s great opera houses and is acknowledged as one of the finest Lieder performers of his generation. He talks about the various roles he has played and the music of which he is such an acclaimed interpreter.
Composer Philip Glass has received worldwide recognition for his work in opera, film, dance, theatre and instrumental music. He talks about The Qatsi Trilogy, the result of a 20-year collaboration with filmmaker Godfrey Reggio. Monday 15 August 12 noon
Saturday 13 August 5.00pm
Melvyn Tan
Jonathan Harvey is one of Britain’s greatest living composers. He discusses his remarkable triptych of works, Body Mandala, Speakings and …towards a Pure Land – performed together for the first time as part of Festival 2011 – and the eastern spiritual philosophies that inspired them. Sunday 14 August 12 noon
Wu Hsing-Kuo
Singapore-born British classical pianist Melvyn Tan has earned a global reputation as a groundbreaking performer and recording artist. He discusses his inspirations and artistic vision.
Writer and director Stephen Earnhart discusses his latest work, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, an interdisciplinary theatrical production based on Haruki Murakami’s best-selling novel, which combines performance, music, puppetry, dance and film. Monday 22 August 5.00pm
Ng Yu-Ying, Ang Chek Meng, Lionel Tan and Leslie Tan talk about their work as one of Asia’s foremost classical string quartets.
One of India’s foremost dance companies, The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, offers a dance class for young professional dancers to share the skills and philosophy of their art. Thursday 25 August 3.30pm Dance Base Tickets £12 eif.co.uk/danceclass
Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet enjoys universal acclaim for its interpretations of contemporary classical music. Join group members Irvine Arditti, Ashot Sarkissjan, Ralf Ehlers, and Lucas Fels for a conversation about their work. Wednesday 31 August 5.00pm
Shen Wei
Monday 15 August 5.00pm
The T’ang Quartet
Professional Dance Class: The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
Chinese-born American choreographer Shen Wei is a distinctive voice in contemporary dance. He talks about the unique blend of eastern and western cultures and influences at the heart of Re, his exhilarating trilogy. Saturday 3 September 5.00pm
Tuesday 16 August 12 noon
Contemporary Legend Theatre’s Wu Hsing-Kuo talks about adapting western classical plays, re-interpreting the Peking Opera artform, and his performance of King Lear.
Trading with the West John Rendall of HSBC, technology entrepreneur Ian Ritchie CBE, economic historian Professor Catherine Schenk and John Callaghan, Chief Executive of Indonesia’s Hero Supermarkets debate the history and future of Scottish-Asian trade using archive film clips. Presented by Moving Conversations®.
Photo: Dirk Bleicker
Photo: Copenhagen Artists
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Bo Skovhus
Jonathan Harvey
Masterclasses
Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize Photo: Rosa-Frank.com
Conversations with Artists
Master Oh Korea’s leading playwright, Tae-Suk Oh brings the Mokhwa Repertory Company to Festival 2011 with an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Master Oh leads a workshop with young actors, exploring his unique approach to performance. Sunday 14 August 5.00pm
Christoph Prégardien and Michael Gees International tenor Christoph Prégardien and pianist Michael Gees perform together in a recital at The Queen’s Hall in Festival 2011. In this Masterclass, they work with young singers and accompanists to offer a rare insight into the extensive teaching and training required to become a world-class recitalist. Tuesday 23 August 2.30pm
Malcolm Martineau
Friday 19 August 2.30pm Filmhouse Tickets £6 1 hour 30 minutes approximately
The Road North
What does it take to become one of the most sought-after accompanists of your generation? Edinburgh-born Malcolm Martineau has achieved worldwide recognition accompanying some of the world’s finest soloists. He works with aspiring young pianists, revealing the high level of skill, technique and artistry required to reach the very pinnacle of the discipline.
This intimate presentation of works-in-progress offers a glimpse into the creative process and an opportunity to witness the genesis of new work. Both of these artists were jointly awarded the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize in 2010 in order to develop new ideas or directions.
Meow Meow Renowned for her edgy, post-feminist cabaret, Meow Meow explores many different genres in her performance, working with an extraordinarily diverse range of artists, performers and companies in her search for innovative artistic experiences. Meow Meow will explore her work as a singer and performer in this work-in-progress. Wednesday 17 & Thursday 18 August 2.30pm 1 hour approximately
Glasgow Girls
Pachamama Productions
Following her success at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival Cora Bissett, director of Roadkill, and Pachamama Productions explore how theatre can successfully merge political debate and real life stories to create compelling, insightful and thought-provoking experiences. Join them as they develop ideas for a new Scottish musical based on the lives of young women living in Glasgow whose activism revealed the poor treatment of asylum-seekers in that city. Thursday 25 & Friday 26 August 2.30pm 40 minutes approximately
The Hub Wednesday 31 August 12 noon
Scottish poets Alec Finlay and Ken Cockburn discuss with Robyn Marsack their word-map of Scotland, The Road North, inspired by the writings and philosophy of the great 17th century Japanese poet Basho¯. Presented in association with the Scottish Poetry Library.
Tickets £6 eif.co.uk/fringeprize
Education and Outreach
Sunday 14 August 2.30pm The Hub
Sunday 28 August 12 noon
The Hub
Tickets £6
The Hub
Tickets £12
Supported by
1 hour approximately
Tickets £6
1 hour approximately
Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust
eif.co.uk/conversations
1 hour approximately
eif.co.uk/masterclasses
61
In 2011 the Festival’s education and outreach programme works with over 1,200 young people throughout the year. A diverse range of creative learning projects involves pupils from primary and secondary schools across Edinburgh, offering them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the vibrant cultures of Indonesia, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and India. The resulting work can be seen in The Hub and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh from August 2011. Visit eif.co.uk/education for more information.
62 Festival City
Festival City
Festival City 63
Festival venues
Edinburgh’s Summer Festivals 2011 Edinburgh International Film Festival 15 – 26 June +44 ( 0 )131 228 4051 edfilmfest.org.uk Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival 22 – 31 July +44 ( 0 )131 467 5200 edinburghjazzfestival.com Edinburgh Art Festival 4 August – 4 September +44 ( 0 )131 226 6558 edinburghartfestival.com Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 5 – 27 August +44 ( 0 )131 225 1188 edintattoo.co.uk Edinburgh Festival Fringe 5 – 29 August Admin: +44 ( 0 )131 226 0026 (until mid-June) Box office: +44 ( 0 )131 226 0000 edfringe.com
Edinburgh International Book Festival 13 – 29 August +44 ( 0 )131 718 5666 edbookfest.co.uk Edinburgh Mela 2 – 4 September +44 ( 0 )131 332 2888 edinburgh-mela.co.uk edinburghfestivals.co.uk The online one stop shop for Edinburgh’s 12 major festivals. The place to go to find news, listings and the Festivals iPhone application. Official Edinburgh Festivals Map Pick up a copy of the official festivals map, available at most venues around town.
VisitScotland For all your accommodation and tourism information needs. +44 (0)845 22 55 121 Info@visitscotland.com visitscotland.com
Festival Beds Accommodation in private homes in the city and surrounding area. +44 ( 0 )131 225 1101 admin@festivalbeds.co.uk festivalbeds.co.uk
Traveline travelinescotland.com
National Rail Enquiries nationalrail.co.uk
Partner Hotels 1 Caledonian Hilton Edinburgh (A3) 4 Macdonald Holyrood Hotel (E3) Princes Street 81 Holyrood Road Edinburgh EH1 2AB Edinburgh EH8 8AU +44 ( 0 )131 222 8888 +44 ( 0 )131 550 4500 caledonianhiltonedinburgh.co.uk macdonaldhotels.co.uk/holyrood
Getting around… Lothian Buses lothianbuses.com
The Edinburgh Playhouse: 1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 15A, 16, 19, 22, 25, 26, 34, 44, 49
C3
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Nicolson Street
D4
The Queen’s Hall Clerk Street
E5
The Edinburgh Playhouse Greenside Place
E1
Royal Lyceum Theatre Grindlay Street
B3
Usher Hall Lothian Road
B3
Ross Theatre Princes Street Gardens
B3
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Leven Street
B5
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Belford Road
A3
Dovecot Studios Infirmary Street
E3
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street
D4
Other festivals
Visiting the city…
Dovecot Studios, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, The Queen’s Hall: 3, 3A, 5, 7, 8, 14, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35 (Museum only), 37, 47, X47, 49
The Hub Edinburgh’s Festival Centre, Royal Mile
Filmhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre, The Usher Hall: 1, 10, 11, 15, 15A, 16, 24, 34 The Hub, Dance Base: 23, 27, 41, 42, 67 (stop on George IV Bridge, 5 minutes walk from The Hub or Dance Base) King’s Theatre, Edinburgh: 10, 11, 15, 15A, 16, 23, 27, 45
2 The Glasshouse (E1) 2 Greenside Place, Edinburgh EH1 3AA +44 ( 0 )131 525 8325 theetoncollection.co.uk/glasshouse
Mint Hotel Tower of London 7 Pepys Street London EC3N 4AF +44 ( 0 )207 709 1000 minthotel.com/toweroflondon
3 Hotel du Vin, Edinburgh (D4) 11 Bristo Place Edinburgh EH1 1EZ +44 ( 0 )131 247 4900 hotelduvin.com/hotels/edinburgh
Look out for exclusive offers from our Festival partners at eif.co.uk/offers
Jazz Festival Box Office The Hub
C3
Tattoo Office Market Street
D2
Festival Fringe Box Office Royal Mile
D3
Book Festival Charlotte Square
A2
Tourist Information Centre Princes Street
D2
64 Booking Information
How to Book, Access and Tickets How to Book Online eif.co.uk Telephone 0131 473 2000 Overseas +44 (0)131 473 2000 Hub Tickets, The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE Wednesday 23 March Priority booking opens for Festival Benefactors, Patrons and Friends by fax, post and online. Saturday 2 April Public booking opens by telephone, post, in person and online. Please note: a transaction fee of £1 will be added to bookings by phone, post and in person. There is no transaction fee for internet bookings.
Hub Tickets Opening Hours Saturday 2 April – Thursday 21 July Monday to Saturday 10.00am to 5.00pm Friday 22 July – Saturday 3 September Monday to Saturday 9am to 7.30pm, Sunday 10.00am to 7.30pm Sunday 4 September 1.00pm to 6.00pm
Buy your tickets at our venues From Monday 4 April you can buy tickets at The Edinburgh Playhouse, The Queen’s Hall, Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Usher Hall, and from Tuesday 26 April at the Festival Theatre. Virgin Money Fireworks Concert – for ticketing information see page 41.
Booking Information 65
Access Information and Discounts
Ticket Discounts
Venue and Access Information
Wheelchair users, people with severe mobility difficulties or with visual or hearing impairment can buy seats/spaces in the area of the venue most appropriate to their needs for the lowest (unrestricted view) ticket price for that performance. Your companion’s ticket will be free. For more information or to claim an access discount please call the Access line +44 (0)131 473 2089 or email access@eif.co.uk. To enable us to determine your requirements and assist you fully we are unable to offer this service online.
Young People and Students – Half Price Now!
A full access guide with information about parking, travel to venues and accessible performances is available at www.eif.co.uk/access where it can be viewed online or as a Word document.
Saturday 13 August
Saturday 27 August
Why China isn’t the New West 2.30pm Speech-to-Text Reported
India 2.30pm Speech-to-Text Reported
Bo Skovhus, Conversation 5.00pm Speech-to-Text Reported
Semiramide 6.00pm British Sign Language interpreted Audio Described 5.45pm Performance supertitled
Sunday 14 August
Monday 29 August
King Lear 8.00pm Touch Tour 6.45pm Talking programme 7.30pm Performance supertitled
Contemporary Chinese Thought 2.30pm Speech-to-Text Reported Tuesday 30 August
Monday 15 August All the World’s a Stage 2.30pm Speech-to-Text Reported The Tempest 7.30pm Touch Tour 6.15pm Talking programme 7.00pm Performance supertitled Monday 22 August Global Philosophies 2.30pm Speech-to-Text Reported The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Conversation 5.00pm Speech-to-Text Reported British Sign Language interpreted Tuesday 23 August The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 7.30pm British Sign Language interpreted Wednesday 24 August How Chinese Money is Changing the World 2.30pm Speech-to-Text Reported
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 7.00pm Touch Tour 5.45pm Talking programme 6.30pm Additional supertitles for English dialogue Wednesday 31 August One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 2.00pm Touch Tour 12.45pm Talking programme 1.30pm Additional supertitles for English dialogue One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 7.00pm Touch Tour 5.45pm Talking programme 6.30pm Additional supertitles for English dialogue
Young people can buy any ticket at 50% off on selected performances as soon as booking opens. Under 18s and all students in full time education. Standby – Half Price from Wednesday 3 August 50% off all tickets for senior citizens, unemployed people, Young Scot, Equity and MU card holders. Are you under 26? Tickets for only £8 on the day Pay only £8 on the day for selected performances, for everyone 26 years old and under. Proof of age is required and you have to buy them in person from Hub Tickets. Group Bookings available now We are delighted to offer great benefits for bookings of 10 or more tickets. - 10% discount on all Festival tickets for selected performances. - The opportunity to make flexible ticket reservations. - Dedicated Group Sales Staff to assist you. Please call +44 (0)131 473 2089 or email groupbookings@eif.co.uk One Thousand and One Nights Buy for both parts and save 10%.
Ticket Prices
Saturday 3 September Re-Triptych 7.30pm Audio Described 7.15pm
Ticket prices are listed under each event, full details of ticket prices and areas of the house can be found at eif.co.uk/tickets
If you would like to request a copy of the Festival brochure in Braille, on CD or in large print please email access@eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2089, a full version of the access guide is included in these formats. Please note: if you require the use of the loop or Sennheiser systems please check with Hub Tickets when booking. There are some areas in the theatres where the signal is not available. Hub Tickets staff will ensure that you are seated in the correct area to receive the best signal. Assistance animals are welcome in all of our venues. The Queen’s Hall, 85-89 Clerk Street - Ramped access. Wheelchair spaces, accessible toilet and café/bar on ground floor. - Gallery only accessible by stairs. - Induction loop in stalls and Sennheiser infra-red system with receivers available from the cloakroom. Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 13-29 Nicolson Street - Ramped access at front and level access at side entrance. - Wheelchair spaces in stalls on floor 1. - Lift to all levels with accessible toilet on floors 1, 2 and 3. - Sennheiser infra-red system with receivers available from the cloakroom. - Café/bar on ground floor with lift access to other bars. - Braille signage throughout.
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, 2 Leven Street - Ramped access adjacent to the Box Office with level access at side entrance, please ring door bell for access. - Wheelchair spaces in the stalls with accessible toilet on stalls level. - Sennheiser infra-red system with receivers available from main foyer. - Bars only accessible by stairs, please ask staff for refreshments before the performance to have them brought to you. The Edinburgh Playhouse, 18-22 Greenside Place - Level access to circle level which is on the ground floor, with wheelchair spaces and accessible toilet on circle level. - Steep stairs only to balcony and stalls levels. - Sennheiser infra-red system, headsets available from staff. - Disabled toilet down stairs to mezzanine level. - Bar and refreshment kiosk on ground level. Royal Lyceum Theatre, Grindlay Street - Lift to all levels and bars. - Wheelchair spaces in stalls with accessible toilet on ground floor. - Induction loop and Hearing enhancement system available from information and shop area. The Usher Hall, Lothian Road - Level access from Grindlay street. - Lift to all levels. - Wheelchair spaces and accessible toilets in stalls and grand circle. - Stalls café/bar fully accessible, upper circle bar accessible by lift. National Museum Scotland, Chambers Street - Level access from Chambers Street at the ‘Arrivals Hall’ entrance. - Lift, with voice announcement to all levels. - Accessible toilets at street level ‘Arrivals Hall’ entrance. - Wheelchair spaces.
The Hub, Castlehill - Level, ramped or lift access to all public areas. - Wheelchair spaces in Main Hall. - Induction loop in Hub Tickets and the Main Hall. - Accessible toilet on ground floor and another via stair lift. - Bar and café on ground floor. - Lift with voice announcement and Braille buttons. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Belford Road - Level access at rear entrance from car park. - Lift access to all areas of the Gallery. - Accessible toilet at rear entrance. - Café and shop on level one, can be accessed by lift. - Induction loop in Gallery shop. Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street - Level access from street level at the front of the building. - Lift access to all galleries. - Accessible toilets on all levels. Ross Theatre, Princes Street Gardens - Level access to the Gardens and Ross Theatre approximately 200 metres from the King’s Stable Road entrance. Please arrive before 8.00pm. - Wheelchair spaces available in the Ross Theatre and Princes Street Gardens. Please tell the box office if you would like to use either of these areas when you book your tickets. - Accessible toilets in the gardens and behind the Ross Theatre. - Please note that the gardens become very crowded and combined with the noisy fireworks may make this event unsuitable for assistance animals. Please visit eif.co.uk/virginmoneyfireworks for most up-to-date information on transport and parking advice for the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert.
66 Festival Diary
Venue
Festival Diary 67
Fri 12 August
The Queen’s Hall Series Clerk Street
Mon 15 August
Tue 16 August
Wed 17 August
Venue
Thu 18 August
Fri 19 August
Sat 20 August
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
Melvyn Tan (p45)
Xuefei Yang (p45)
T’ang Quartet (p46)
The Queen’s Hall Series Clerk Street
11.00am
Bo Skovhus, Stefan Vladar (p44)
Soloists of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (p46)
Angelika Kirchschlager, Helmut Deutsch (p47)
Sat 13 August
Sun 14 August
R WS T H WC C
LF WS T H WC C
2.30pm
12 noon
12 noon
12 noon
2.30pm
Continental Shifts: Why China isn’t the New West (p58)
Conversations: Jonathan Harvey (p60)
Conversations: Philip Glass (p60)
Conversations: The T’ang Quartet (p60)
Meow Meow (p61)
5.00pm Conversations: Bo Skovhus (p60)
2.20pm
2.30pm
2.30pm
Conversations: Wu Hsing-Kuo (p60)
Continental Shifts: All the World’s a Stage (p58)
Continental Shifts: Transmission (p58)
5.00pm
5.00pm
Masterclass: Master Oh (p61)
Conversations: Melvyn Tan (p60)
Tue 23 August
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
Belcea Quartet (p47)
Sophie Koch, Sophie Raynaud (p48)
Osborne Weithaas Tetzlaff Trio (p48)
2.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
2.30pm
2.30pm
Meow Meow (p61)
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan (p40)
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan (p40)
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan (p40)
Continental Shifts: Global Philosophies (p58)
9.30pm
9.30pm
9.30pm
5.00pm
Masterclass: Christoph Prégardien and Michael Gees (p61)
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan (p40)
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan (p40)
Yogyakarta Court Gamelan (p40)
Conversations: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p60)
7.30pm
2.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p18)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p18)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p18)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p18)
Other Venues (See entry for access details)
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Leven Street R L WS H WC
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Nicolson Street
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
The Tempest (p16)
The Tempest (p16)
The Tempest (p16)
The Tempest (p16)
Mokwha Repertory Company
Mokwha Repertory Company
Mokwha Repertory Company
Mokwha Repertory Company
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
The Peony Pavilion (p6)
The Peony Pavilion (p6)
The Peony Pavilion (p6)
National Ballet of China
National Ballet of China
National Ballet of China
2.30pm Trading with the West (p60) Filmhouse Lothian Road R WC C WS SL
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Leven Street
7.30pm
R L WS H WC
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p18)
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Nicolson Street
L R LF WS H WC C
L R LF WS H WC C
The Edinburgh Playhouse Greenside Place
8.30pm
8.30pm
8.30pm
Koyaanisqatsi (p42)
Powaqqatsi (p42)
Naqoyqatsi (p42)
Philip Glass Ensemble
Philip Glass Ensemble
Philip Glass Ensemble
The Edinburgh Playhouse Greenside Place
L WS H WC C
8.00pm
8.00pm
3.00pm
The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan (p22)
The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan (p22)
The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan (p22)
Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe
Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe
Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
Princess Bari (p8)
Princess Bari (p8)
Princess Bari (p8)
Eun-Me Ahn Company
Eun-Me Ahn Company
Eun-Me Ahn Company
L WS H WC C
Royal Lyceum Theatre Grindlay Street L LF WS T H WC C
8.00pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
King Lear (p17)
King Lear (p17)
King Lear (p17)
King Lear (p17)
Contemporary Legend Theatre
Contemporary Legend Theatre
Contemporary Legend Theatre
Contemporary Legend Theatre
Royal Lyceum Theatre Grindlay Street
8.00pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
Das Paradies und die Peri (p5)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (p29)
Martha Argerich, Nelson Goerner (p29)
The Sixteen (p31)
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (p30)
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (p30)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
IRCAM
Kent Nagano Conductor
Kent Nagano Conductor
Ilan Volkov Conductor
L Level access R Ramped access T Induction loop H Infra red system
LF Lift SL Stair lift WS Wheelchair spaces in auditorium WC Accessible toilets C Accessible catering/bar
2.00pm
7.00pm
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
7.00pm
L LF WS T H WC C
7.30pm
Sir Roger Norrington Conductor
Access Facilities Key:
The Hub Castlehill LF WS T H WC C
Other Venues (See entry for access details)
L L F WS WC C
Mon 22 August
R WS T H WC C
The Hub Castlehill
Usher Hall Lothian Road
Sun 21 August
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
Usher Hall Lothian Road
7.00pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
Thaïs (p28) Concert performance
Magdalena Kožená, Yefim Bronfman (p32)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra (p32)
Ravi Shankar (p33)
L LF WS WC C
Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (p31)
Philharmonia Orchestra (p33)
Robin Ticciati Conductor
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Conductor
Events Key:
Dance Music
Theatre Visual Arts
Opera Discussions
Esa-Pekka Salonen Conductor
68 Festival Diary
Festival Diary 69
Venue
Wed 24 August
Thu 25 August
Fri 26 August
Sat 27 August
Mon 29 August
Venue
Tue 30 August
Wed 31 August
Thu 1 September
Fri 2 September
Sat 3 September
Other Events
The Queen’s Hall Series Clerk Street
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
Amjad Ali Khan (p49)
Christoph Prégardien, Julian Prégardien, Michael Gees (p49)
Olli Mustonen (p50)
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexandre Tharaud (p51)
The Queen’s Hall Series Clerk Street
11.00am
Kopelman Quartet (p50)
Alexandre Tharaud (p51)
Chanticleer (p52)
Arditti Quartet (p52)
Diana Damrau, Xavier de Maistre (p53)
Yundi (p53)
Princes Street Gardens
Sun 28 August
R WS T H WC C
L WS WC
R WS T H WC C
Sun 4 September 9.00pm Virgin Money Fireworks Concert (p41)
The Hub Castlehill LF WS T H WC C
2.30pm
2.30pm
2.30pm
2.30pm
12 noon
2.30pm
Continental Shifts: How Chinese Money is Changing the World (p58)
Glasgow Girls (p61)
Glasgow Girls (p61)
Continental Shifts: India (p58)
The Road North (p60)
Continental Shifts: Contemporary Chinese Thought (p59)
5.00pm Continental Shifts: A Changing India (p59)
2.30pm Continental Shifts: Song of the Earth (p59)
The Hub Castlehill LF WS T H WC C
12 noon
2.30pm
2.30pm
5.00pm
Masterclass: Malcolm Martineau (p61)
Continental Shifts: Heirlooms (p59)
Continental Shifts: Ritual and Memory (p59)
Conversations: Shen Wei (p60)
2.30pm
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Belford Road
Continental Shifts: Divided (p59) 5.00pm Conversations: Arditti Quartet (p60)
Other Venues (See entry for access details)
3.30pm
9.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
Professional Dance Class: The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
The Legendary Music of Rajasthan (p40)
The Legendary Music of Rajasthan (p40)
The Legendary Music of Rajasthan (p40)
National Museum of Scotland L LF WC WS
National Museum of Scotland L LF WC WS
National Museum of Scotland L LF WC WS
9.30pm
9.30pm
The Legendary Music of Rajasthan (p40)
The Legendary Music of Rajasthan (p40)
National Museum of Scotland L LF WC WS
National Museum of Scotland L LF WC WS
Dance Base Grassmarket L LF WC T
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Leven Street
7.30pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
3.00pm
8.00pm
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (p18)
Sriyah (p12)
Sriyah (p12)
Sriyah (p12)
Sriyah (p12)
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
R L WS H WC
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
L LF WC C
Other Venues (See entry for access details)
Thu 4 August –
Wed 31 August Open daily 10.00am – 6.00pm Thu 1 September –
Sun 18 September Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm Hiroshi Sugimoto (p54)
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Leven Street
8.00pm
8.00pm
8.00pm
Drought and Rain (p13)
Drought and Rain (p13)
Drought and Rain (p13)
Dovecot Studios Infirmary Street
Ea Sola
Ea Sola
Ea Sola
L LF WC
R L WS H WC
Thu 4 August –
Sun 4 September Open daily 10.30am – 5.30pm
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Nicolson Street
6.00pm
6.00pm
Semiramide (p24)
Semiramide (p24)
Vlaamse Opera
Vlaamse Opera
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Nicolson Street
L R LF WS H WC C
L R LF WS H WC C
The Edinburgh Playhouse Greenside Place
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
Scottish Ballet (p10)
Scottish Ballet (p10)
Scottish Ballet (p10)
The Edinburgh Playhouse Greenside Place
L WS H WC C
Royal Lyceum Theatre Grindlay Street
L L F WS WC C
7.00pm
7.00pm
7.00pm
2.00pm
2.00pm
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
7.00pm
7.00pm
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
Royal Lyceum Theatre Grindlay Street
6.00pm
Die Frau ohne Schatten (p26)
Die Frau ohne Schatten (p26)
Mariinsky Opera
Mariinsky Opera
Mariinsky Opera
7.30pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
Re-Triptych (p14)
Re-Triptych (p14)
Re-Triptych (p14)
Shen Wei Dance Arts
Shen Wei Dance Arts
Shen Wei Dance Arts
7.00pm
8.00pm
7.30pm
8.00pm
7.30pm
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (p34)
Orlando paladino (p28)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (p34)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields (p35)
Mahler Symphony No 2 (p35)
Tonhalle Orchestra (p38)
Myung-Whun Chung Conductor
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski Conductor
Murray Perahia Conductor and Piano
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Concert performance
L Level access R Ramped access T Induction loop H Infra red system
LF Lift SL Stair lift WS Wheelchair spaces in auditorium WC Accessible toilets C Accessible catering/bar
7.00pm
2.00pm
7.00pm
2.00pm
2.00pm
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 1 (p20)
7.00pm
7.00pm
7.00pm
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
One Thousand and One Nights Part 2 (p20)
L LF WS T H WC C
7.30pm
René Jacobs Conductor
Access Facilities Key:
6.00pm
Die Frau ohne Schatten (p26)
L WS H WC C
L LF WS T H WC C
Usher Hall Lothian Road
6.00pm
David Zinman Conductor
Usher Hall Lothian Road L LF WS WC C
8.00pm
7.30pm
7.00pm
7.30pm
7.30pm
Philadelphia Orchestra (p36)
Philadelphia Orchestra (p36)
Karita Mattila, Malcolm Martineau (p38)
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (p39)
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (p39)
Charles Dutoit Conductor
Charles Dutoit Conductor
10.30pm
Jonathan Nott Conductor
Jonathan Nott Conductor
Donald Runnicles Conductor
Bamberg Late (p39) Ainars Rubikis Conductor
Events Key:
Dance Music
Theatre Visual Arts
Opera Discussions
Heirlooms (p56)
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