Festival boss reveals programme
Any fears about the impact of the recession were swiftly dismissed by Jonathan Mills this week as he launched his third Edinburgh International Festival programme.
From the Timorous Beasties design of the programme (their Edinburgh toile includes a little vignette of a tram in a street full of traffic cones) to the extensive list of performances and performers.
Large scale works like the Romanian production of Faust, which requires an all new venue in Ingliston to accomodate the 110 performers required onstage, to the first staging of the medieval poem The Testament of Cresseid, and the sacred cantatas of Bach, performed in nine separate concerts.
The theme, although less political than last year, should certainly keep some of the politicians happy. It does plug into the Year of Homecoming celebrations but not in the obvious way of celebrating Robert Burns.
"It just felt that by August, everyone else would have done that, and done it very well," says Mills.
"We saw this as an opportunity to look at Scottishness in another way, through people who weren't always recognised."
There are plenty of homegrown Scots - from Scottish Ballet to Aberdeen born choreographer Michael Clark, who last performed at the festival 21 years ago.
James MacMillan and Peter Maxwell Davies are both celebrated in a concert. But Mills has also commissioned international companies to take a fresh look at Scotland.
A Belgian company will produce a tri-lingual production about St Kilda, while the Singapore Chinese Opera will explore the impact Scotland has had on their own culture in Disapora.
Sponsorship - including large dollops from the financial industries - still seems to be forthcoming and public sponsorship is up.
"Most of the cheques are in the mail, or they say they are," says Mills.
"I don't want to get into a detailed description of what we're going to raise but it's fair to say in the current climate that it's a very robust achievement."
The only question now is how well this year's festival will do at the box office when tickets go on sale on 4 April.
Not London’s South Bank, but the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow - every bit as lively in cultural terms as its namesake. I’m Pauline McLean, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland’s arts correspondent, and I’ll be blogging here about arts events and issues happening across the country.
Comment number 1.
At 26th Mar 2009, newsjock wrote:Your last sentence sparks a thought, Pauline. And that is the matter of filling auditoria.
If seats are not sold, should they not be advertised, after 3pm on the day say, either free or very heavily discounted ?
My argument is that The Festival relies heavily on tax and rate payers' compulsory support. Few venues, apart from the tattoo, pay their individual way financially.
So why not give some folk the opportunity to see a concert they would not other see, and not complain about the few extra baw-bees that might have taken at the box office, in the last few hours before the performance ?
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