05 September, 2009

Festival Blogger review - Experimentum Mundi


Image: Experimentum Mundi. Photo: Peter Sandground.

The prospect of watching a group of artisans performing industrial every-day tasks was some thing I, and likely many other audience members, were somewhat apprehensive about. The experimental nature of the performance was something no-one could ignore, but it was to be certainly worth witnessing.

Sharp, stark noises punch through the intimate Traverse Theatre, as tools clatter against raw materials, tradesman information is sternly announced. It is a brash performance, and although there is a initial hint of awkwardness I soon found myself intrigued in particular artisans - the coopers, the cobblers, the blacksmith. All the elements merge together as the tempo starts to rise and the (somewhat unusual) rhythm picks up. Suddenly something clicked and I found myself captivated by their primary, repetitive actions and the audible results intertwining. The real-time construction of products on stage was an excellent touch and reminded us that these are genuine craftsmen.

This would not have been possible without the excellent performance of percussionist Nicola Raffone, who strode around his collection striking and strumming all manner of instruments - an art to watch in itself. He compounded together the artisans organic sounds and played what was an essential role in the night’s performance.

The craftsmens’ transformation into collective musicians, individually mundane tasks into somewhat of an ensemble, is difficult to describe; but one that was executed incredibly well by director Giorgio Battistelli and is almost as difficult to forget.

Reviewer: Tom Welsh

04 September, 2009

Festival staff profile - Zuleika Brett



As Festival 09 draws to a close, we spoke to the lovely Zuleika Brett, our Senior Development Officer of Individual Giving.

How did you come to work for the Edinburgh International Festival?
My background is in visual arts having studied Art History at Glasgow University. After graduating I worked in galleries, and also an artist’s studio working in administration including managing their membership scheme before jumping at the chance to join the Festival team when the opportunity arose!

What does your position involve?
Working in the Sponsorship Department my main role is managing the membership scheme. Not only the day to day running, but planning, organizing and attending events all year round for the Friends scheme.

What is the best part of your job?
Getting out an about, especially during the Festival period, talking to supporters and meeting lots of lovely people is definitely the best part of the job. For many people coming to the Festival period is the highlight of the year, and their enthusiasm for the performances is infectious!

What is the most challenging part of your job?
I guess it gets a little frantic running from venue to venue trying to catch up with as many people as possible, however of course its so nice to see people (often its just once a year we get to meet up), and the performances themselves also give you that extra bit of energy required!

What has been your most memorable Festival experience so far?
Do I have to pick just one; there’s so many?! From the unease that Malthouse Melbourne managed to instill in the audience with their production of The Tell-Tale Heart in 2008, to the extraordinary performance by Mabou Mines in 2007; they certainly kept the audience on their toes with their performance of Dollhouse. Equally memorable was seeing the staged performance of Die Zauberflöte conducted by Claudio Abbado in 2006…and seeing Daniel Barenboim conduct his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 2005….sorry, can’t choose between them!

Which events are you most looking forward to at Festival 09 and why?
Peter and Wendy – after Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse, I’m really excited to see what they’ve done with this classic tale. In addition, I’m really looking forward to hearing the Hallé perform The Dream of Gerontius.

What are your words of advice to those at the Festival this August?
As well as picking old favourites, also go out on a limb and pick something unfamiliar – it may end up being the highlight of your Festival. Plus wear sensible shoes for all that running between venues!

Describe the Edinburgh International Festival in 3 words?
Unique. Daring. Fun

Festival Blogger review - Retrospect Ensemble


Image: Matthew Halls, Director of Retrospect Ensemble.

In this concert we heard two of Bach's less well-known secular cantata’s, 'O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit' and 'Non sa che sia dolore', written when he was director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig.

Perhaps due to its length, 'O holder tag' being Bach’s longest solo cantata, the first piece included more contrast than the second and to my ear was a more satisfying whole. Yet both cantatas proved to be a delight. From the moment soprano Carolyn Sampson opened her mouth I knew we were in for a treat. Her voice sparkled and glistened throughout. This was not easy music and yet she seemed in complete control for the full hour of quite extensive singing. She handled the coloratura masterly and made it seem effortless.

After having heard Sampson I now understand why Gramophone magazine described her as, ‘the best British early music soprano by quite some distance.’ My only criticism would be that Sampson’s voice at times lacked contrast and certain passages would have benefitted from a slightly darker tone. However this is a minor criticism in what was a generally magnificent performance.

Sampson was accompanied by the able Retrospect Ensemble, a group who formed only this year and which has already secured an annual Wigmore Hall season. They played with sensitivity and attention to detail, and were led by the charming Matthew Halls on the harpsichord. The concert finished with a heartbreakingly beautiful encore of 'Bist du bei mir' sung by Sampson and accompanied by basso continuo. Unintentionally, this was perhaps the highlight of the concert and ensured that the audience all left in high spirits.

Reviewer: Fiona Stewart

03 September, 2009

Artist Interview - Philippe Herreweghe, conductor for 'Elias'


Image: Philippe Herreweghe. Photo: Michel Garnier

Philippe Herreweghe was the conductor for Elias which was performed on 18 August at the Usher Hall as part of Festival 09.

Can you tell us a little about your background and some of your first performances?
I was born in Ghent, and combined university studies in medicine and psychiatry with a musical training at the conservatory, where I studied piano with Marcel Gazelle. In the same period I also started conducting and in 1970 I founded the ensemble Collegium Vocale Ghent. Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt invited me to work on their project recording the complete Bach cantatas. At that time, I decided to devote myself to music. Since then I have founded other ensembles, among them the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, founded in 1991 with the aim of re-creating the brilliance of the Romantic and pre-Romantic repertoire on original instruments.

Do you find that there are many differences between audiences in different parts of the world, if so, what are they?
For musicians, it is a huge satisfaction to play before a well-prepared audience. For instance it is very thrilling to play Schumann in Leipzig, where the audience has a very high musical culture and where Schumann played himself. However, we played a few months ago in Sao Paulo before students who had no contact with this kind of music, so-called serious music. And it was very inspiring!

Is there a piece of music that you most enjoy performing in Elias?
As far as I am concerned, the whole work is of the highest quality, one can hear the grandeur of Mendelssohn’s inspiration and the excellence of his writing. His ingenuousness in writing culminates in the interventions of the child, der Knabe, and that may be my favorite sequences.

What do you see as the main differences between performing in a festival and performances in other seasons?
The audience gets into music during almost a month and is therefore much more receptive.
On the other hand, the whole city takes part to the festival, there is a kind of exaltation, a wonderful effervescence, which we can feel from the stage.

Have you attended the Edinburgh International Festival before, if so what are your observations of the Festival?
Yes, I did. The current Director is a friend of mine, whose imagination serves a fascinating programming. And I have never been disappointed by the lively atmosphere ans audience’s enthusiasm.

Why do you think people most enjot about Elias?
Elias is Mendelssohn’s masterpiece, brilliantly written, it aims at everybody, which is the sign of an outstanding achievement.

Festival Blogger review - Peter and Wendy


Image: Peter and Wendy. Photo: Scott Suchman.

New York Company Mabou Mines’ Peter and Wendy charmingly retells the story of Peter Pan in a thoroughly original, and often eerie, way. Led by the brilliant narrator Karen Kandel, Mabou Mines uses a skillful mix of puppetry, song, dance and slapstick to bring J.M. Barrie’s classic to life.

Set to music arranged by the late Johnny Cunningham, the play reminds us of the darker and more tragic undertones of the story- the fear of growing up and the nastier side to Peter’s playful mischief. Dressed in white, with long veils obscuring their faces (and giving the impression of enchanted beekeepers) the puppeteers delighted the audience with a giggling Peter, a very sinister Hook, a ghost- like Neverbird and a Tango dancing crocodile. Johnny Cunningham (born in Edinburgh) has woven this Peter Pan with a beautiful mixture of fast paced Scottish folk music, and haunting laments which help bring a very Celtic feel to the play written by one of Scotland’s most famous writers.

While this production is not necessarily a feast for the eyes in the same way that many adaptations are, it still manages to charm and delight with its pop- up book scenery, twinkling backdrop and Pirate ship of fluttering sails. The flight to Neverland is a joy to behold.

However, it is Karen Kandel who undoubtedly steals the show. The lone speaker, she adapts voices for every character, and her playfulness (and hilarious impression of the Queen) helps add to the charm and lively nature of the piece. Although her Scottish accent was somewhat dubious, she is nonetheless to be applauded for her fine voice skills, comic timing and ability to wrench emotion from every possible moment. Like Peter himself, this play is a mischievous, entertaining and enthralling piece of work, to be enjoyed by adults and children alike.

Reviewer: Eleanor Morton

02 September, 2009

Festival Staff profile - Kirsten Stewart



We spoke to our HR and Payroll Manager, Kirsten Stewart, about her job and her Festival highlights.

How did you come to work for the Edinburgh International Festival? I studied Geography at St Andrews University and then took a year off travelling in the southern hemisphere before studying Human Resource Management at Napier University. I worked in a busy HR department in a NHS Health Board for 5 years before looking for a change and I certainly found that at the Festival.

What does your position involve? I process all wages and salaries for employees of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Centre. I also provide HR advice to managers and staff, revise and write policies and manage recruitment and selection of staff.

What is the best part of your job? The best part of my job is the variety of my role. I can never expect what each new day will bring!

What is the most challenging part of your job? Ensuring that all the temporary staff for the festival period are recruited, inducted and paid! This can mean dealing with an extra 100 people starting pretty much at the same time.

What has been your most memorable Festival experience so far? There have been a few but I really loved Matthew Bourne's Picture of Dorian Gray. I had read the original play and was not a big fan of modern dance but this totally converted me.

Which event have you most enjoyed at Festival 09 and why? I loved Faust. It was spectacular and I had never seen anything like it.

What are your words of advice to those still at Festival 09? Have fun, keep calm and smile.

Describe the Edinburgh International Festival in three words? Inspiring, spectacular and engaging.

Artist Interview - Thierry Poquet, Director of St Kilda


Image: St Kilda. Photo: Christian Mathieu.

We spoke to Thierry Poquet, Director of St Kilda, a staged opera telling the story of the 'Birdmen' of St Kilda. St Kilda played at the Festival Theatre this August as part of Festival 09.

What is your background and what types of projects did you work on before St Kilda?
As a music composer and actor, I started to direct in 1985 with big outdoors theatre shows with Collectif Organum (cf. Locos in Glasgow 1990). After a time directing contemporary texts (including Fassbinder, Genet, Motton, Berkoff, Pasolini and Tremblay), I now work with contemporary composers and orchestras (including Ars Nova, Musiques Nouvelles and Sphota) for operas and other shows combining poetry, musical theatre, dance and film.

How did you start working on this production?
I was called by Artistic Creator, Lew Bogdan, to go to a lost Island. They asked me to co-write the show, to coordinate the artistic European project and to co-direct the film. I took three planes and an 8-hour ride boat to discover St Kilda and these amazing stories. This place is such a special spot you can’t help but dream: it sacred, and you can feel it from the ground to the sky.

The production has many sensory aspects, including film footage woven into the live performance. Do you find your role as director to St Kilda different to other shows you have been involved in and if so, in what ways?
The size: it was a European project connecting 5 countries. But as I’ve said above, I like to use a poetic language involving music, acrobatics, dance, theatre, film and the new sounds.

What do you think audiences most enjoy about the opera St Kilda?
This story is an echo of each personal history: exodus by the war, exodus to find a job, exodus to survive, exodus for political reasons. We all have roots we need to take care of.

01 September, 2009

Artist interview - Emerson String Quartet


Image: Emerson String Quartet. Photo: Mitch Jenkins

We spoke to the Emerson String Quartet ahead of their performance at the Queen's Hall this Friday at 11am. Limited tickets are still available from eif.co.uk/emerson.

Can you tell us about your background and how the Emerson String Quartet formed?
We met as students of Oscar Shumsky at the Juilliard School. We formed a student quartet in the early 1970s, which evolved gradually into a professional ensemble. Our current membership dates from autumn 1979.

Do you find that there are many differences between audiences you’ve played to in different parts of the world?
I would say that the main differences are not so much between different countries as they are, even within one country, between audiences that are sophisticated about chamber music and those that are somewhat less so. When we first toured Germany in 1983, we noticed how quiet the audiences were while we played. That gave the impression that they were listening more attentively than audiences in the U.S., where we were used to a fair amount of coughing during the performances. The applause and vocal reactions after each piece seem to be more enthusiastic or impassioned in Germany, Austria and Switzerland than, say, in Italy, where the response to chamber music is more tempered than at opera performances. This leads one to the conclusion that since most of the repertoire we play was written in Central Europe, it elicits the most intense reaction in the countries where it originated. However, it is important not to overgeneralise and to remember that music will speak directly to any listeners who are open to it, no matter what their background or nationality may be. Over the years we have developed a very warm rapport with our audiences in London. Even within the U.S., we notice a large range of reactions.

What do you see as the main differences between performing in a festival programme and performances in other seasons?
In festivals there is the stimulus of other musicians whom we might hear, and who might listen to our performances. Often there is thematic programming, and this year at many festivals we have programmed either Haydn or Mendelssohn, or both, because of Haydn's death and Mendelssohn's birth in 1809.

Is there a piece of music that you are particularly looking forward to performing at the Festival?
All three pieces on our programme are great. It is interesting to juxtapose Mendelssohn's early Op. 12 with Beethoven's "Harp" Quartet, Op. 74, because of their similarities. The influence of Beethoven can be clearly felt, especially in the slow introduction to the first movement. Then we play Mendelssohn's last completed quartet, Op. 80, written in great anguish after the death of his sister, and shortly before his own demise. This driven, obsessive work brings Mendelssohn closer to the stormy spirit of Beethoven, even though there may not be a specific model as was the case with both Opp. 12 and 13, and points to a radical new direction that Mendelssohn's music would have taken had he lived longer.

Have you attended the Edinburgh International Festival before, if so what are your observations of the Festival?
Though we've played once at the Queen's Hall, it was not during the Festival, which we are looking forward to.

Why do you think people should come to the Emerson String Quartet at the Edinburgh International Festival?
Perhaps the fact that it is our festival debut, and only our second appearance in Scotland, will be of some interest. Through our recordings, and broadcasts of our London concerts on the BBC, we hope that we have a following among classical music lovers throughout the British Isles.

Festival Blogger review - The Yalta Game


Image: The Yalta Game. Photo: Trent O'Donnell

Patrick Mason’s production of Brian Friel’s The Yalta Game really is a little gem – little being the opportune word to describe this fifty minute stage adaptation of Chekhov’s classic tale, The Lady and the Lapdog. The theme of transparency lies at the heart of this play which recounts the extra-marital affair of a Russian accountant, Dmitry (Risteárd Cooper), and a young high-society woman, Anna (Rebecca O’Mara). The two begin their affair and are bonded by their mutual passion for “The Yalta Game”, in which the residents and visitors of a small Russian town scrutinise each other “investing the lives of others with imagined lives,” however, Dmitry soon becomes one of his own fantasies - albeit of his own devising - and this theme becomes all too apparent when he claims he has two distinct lives, one public and one private – the public one being, “fully conventional, altogether transparent, and an utter deception.”

In addition to the bravura performances of the cast in this two-hander play, Liz Ashcroft once again manages to capture the full flavour of the play in her set design (as she did with Faith Healer) which is very minimalistic and altogether static throughout, if almost non-existent. The production contains no additional props other than about 10 chairs randomly placed across the stage; however, this set design remains very effective as it means there is no detraction from the intensity of the couple’s relationship on stage, which at times has the charm of that of Laura and Alec in Brief Encounter.

The full poignancy of this play lies in the fact that both characters know that their relationship cannot last and are able to admit this to themselves, yet their love transcends this fact and they are unable to admit it to each other. In essence, they remain somewhat trapped in a freefalling inertia which in Dmitry’s words is both “deceptive and authentic.” This truly was a play with a strong flavour in which the audience was left desperate for more, which is exactly what makes this production a success.

Reviewer: Scott Clair

31 August, 2009

Festival Staff Profile - Jenny Rutherford



We spoke to Jenny Rutherford, Head of Marketing & Business Development for The Hub, the home of the Edinburgh International Festival.

What is your background – how did you come to work for The Hub?
I ran a small venue in Edinburgh for 4 years before coming to The Hub. Previous to that roles including Cast member in Disneyland, Kids rep. on a campsite in France and waitress in an American Country Club taught me a lot about both running events and customer service!

What is your job title and what does your position involve?
Head of Marketing & Business Development. Promoting The Hub to the right people and ensuring that we’re meeting their needs and keeping up to date with the fast paced events industry.

What is the best part of your job?
The variety and the fact that hospitality is a fun business.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
Trying to please everyone – customers and colleagues!

What has been your most memorable experience in your job so far?
The Parliament sitting at The Hub in 2006

Which event/s are you most looking forward to at Festival 09? Why?
Petrushka, I love Ballet!

What are your words of advice to those at the Festival this August?
Keep breathing!

Describe the Edinburgh International Festival in 3 words?
Stylish, Huge, Breathtaking

Festival Blogger review - Michael Clark Company: New work


Dancer: Simon Williams, Photo: Jake Walters

With the prestige of Clark’s choreography, his Scottish roots and his position as a driving force on the boundaries of contemporary dance, there were high expectations surrounding Michael Clark Company's performance at the Playhouse. I’d seen various pictures on websites and leaflets, of a male in skin-tight shiny silver leggings with a microphone trailing from his mouth, and it was difficult to miss the explosion of signs around the Playhouse interior reading “Warning: partial nudity and loud music”. Also surprising was the 1970s music filtering through the theatre before the curtain had even risen.

But once the performance started, with dancers moving mechanically across the stage in decidedly Star-Trek-style costume to the eerie electric soundtrack, the evidence of Michael Clark’s distinctive talent is irrefutable. Otherworldly and intriguing, dancers seem to move as one large organ, reflecting and coexisting together perfectly within the dark confinements of the stage, beams of light moving slowly along the backdrop. Bodies create beautiful and radical geometry which occasionally appears trance-like. However amongst the modernity of Clark’s choreography and ideas are classical steps gesturing at his background in Ballet (despite the overall performance having quite opposite direction to any form of classical dance). The inclusion of these classical positions and their clever contortion and unconventional twists brings an air of style and technicality to the visions onstage. Sadly this first act, edged with sci-fi and electricity and however mesmerising, does grow tedious – perhaps due to the more vibrant and shocking innovation that the advertising of the show suggests.

It is the second act that provides the true exhilaration and excitement that the audience was waiting for. Instantly, the show merges to one of bright colour and music such as David Bowie, Iggy Pop and The Velvet Underground and a definite comic presence adds to the enjoyment. Against a bright, blank colour background, the audience is absorbed by the vision of dancers in lively but simple costume walking inexplicably on and off stage, running in circles, stopping and returning the way they came. The erratic but synchronised dance is shaped by fluid, beautifully formed solos, one of which featuring a woman covered in syringes moving to the sounds of “Heroin” by Velvet Underground.

Tthe tribute to David Bowie is inexplicably moving, as dancers move collectively to the backdrop of the music video of “Heroes”. Also Michael Clark himself onstage in a strangely and contrastingly casual outfit, dances against a backdrop of three nude dancers facing away from the audience and comically “hip-bumping” to the music.

Michael Clark Company seems to destroy boundaries between genre, instead combining colour, ballet, modernism, punk-rock, and talent both in dancer and choreographer to provide true visual entertainment. Ironically, it is apparently a little less daring than past works; perhaps for the better, because in this performance it’s the sheer rebellious energy that ensures the audience’s delight.

Reviewer: Kyna Bowers

29 August, 2009

Artist interview - Giorgio Battistelli, Director of Experimentum Mundi


Image: Giorgio Battistelli. Photo: Roberto Masottix

Giorgio Battistelli is the director of Experimentum Mundi, playing from 2-5 September at the Traverse Theatre. Tickets are still available from eif.co.uk/mundi.

Can you tell us about your direction as a composer?
Each composer has his or her own history and composition style. When I’m working on a Libretto I am always aiming for it to have the force to touch the collective imagination.

What inspired you to create Experimentum Mundi?
The first inspiration was composition style. When artisans are working they create an asymmetric rhythm, which I write into the score using the sounds and actions of their work. This accentuates the avant-garde style I have created. The second inspiration was the human dimension – by putting a community of artisans on stage, I hope to present the concept of saving them from modern negligence.

Experimentum Mundi has been performed in many countries. Do you find differences in the way audiences respond to your work in different countries and if so, what are these differences?
I don’t find there are many differences in audiences, from an aboriginal audience in Australia, to China and to Paris, the reaction is very similar. Though I think the cultural instruments will permit different understandings.

Have you attended the Edinburgh International Festival in the past?
It is my first at Edinburgh Festival, my first concert in Scotland. It is very exciting for me to have this opportunity and I am looking forward to it greatly.

Why do you think people should come to Experimentum Mundi at the Edinburgh International Festival?
I think that they will experience not a simulation of reality but a piece of the reality of the human culture that they themselves can relate to. The realities of life can sometimes touch us most deeply.

Festival Blogger review - Admeto, re di Tessaglia


Image: Admeto, re di Tessaglia. Photo: Theodoro da Silva.

Doris Dörrie’s production of Admeto, re di Tessaglia takes Handel’s opera based on the Greek myth of Alceste and her love for her husband Admeto, King of Thessaly, and transplants it into Samurai Japan. Essentially a comedy, involving deception, disguise and a complicated love triangle, the cast of this impressive performance manage to convey, as well as humour, intense and dark feelings of horror, love and jealousy.

One of the most striking aspects of the performance was the set – simple, stark screens, shifting the depth of the stage for changing settings. These were lit in varying colours to signify the emotion of the scene, intensified by a variety of light effects – for example the vast flickering orange shadows of Hades, or when both Admeto and Alceste sing their most anguished arias, a deep dark stage lit by a column of chilling blue light. There came a shock, however, in the third act; here the sharp, stylised set was discarded in favour of a luxuriously painted baroque palace and gardens – this marked a change in tone, with comedy heavily emphasised, eventually descending into bizarre slapstick.

The ten Butoh dancers added to the mood – near naked and painted ghostly white, their distinctive, sometimes grotesque but always pure movement was particularly effective in their role as the Furies, tormentors of the sick Admeto in the opening scene and captors of Alceste in Hell. They also provided a comic element, as frolicking deer in the forest and a nonchalant flock of sheep. Tadashi Endo, the solo dancer, represents Alceste’s changed spirit after her return from the underworld –like a shadow, he is always beside her, until she is finally reunited with her husband and jealousy is no longer present in her heart. Dressed like something from a horror film and moving in deathlike spasms, the dancer’s constant presence was disturbing and ominous.

These vivid images were accompanied by the superb FestspielOrchester Göttingen, conducted by Nicholas McGegan, who engaged with the audience as well as the orchestra. With a brilliant cast of soloists and some strange and fantastic costumes, this bold interpretation of baroque opera left the audience stunned and exhilarated.

Reviewer: Joanna Ramasawmy

28 August, 2009

Ticket giveaway - Gate | Friel at Festival 09


Image: Afterplay cast - Frances Barber and Niall Buggy

To thankyou for being a part of our Festival 09 online community, we’re giving away up to 50 tickets to each of the following Gate Theatre preview performances:

1. The Yalta Game preview - Saturday 29 August, 6.00pm at King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
“Remarkable… takes us to the heart of Chekhov” - The Guardian
For info on the play click here.

2. Afterplay preview - Monday 31 August, 5.00pm at King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
“A beautiful and poetic examination of truth and reality” - The Australian Stage
For info on the play click here.

Brian Friel is Ireland’s greatest living playwright, using a poetic and often surreal style that is both wise and earthy. Dublin's Gate Theatre has established a unique relationship with Friel and offers a peerless tribute to his work for Festival 09.

To enter the ballot to win a pair of tickets, all you need to do is email digital.marketing@eif.co.uk with your name, the performance you are interested in attending and the subject header “Gate Theatre giveaway”. Entries close today (Friday) at 5.00pm and winners will be notified with details of ticket collection via email on Friday evening.

27 August, 2009

Festival Staff profile - Jo Michel



We caught up with Jo Michel, Ticket Services Manager for Hub Tickets.

What is your job title and what does your position involve?
My job title is Ticket Services Manager - Hub Tickets. Hub Tickets is a subsidiary company within the Edinburgh Festival Centre and it is responsible for managing ticket sales for the Edinburgh International Festival, The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, The Edinburgh Mela Festival, The Festival of Politics, The Festival of Spirituality and Peace, East Neuk Festival and many other events year round. We have a full time team of 5 which expands during the summer months to 30 staff.

How did you come to work for the Edinburgh International Festival?
Originally from Sydney, Australia and have worked in the Ticketing Industry for the past 20 years. Just prior to coming to Edinburgh I worked at Sydney Theatre Company under the direction of Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. My previous work on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe gave me a love of the city and when I saw the job advertised I just had to apply. I was very lucky to get it and have the opportunity to work in Edinburgh again.


What is the best part of your job?

The best part of the job is the diversity, I get to deal with the organizers of many and varied events during the year and each one is different. Even within the Edinburgh International Festival my role has many diverse parts to it. I look after the ticketing needs for each department, Sponsorship, Programme Development, Artist Liaison, Marketing and Technical which mean I also have to understand what their individual requirements are and also the needs of their clients.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
Prioritising during the festival period. Dealing with so many departments and festivals during the summer means that everyone wants your attention and it is always urgent. IT is really important to stay calm and deal with things as efficiently and swiftly as you can so everyone is happy.

What has been your most memorable Festival experience so far?
2008 was my first festival and my favourite events last year were Chunky Move’s - Mortal Engine and Matthew Bourne’s Dorian Gray. Both were visually stunning and exciting nights in the theatre.

Which Festival 09 events have you been most looking forward to and why?
This year I am really looking forward to Optimism by Malthouse Theatre, partly because I know the writer and cast so can’t wait to see them. Other than this The Last Witch looks fascinating as does Faust. I also want to see the Friel series – can you tell I love theatre!

What are your words of advice to those at Festival 09?

Stay Calm – I like to think that it will all get done when it needs to if you manage to keep positive and not panic.

Describe the Edinburgh International Festival in 3 words?
Unique, Intriguing and Surprising.

Festival Blogger review - The Return of Ulysses (Royal Ballet of Flanders)


Image: The Return of Ulysses. Photo: Photo: Johan Persson.

German choreographer Christian Spuck presents a heady take on The Return of Ulysses, an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. The production blends ancient myth with modern times to tell the story of long suffering Penelope, Queen of Ithaca, whose husband Ulysses left home over 20 years ago to fight the Trojan War. It delves into Penelope’s life in his absence to discover whether her love for him is strong enough to stand the test of time.

The Royal Ballet of Flanders returns to the Edinburgh International Festival, with Eva Dewaele cast as the tormented Penelope. The musical choices are one of the most interesting aspects of the show, the cast dances to an eclectic combination of Purcell, performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and 40s and 50s songs, including Perry Como and Doris Day. Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thomas also sings live on stage throughout the performance. In keeping with the music, the dancers vary between classical ballet and contemporary dance moves, some of which are so unusual they have the audience laughing.

The show opens with seven dancers dressed in black suits dancing in near darkness. The lights come up to reveal a simple set, with blackboard style walls, one adorned with tallies and a table with an old-fashioned tape recorder. We see a dejected Penelope wearing a crown, waiting for her husband to return.

Penelope has a bunch or roses, a recurring feature, which she gives out throughout the performance seeming to represent the hope of her husband coming back disappearing bit by bit. During the years of his absence the seven power-mad suitors we saw at the beginning, don’t care for Penelope but arrogantly attempt to court the assumed widow in order to inherit the kingdom. However, she only has eyes for Ulysses and continuously turns them down.

A model ship is seen at points throughout, representing Ulysses travels. The goddess Athena is personified as a platinum blonde air hostess in a gold suit with a megaphone, giving announcements about not smoking and demonstrating safety procedures, sometimes accompanied by the rest of the dancers. She appears on stage regularly as if to remind Penelope and Ulysses that she is in charge of their destiny. At points the stage fills with dancers in more colourful outfits, the gemstone shades of purple, blue and green have a regal feel. There are also appearances from Poseidon wearing flippers, goggles and a giant tutu, much to the audience’s amusement. In an attempt to escape the suitors’ demands that Penelope choose one of them as a new husband, she creates a plan to buy her time by making her bridal dress each day and then undoing the work by night, her days become monotonous, depicted in her dancing.

When we see Ulysses he is usually dancing with Athena, who keeps him from his wife. She decides to allow him to go back on the condition that he goes in disguise, to confront Penelope’s suitors. Penelope does not recognize him and he dances back and forth between her and Athena. The suitors steal Penelope back and challenge the still disguised Ulysses to a fight.

Penelope’s dancing becomes less and less graceful throughout, the music becomes violent as she is passed roughly around the suitors. Even with all the attention she continues her dedication to Ulysses. At one point the entire cast is dancing around her with various props and different sequences, yet she stands motionless, yearning for her husband.

Despite her plan, finally Penelope’s dress is completed and the suitors are still adamant that she must marry one of them. She suggests they fight for her love and the disguised Ulysses takes part, killing all the others. Penelope still doesn’t recognize him and continues to grieve, dancing alone in front of a black wall which has been moved to the front of the stage. The singing of Elin Manahan Thomas creates a truly melancholy scene.

Finally the gods allow Ulysses to visit Penelope without his disguise, she is convinced, they are finally reunited and the play concludes as they dance alone to a French version of 'Beyond the sea'.

This take on The Return of Ulysses balanced traditional ballet with the absurdity of modern day life beautifully. The combination of classical ballet with dancers in sharp, modern suits, unusual music choices and the appearances of a Greek god and goddess in entirely unconventional form made this production a compelling and memorable experience.

Reviewer: Sarah Jackson

26 August, 2009

Interview with Liza Lorwin from Peter and Wendy


Image: Peter and Wendy. Photo: Scott Suchman

We spoke to Liza Lorwin, producer and adapter of Mabou Mines' Peter and Wendy, playing from 2-5 September at the Royal Lyceum Theatre.

What was the path that led you into puppet theatre and what were your first experiences in the industry?

There were so many paths, and when I look back at them they seem to wind a lot, but they do all land somewhere in the vicinity of puppets.

I should begin with the most direct - my first experience working with puppetry, which was an extraordinary gift. In the mid 80’s, I produced Lee Breuer’s The Warrior Ant (which Julie Archer designed lighting for). Lee invited Yoshida Tamamatsu, a master puppeteer from the National Puppet Theater of Japan, to develop a bunraku segment. He came to New York, bringing colleagues and puppets – a princess and a little boy, both exquisitely carved and painted, in silk kimonos and with human hair wigs – we couldn’t believe they weren’t in a museum. We hired translators, and took crash cultural lessons and all of us smiled and bowed and exchanged gifts and in general lived in a state of almost childish excitement – which turned out to be very productive. Tamamatsu was surprisingly open-minded about mingling ancient technique and new contexts – he performed to samba music, and let the little boy, with ant antennae tied to his head, ride on the back of an oversized worm-puppet, carved, like a Muppet, from foam. He seemed to enjoy himself. I was awestruck by his performance. We all were. We had a close-up vision of puppetry at its most riveting, and tucked away in our minds was a wish to work more with some version of that – to see it again.

Still, I think of Peter and Wendy as theatre, rather than puppet theatre. We did not set out to create a work specifically for puppets. Mabou Mines’ approach has always been to look for theatrical metaphors – a visual image, a style of music, an animal species... - that will resonate with an initial idea, to open it out beyond itself. Here, Julie Archer had a design idea - oversized paper pop-up books as set pieces. Barrie’s novel was instantly resonant with that. It’s so much about childhood imagination, but from the perspective of adult memory. It is essentially wistful. I had first read it as an adolescent, and it sent me into a stupor of free-floating yearning –so many opportunities for impossible desires! In any event, there is a sense that pure unfettered joy is fleeting once you grow up, and Barrie puts the cut-off age for the at two: “two,” he says, “is the beginning of the end.” It felt right to match this with the fragility of paper and with images that would appear and disappear by a simple opening and closing – no “stage magic.”

And this path led to puppets, an apt analogy for the volatile, often ruthless, always ephemeral nature of childhood imagination. They’re inherently stylized, out of normal scale and free of gravity; we experience them at a threshold place where reality and fantasy flow together. We chose to keep the puppeteers always visible, because we want the audience not so much to get lost in imagination as to watch the process of imagining.

Also I especially wanted to keep the wild lyric flow of the novel’s narrative passages. This was another path to puppetry – Lee had matched the sparse performance of puppets with dense language in previous work, including The Warrior Ant. The Asian forms we’ve adapted in Peter and Wendy have a strong narrative base. In bunraku, the narrators sit on the side and sing the story and the puppets enact scenes. In Indonesian wayang kulit, a single puppeteer performs all the characters’ voices and the narration. In Peter and Wendy, we’ve drawn from these traditions, combined and reworked them with western theater styles. The Narrator is herself the central character, and also acts the voices of all the characters, often interacting with puppets, but not always. So you’re at once inside and outside the experience of narration. We want to convey that slightly disturbing elation of being almost, though not quite wholly, absorbed in reading.

So along with the pop-up books (only alluded to in the final set), the use of live Celtic music, and a kind of minimalist Edwardian visual palette, the puppetry is part of the theatrical language of Peter and Wendy. It brings its own independent meaning, and heightens the emotional immediacy of the language and ideas.

Then too, the puppetry itself became a path – a path to other paths. For instance, working with them as “dolls” led to the decision to keep the Neverland within the space of the nursery. The puppets let us range widely in scale and angle and degree of realism, while still remaining in one room. So, perhaps not many paths to puppetry, but one path that keeps branching, where puppets have been a starting point as well as a destination.

Do you think that the way puppet theatre is received by audiences has changed since you become involved and if so, in what way?

In some ways yes. In the U.S., we’ve come late to puppets in theater for adults. Mabou Mines first used bunraku-inspired puppets in the 1970s in Lee Breuer’s Shaggy Dog Animation. It was seen by a fairly small and specialized audience. Since then, The Jim Henson Foundation has given tremendous support to this kind of work, especially through the International Festival of Puppet Theater which they produced in New York throughout the 1990s. It was hugely influential and now puppets in theater are almost mainstream. We don’t have to do quite so much work to get adults into the theater, or to warn parents not to expect a kid-friendly show, just because there’s a puppet in it. However, when a puppet does take the stage, especially when they do something very ordinary – for instance, scratch themself - that intense sense of wonder is unmistakable, often a gasp, even from the most puppet-sophisticated audience.

Do European audiences differ to those in the U.S.?

It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a production in Europe, though other members of the company have been more recently. In both Europe and the U.S. I’ve found audience differences to be quite local – country by country, state by state, neighborhood by neighborhood. In Dublin, I remember the audience was very quiet, and then so warm at curtain. At first it was disconcerting, having recently been in Berkeley California, where there was always loud laughter. For me, it’s one of the interesting things about traveling with a production, watching the performers adjust to audience response, and seeing how that transforms the work as a whole.

How do you feel about bringing the performance back to J. M. Barrie’s Scottish homeland?

Tremendously excited – and nervous. It feels a little like performing for Barrie’s family. We fell in love with the Scottish sensibility in the novel – the rhythm of the language, the dark humor, the raw emotion combined with a kind of toughness in being so exposed. We looked to traditional Scottish music to support those rhythms, and intensify that feeling. Johnny Cunningham’s score really winds throughout the piece, and Karen Kandel tuned her performance to its rhythms. This score and Barrie’s words are the truly Scottish elements. Then there are our own interpretations and pastiches - the delighted perceptions of fans. For instance, when Karen uses Scots inflected accents, they are meant to be the type of voice you might make up when reading aloud, a flight of fancy. Still, it was wonderful to be able to turn to Johnny for guidance. And a story.

Have you been to the Edinburgh International Festival before? If so, what did you find most memorable about your experience of the Festival?

I have been in Edinburgh during the festival, in 1981, when William Burdett-Coutts presented Lee’s Sister Suzie Cinema and work-in-progress Gospel at Colonus at the Assembly Rooms for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I produced those pieces, and Julie was the designer. Most memorable was the extraordinary energy that filled Edinburgh, the sheer numbers of people all thinking about theater. I have a vivid image of a red carpet flung down George Street, though that seems improbable - I must have made it up. Lee was at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2007 with Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse, and I know he was astonished and moved to receive a Herald Archangel. Also, when I asked him this question he answered without hesitation – “when the sun came out.”

Why do you think people should come and see Peter and Wendy at the Edinburgh International Festival?

It is an extraordinary chance for this piece that owes so much to Scotland to finally be there to draw on the energy of the people and the place. There is live music played by musicians who are, each one, renowned traditional performers in their own right. The live sound effects score, akin to early radio, add bells and whistles, literally (also amplified alka-seltzer fizz). Karen Kandel gives voice to well over a dozen puppet characters, while also giving a full human performance that is heart wrenching. The puppeteers’ artistry is astonishing - often with three puppeteers on a single puppet, their precise choreography of movement is itself a pleasure to watch. The puppets breathe, because Tamamatsu taught us that is more important than anything else a puppet might do. The design is both an instrument of the story-telling and visually beautiful. Barrie’s language is gorgeous, and full of wistful longing. In an early review it was noted, to Johnny Cunningham’s great delight, that “grown men were heard to cry.” It is also often quite funny.

We mean to stay faithful to the original, which we love, while reweaving, re-contextualizing, pruning according to our personal sensibilities. Barrie’s masterpiece is certainly rich enough to bear many interpretations, and ours may serve to de-familiarize the now iconic story, to let its lesser known aspects be seen fresh. Built collaboratively, it is a mingling of many voices, many personalities. There’s a good chance an audience will find at least one to relate to.

Festival Blogger review - Bryn Terfel & Malcolm Martineau


Image: Bryn Terfel

Bryn Terfel has a fantastic, one-in-a-million voice. The combination of world famous baritone Bryn Terfel and the hugely accomplished Malcolm Martineau who has accompanied the likes of Thomas Allan, Ian Bostridge and Angela Gheorghiu, promised a wonderful evening and so I went along to the Usher Hall with high expectations.

Everything about Bryn Terfel is on a big scale; his stage presence, his character, his voice. He filled ever corner of the two-thousand capacity venue with ease. His diction was crisp and clear to everyone whether he was singing in English, as he did for the predominance of the concert, or in German as he did for the somewhat random insertion of Schumann in the second half. Malcolm Martineau’s playing matched the quality of the singing every step of the way. With beautiful subtlety and emotion Martineau accompanied and supported Terfel throughout. Terfel’s voice was solid throughout his entire register and his dynamics, especially his quiet moments, were stunning. He had a gorgeous richness to his voice which made his renditions of Quilter’s ‘Weep you no more’, Keel’s ‘Port of Many Ships’ and Vaughan Williams ‘Whither Must I Wander?’ being particular highlights.

Every so often there were glimmers of the star-quality of his voice but I felt the repertoire failed to show off the extent of what Terfel's voice can do. I thing folk and traditional music can be a very worthy addition to any recital, and I also fully support his initiative to encourage music for the masses but Terfel’s programme failed to include enough contrast or substance. I have no doubt that many of the audience will have walked away from the concert at the Usher Hall thoroughly satisfied as Bryn Terfel is without question an engaging and charming first-class performer. However the concert left me feeling slightly frustrated - I had the privilege to attend a concert given by one of the world’s leading baritones yet was only allowed to hear glimpses of his real capability.

Reviewer: Fiona Stewart

25 August, 2009

Festival staff profile - Rob Conner



We chatted to Rob Conner, Finance Director of the Festival and The Hub, the home of the Festival.

What is your job title and what does your position involve?
Finance Director – management of the finance function for Edinburgh International Festival and its subsidiary company The Hub, also management of HR and the Edinburgh International Festival office and environmental policy.

How did you come to work for the Edinburgh International Festival?
I qualified as a chartered accountant in December 2000 and then worked in media, banking and utilities before joining Edinburgh International Festival in August 2002.

What is the best part of your job?
Working for Edinburgh International Festival and its subsidiary, being involved in the hospitality industry and the Edinburgh International Festival at the same time is a challenging and interesting work dynamic.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
Probably working for two very different organisations at once, and working with people from different professional fields from my own.

What has been your most memorable Festival experience so far?
Llyr Williams playing Chopin’s 24 Preludes at the Queen's Hall.

Which events are you most looking forward to at Festival 09?
Michael Clark for David Bowie
St Kilda – is it opera, theatre, dance or music?
Handspring's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria – great puppets
Peter & Wendy (see previous plus fantastic fantasy story)
Actus tragicus – Bach at Home
Faust – everyone is talking about it
Opera in concert – attending 5 of 6 I think – something I have not previously indulged in much
Emerson String Quartet – great musicians
The Enlightenments Lectures and Visual Arts programmes – think this scale of both programmes is exactly what we should be doing plus interesting themes
Elisabeth Leonskaja – need I say more?

What are your words of advice to those at the Festival this August?
Attend a few things you really think you want to see, attend an equal number of things you wouldn’t normally choose to see – then prepare to be surprised!

Describe the Edinburgh International Festival in three words?
Entertaining, exciting, enlightening.

Review - Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria


Image: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria. Photo: Johan Jacobs

I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria – a baroque opera performed with puppets. At first I didn’t know where to focus my attention – the simple stage set was surprisingly busy. For each character there was not just the puppet, but also the puppeteer and the singer – all three closely connected and contributing equally to the part; the translation of the Italian recitative was displayed on supertitles; the musicians, present onstage in a raised semi-circle behind the action, were intriguing to watch, frequently switching instruments; and on a screen at the back of the stage, black-and-white film and animation. While the majority of the action took place in the centre of the stage, around a bed or dressing table, attention was occasionally cast onto a singer, for example representing Fortune or Time, standing amid the musicians, or beyond them to a puppet character on a journey through an animated charcoal landscape. However, soon my eyes became used to flickering from place to place, and the very different elements of storytelling merged together to create a completely absorbing performance.

The puppetry was stunning – beautifully carved wooden puppets, their faces expressive yet still rough-hewn, half life sized and fully dressed in robes, pyjamas or sparkling jewellery – these vivid characters were combined with skilful control from the puppeteers creating incredibly lifelike, subtle movement, from the breathing of the sleeping Ulysses to the walking shepherd. The Ricercar Consort, on original instruments including several types of viol, the precursor to the violin family, and the theorbo, a kind of lute, played magnificently, while the singers negotiated the intricacies of baroque operatic writing with ease.

There were three distinct and very different settings. Of course the Ancient Greece of the story from Homer’s Odyssey is referenced, particularly through the puppet costumes. Also Monteverdi’s Venice – the frivolous suitors and Penelope are dressed as Baroque nobility. However, this all seems to be perhaps just the confused hallucinations of a dying man in hospital – Ulysses is dressed in pyjamas, and while his recitative tells the story of his voyage home, the screen shows MRI scans, gastroscopies and surgical procedures, melting into bizarre images of war and destruction. On his voyage he passes through hospital corridors which, as in a dream, become ancient temples. During the prologue, the characters of Fortune, Time, Love and Human Frailty cluster around the Ulysses’s bed like doctors.

This fascinating production was beautifully performed and incredibly complex, and although it ended with Ulysses and Penelope happily reunited, the dominating theme of mortality combined with bleak and sometimes chilling images left me feeling solemn, Ulysses portrayed less as a hero than as a sick man struggling for his life.

Reveiwer: Joanna Ramasawmy

24 August, 2009

Interview with Elin Manahan Thomas


Image: The Return of Ulysses. Photo: Johan Persson

Elin Manahan Thomas is the soprano in The Return of Ulysses, a production by The Royal Ballet of Flanders. The Return of Ulysses plays until 24 August at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

You have sung from an early age, when did you decide to pursue singing as a career?
I've sung since I was 7 and remember having lessons down the road with a lovely dame of a lady who never let me have the sweets that were on top of her piano! I sang at school and university but I never intended to be a singer. Throughout college I thought I'd be a teacher or Civil Servant but by chance, as I was doing my MPhil, I was invited to audition for Sir John Eliot Gardiner. I got a place on his big tour of 2000, singing all of Bach's cantatas around Europe, and I got hooked! I've been singing professionally ever since and frankly I still pinch myself, to this day, when I realise how lucky I am to do my hobby for a living.

How do you feel to be performing with the Royal Ballet of Flanders and how does it differ from your usual performances?
I can't wait to sing with the Royal Ballet. I've sung with ballet companies before - notably the Rambert - but always from offstage. Being up there with them all will be awe-inspiring, and such a pleasure to be part of a fantastic creative process. My only worry is looking like a heffalump alongside all the beautiful dancers.

What drew you to become involved with the production The Return of Ulysses?
The musical aspects of the show are fascinating , they take us through many ages and certainly along many emotional roads. The Purcell excerpts I'll be singing are some of my favourite arias and they're very beautiful and personal moments. But singing them as part of a larger cast will be a whole new experience and I'm looking forward to fitting in with everybody and everything on stage.

Have you been to the Edinburgh International Festival before? If so, what have your observations been of the Festival?
I've never been during Festival time - I can't wait! I come to Edinburgh regularly as my goddaughter lives here and I grab any opportunity to visit. So my memories of the city mainly involve museums, shops and the zoo, and it'll be nice to see its cultural side and the fun of the fair, as I imagine Festival time can be. I've sung here many times too of course, as a soloist and with the Dunedin Consort: I'm always struck by the musicality of the city and the warmth of the audiences.

You regularly perform all over the world, do you feel excited when you have the opportunity to bring your performances back to the UK to an audience such as that of the Edinburgh International Festival?
I'm excited for many reasons. I love coming to Scotland because, being Welsh, there's a small element of 'coming home' to another Celtic country. The audiences in Edinburgh are always welcoming and I particularly think that this show will be eye-opening and memorable and a real experience.

Why do you think people should come and see The Return of Ulysses at the Edinburgh International Festival?
It's such a fabulous combination of performance elements, with comedy and tragedy and colour and light and beauty for the eye and for the ear. I'm going to enjoy it, I can tell you that!

Festival Blogger review - Huelgas Ensemble


Huelgas Ensemble

Listening to the Huelgas Ensemble was the perfect way to finish a long day at work. The ensemble consisted of eight singers and a small collection of renaissance and baroque instruments led by the director and founder Paul Van Nevel. The programme was a mixture of Bach and Praetorius chorales, which, whilst written almost one hundred years apart, fitted together in the same concert seamlessly.

Greyfriars Kirk was the perfect setting for the chorales, congregational hymns of the Lutheran Church. It was packed out by a large audience, but remained intimate enough for the small ensemble. This was a performance of a well-rehearsed ensemble; the tuning was impeccable and diction flawless. The dynamics were subtle, although arguably too subtle at times. If I had to criticize the Huelgas Ensemble’s performance, I think their technical brilliance and attention to detail occasionally led to moments of emotionless performance. Despite this, the beauty of the Huelgas Ensemble’s choral singing was undisputable. The eight singers’ voices melted together and moved as one, the four voice parts supporting and reinforcing one another. In between each of the seven chorales the singers rearranged themselves which continually mixed up the sound. The orchestration was sparse and intermittent but worked well to link the cantatas together to from a coherent whole.

The Huelgas Ensemble gave a beautiful concert. The chosen chorales were written to impart the pious wishes of a man on his deathbed, voice desperate cries for redemption and express exaltation at the glory of God, and whilst the concert swelled to a gloriously emotive end, it was too little too late. However whilst the concert may not have been a demonstration of heartfelt emotion, it was without doubt a demonstration of exquisite music performed by exceptional musicians, and the performers left to the stage to thoroughly deserved thunderous applause.

Reviewer: Fiona Stewart

22 August, 2009

Festival Blogger review - Gelabert Azzopardi Companyia da Dansa - 21/8/09


Image: Gelabert Azzopardi - Conquassabit. Photo: R.Ribas

Even for those who have limited knowledge on the subject of contemporary dance, it’s easy to spot something special. Gelabert Azzopardi, the dance company formed and directed by dancer and choreographer Cesc Gelabert and choreographer and teacher Lydia Azzopardi, is based in Barcelona, and seems to have found its own unique niche due to its refreshing juxtapositions and easily recognised style.

This Festival performance involves two quite differing pieces: Sense Fi and Conquassabit. The first of these, Sense Fi, embraces simplicity, with a dark background and in the first scene a gigantic moon-like orb of light that moves across the stage. The immediately obvious element to Gelabert Azzopardi’s choreography is the sheer physical demand, with many strenuous balances and leaps. However the bronzed, incredibly fit dancers show not a hint of fatigue as they move around the stage barefoot, with strange movements that appear fluid yet rigid and at times almost awkward.

A contrast is established in this first movement between moments of human intimacy and emotion and the more detached, trance-like group dances. Strange, occasionally uneasy percussion-based music (by contemporary composer Pascal Comelade) trigger changes in the mood and speed of the dancers, passing through moments of Zen-like calm and serenity to those of energy and passion. Figures constantly pass seamlessly on and offstage, with Cesc Gelabert frequently featuring as the main dancer and dancing many solos. Gelabert shows no signs of toiling at his 56 years of age, instead providing the audience with intriguingly choreographed interludes and wonderful expression.

Also noticeable is the Spanish influence that seems to arise in frequent use of the hips, almost salsa style, adding warmth and closeness between dancers. Scenes conveying love and pain feature subtly within the more human passages, portrayed beautifully through a fragile and graceful technique in both males and females – and the great skill of each individual is not sidetracked by complicated costume design or background, leaving the talent on the surface for the audience to appreciate.

The second piece of the performance, Conquassabit, retains these particular styles and quirks, but sets them on a more traditional musical background, reinstating the Gelabert Azzopardi’s love of juxtaposition. Surprisingly, the contemporary, radical style seems to lend itself perfectly to Handel’s Dixit Dominus, one of the Baroque composer’s Italian works. Cesc Gelabert once again takes frequent solo roles, involving different characters and a stricter finish to the dances, which are timed perfectly to the music. The choreography here appears more experimental in these solos with more graphic and visually surprising images, but still with simple costumes and no props beside a large expanse of silver cloth hanging loosely from the ceiling and providing a stunning backdrop for some truly incredible dancing. Ballet seems to have more of an influence in this movement, yet still with a Latin American trace, and individual solos allow each dancer to demonstrate their ability and precision.

The audience’s obvious enjoyment of these pieces lied in the commitment and personality that each dancer brings to the stage. The simple, innovative style of Gelabert Azzopardi Companyia de Dansa seems to exude a quiet confidence and quality, and reintroduces the joy and visual dynamic of contemporary dance.
Reviewer: Kyna Bowers

Festival Blogger review - Orchestre des Champs-Élysées - 17/8/09


Image: Orchestre des Champs-Élysées. Photo: Jean-Phillippe Baltel

The Usher Hall seemed like a huge venue for such a tiny orchestra, but what they lacked in sheer numbers and volume they made up for with the intensity and emotion of their playing. As the clear opening notes from the flute in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Overture sang across the silent space, I was enchanted – as, I believe, were the rest of the audience, packed in to this sell-out concert.

From the delicate shimmering of the violins, representing the fairies’ footsteps, to the loud sarcastic braying of Bottom the weaver, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, captured a perfect contrast of sentiments. Played on original instruments – including the ophicleide, a large brass bass instrument, staple to the Romantic orchestra but nowadays near extinct – there was a definite emphasis on authenticity, though as a result there was a slight lack of the familiar warmth and tone of some modern instruments, and the frugal use of vibrato made for a very distinctive string sound.

The piano, also distinctly lacking in the tone quality and sustain of a modern instrument, did not affect soloist Alexander Lonquich’s lyrical and expressive playing of Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 2. He too captured the audience with his intensity, his hands flying from the keys with each virtuosic flourish, and his flawless timing and precision creating suspense and poise at the most emotional corners. Here the orchestra showed their strength as a backdrop, providing perfect support for Chopin’s elegant keyboard writing to shine.

It was Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony that gave the orchestra an opportunity to show the full extent of their range of colour – the sensitive pianissimos and pizzicato strings, the great stirring emotions of the Adagio, and finally the buzzing anger of the finale, formed a powerfully moving performance. Not only were the soloists excellent – the luxuriously smooth clarinet melody floated above the orchestra at the beginning of the second movement – but the unity and ensemble was impressive; the first entry of the violins sounded like one pure voice, and the physical movement of the whole orchestra was completely together, breathing with the music. With encores from both the soloist and the orchestra, it was beautifully moving performance.
Reviewer: Joanna Ramasawmy

21 August, 2009

Festival Blogger review - Faust


Image: Faust. Photo: Photo: Mihaela Marin.

It’s widely quoted to be the most ambitious project of the Festival this year; and as far as I’m concerned, no disappointments there. Welcome to the macabre and horrifying world of Hell. Romanian Silviu Purcarete’s epic rendition of Goethe’s Faust seems very difficult to contain in a matter of mere words, with its cast of over 100, copious use of fake blood, fire breathing, its two stages, even a fiberglass (but very realistic) rhinoceros.

This adaptation, spoken in Romanian with subtitles, relishes the dark and terrifying side to the tale of Faust (originally a German legend); a man who makes a pact with the Devil’s agent Mephistopheles.

Amidst chilling choral music, which often floats unnoticed into the atmosphere around, are the bloodcurdling visions onstage and the tremendously captivating acting style of leading lady Ofelia Popii (Mephistopheles). A notable sense of hysteria and melodrama is aided by the many bodies that spring from behind the audience, from under floorboards, from inside cupboards, in a nightmarish manner which is skin-crawlingly humorous at times.

And not forgetting a few unexpected changes in surrounding which make full use of the spacious setting of Lowland Hall, immersing the audience in the centre of the action. Creatures with heads of pigs, fires in bathtubs, bodies dangling from moving frames, sparks, torture, and lots of sexual references are to be found in Purcarete’s interpretation of the Devil's playground; a thrilling spectacle, but definitely not for the faint-hearted. It’s hard to say whether Silviu Purcarete’s Faust is enjoyable to watch, but there’s no doubt that it is a masterpiece, with its brilliant set design and clever use of lighting and effects. Expect to be overwhelmed.

Reviewer: Kyna Bower

Festival Blogger review - Made in Scotland


Image: Royal National Scottish Orchestra. Photo: Jean-Philippe Baltel

Last night I saw the Royal Scottish National Orchestra perform Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise and Symphony No 5 and James MacMillan’s Britannia and The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at Usher Hall.

Not familiar with these pieces I went in expecting a very Scottish affair and was surprised by the opening piece, Symphony No 5, which would have been at home on a modern Hollywood film score. It was haunting and ominous, laterfilled with suspense and drama.

The conductor, Paul Daniel, was very energetic and ardent. The orchestra were also a pleasure to watch. As all seemed so passionate about the music they were playing there was a sense of the theatrical.

As expected, An Orkney Wedding brought the Scottish mood I had been expecting. A cheery song from the beginning, it is said to depict a wedding on the Orkney islands and as a Scottish islander myself, I thought it was an accurate portrayal. About half-way through it became even more upbeat and the audience came alive, with many tapping feet and rapping fingers. Then three of the violinists surrounding the conductor began to play fiddle-style as you may see at a Scottish wedding, with slurring brass thrown in to represent the more the musicians and guests drank, this even raised a few laughs from the audience. The piece culminated in a lone piper entering the hall at the back, marching through the audience to take centre stage in front of the conductor, to which you could see many of the audience display proud smiles.

After the break, the third piece, James MacMillan’s Britannia, was energetic from the start. It seemed to veer between an enchanting fairytale to a random, threatening sound. This unusual piece included duck noises, a whistle, a xylophone, horseshoe sounds and a horn, with lots of punctuation from cymbals and a gong.

While the central two pieces seemed quite lighthearted, the last piece went back to something more serious. The Confession of Isobel Gowdie was written about a women burnt at the stake for supposedly being a witch in 1662, depicting ‘the mercy and humanity that was denied her in the last days of her life’. The piece started off slowly and became quite menacing, with lots of drumming. Towards the end it became quite beautiful but cut with violent music, said to represent the suffering of innocent women tried as witches.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening but the highlight for me was definitely An Orkney Wedding, which as clichéd as it sounds filled me full of pride for all things Scottish.

Reviewer: Sarah Jackson

20 August, 2009

Festival staff profile - Niki Furley

We spoke to Niki Furley, Head of Sponsorship & Development for the Festival.

How did you come to work for the Edinburgh International Festival?
As a student I worked in the Festival Box Office one summer, the buzz and excitement was amazing and I always wanted to come back. I graduated with a degree in Psychology, however have spent my career in fundraising & events and was working with Scottish Ballet when I got the call to join the Festival’s Sponsorship Team. It’s just as buzzing as I remembered and the psychology degree certainly comes in handy at times!

What is your job title and what does your position involve?
I’m Head of Sponsorship and Development and our small team of five is responsible for raising funds to help support the work of the Festival, enabling the Festival to present the annual three-week cultural extravaganza as well as our year-round education and outreach programme.

What is the best part of your job?
Being part of something creative and extraordinary, not to mention the chance to attend Festival performances! Plus, I get to work with a group of enthusiastic and unbelievably hard working colleagues who manage to make even those difficult days fun.

What is the worst part of your job?
Sadly, I pretty much miss out on the other summer festivals and of course I have to remind my (very understanding) husband that not only are holidays in July and August out but that he won’t see much of me in those months either!

What has been your most memorable Festival experience so far?
Far too many to mention as each Festival brings something new, unexpected and unforgettable. Looking back on Festival 08 - I was really moved watching Sir Charles Mackerras and Alfred Brendel on stage together, completely blown away by the energy and adrenalin of the young dancers in Batsheva, mesmerized watching Nina Ananiashvili dance Giselle and enjoyed the beauty & tranquility of John Williams’ recital at the Queen’s Hall.

Which event/s are you most looking forward to at Festival 09? Why?
As a dance fan I’m particularly looking forward to Michael Clark’s New work and, of course, Scottish Ballet. I think the Lewis Psalm Singers will be extraordinary and the Bach at Greyfriars Series something truly special. Faust is unmissable according to a colleague who saw it in Romania in June and I also have Macbeth, Dream of Gerontius and Actus Tragicus on my hit-list.

What are your words of advice to those at the Festival this August?
Don’t waste a minute! Squeeze in as many performances as you can, take an umbrella and don’t forget to eat.

Describe the Edinburgh International Festival in 3 words?
Exciting, exhilarating … exhausting!

Festival Blogger review - Faith Healer


Image: Kim Durham . Photo: Trent O’Donnell.

Whilst the concept of a play containing absolutely no dialogue may not be appealing to everyone, Robin Lefèvre’s production of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer really does astound on so many levels. The play is unusually structured as a series of monologues by a terrific ensemble cast of three characters - witty and charming faith healer Frank (Owen Roe); his wife Grace who is trapped in her own dystopian reality (Ingrid Craigie); and comical manager Teddy who provides a detached commentary on the other two characters (Kim Durham) - each giving their own (often conflicting) reflection on Frank’s career and a deep personal tragedy which affects them all.

The genius of this production lies in its simplicity. For example, Liz Ashcroft’s set design is minimalistic throughout, which is particularly effective during Grace’s monologue as it emphasises how empty and drab her life is. One particular feature of interest is the constant presence of two empty chairs on the right side of the stage, the significance of which comes into full poignancy in the penultimate monologue.

From a theatrical perspective this really is a very brave play, and although there cannot be said to be one single key incident or turning point, the play remains thoroughly engaging throughout, which was demonstrated by the audience showing their appreciation with applause at the end of every scene, in addition to a standing ovation at the end. At one point in the second act, the acting was so realistic and strong that many members of the audience murmured in agreement with the character of Teddy as though he was directly addressing them, which is a true rarity in a play as serious in nature as this.

Faith Healer is essentially a play which explores differing takes on reality, and threads its way through an enticing puzzle of fact and fiction, ultimately allowing the audience to decide who is the most honest of the three characters. Above all, we must decide for ourselves whether Frank really is “a twisted man with a talent for hurting” as Grace portrays him to be, or whether there is more to his often hostile relationship with his wife.

Reviewer: Scott Clair

19 August, 2009

Interview with Jordi Savall


Image: Jordi Savall.

Jordi Savall is conductor for Le Concert des Nations at Usher Hall on 20 August. He is also directing and performing in Hesperion XXI on 21 August at the Queen’s Hall. We spoke to Jordi Savall prior to his Festival 09 performances and asked him a few questions.

When you were growing up how did music influence you and what is it that your particularly like about early years music?
When I was 6 years old I was a choir-boy at school, which I loved - until my voice broke when I became older. This was very frustrating for me as I still wanted to sing, so I tried to find something to replace it. I discovered the Cello, and the music of Bach, as well as English Composers such as Simpson. These gave a new lease of life to my music.

Do you find that there are many differences between audiences in different parts of the world. If so what are they?
There are many differences, sometimes incredible. In places like South America and Eastern Europe, where people don’t have as much money, the audiences are very warm. They’re happy you’re visiting and it feels a different atmosphere.

How did you find your time at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2007?
It was marvelous. We had a series of nice productions, they were all very full, it was a great ambience.

What do you see as the main differences between performing as part of a festival and performances in other seasons?
In festivals there is always a nice audience, very multicultural. The audience are motivated to come to the festival, it’s not just high society, people are interested in the programme and the music. There’s such a variety, the local audience, people from far away, it’s very cosmopolitan. The city of Edinburgh is incredible, full of activity – a nice stimulating audience.

What do you think people will gain from coming to see your performances at the Edinburgh International Festival?
It’s difficult for me to say. I’m happy to present the compositions - they maybe very well known, such as Handel, or others that we have done special research on. We also have great musicians in our orchestra who play from the heart. We put life into our version of the music, like in older times without rehearsal.

As well as Le Concert des Nations, you're also directing and performing in Hesperion XXI. How do you find performing on stage compared to conducting?
I’m used to doing both, and I like to do both. I like to travel and conduct, but it also depends on the music. I also like to play alone, by myself, without intermissions. With Hesperion XXI, we have a group from all over the world, who’ve been playing together for 20 years. This is great for me, to get together is a festivity, with such a nice group of musicians and friends, and of course to share that with our audiences.