Latest news with #EIF
Scotsman
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The best EIF classical concerts - Scotsman critic David Kettle previews the 2025 programme
Scotsman critic David Kettle picks his classical music highlights from this year's EIF programme Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Veil of the Temple It takes a festival with the ambition – and the means – of the Edinburgh International Festival to launch its classical programme with an eight-hour, stage-filling mystical choral meditation from one of the UK's most idiosyncratic composers. John Tavener's The Veil of the Temple straddles world religions in search of a universal truth, taking its listeners on a spiritual journey to a hair-raising, conscience-altering state of enlightenment. It's sure to be an unforgettable experience, with the combined might of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Monteverdi Choir (below) and National Youth Choir of Scotland plus the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and numerous international soloists – and it's surely the most profound contemplation of the EIF's theme, 'the truth we seek'. Usher Hall, 2 August Monteverdi Choir Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy Spiritual contemplations continue in a stage-shuddering two-piano recital from keyboard and life partners Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy in a rare live performance of Messiaen's mighty Visions de l'Amen. The beautiful austerity of Bach and the volatile playfulness of Kurtág join forces in a typically unconventional first half. Queen's Hall, 5 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy Hanni Liang: Dreams The Rite of Spring famously came to Stravinsky in a dream, as did Yesterday to Paul McCartney. The recital by German-born pianist Hanni Liang (pictured above) might give you the chance to delve into your own night-time visions and hear them realised at the keyboard. Debussy's tender Rêverie provides a starting point, but after that it's down to you, Liang and your subconscious… The Hub, 7 August Hanni Liang Aurora Orchestra: Shostakovich Inside Out Was Shostakovich an obedient line-toer or a snarling subversive in Soviet Russia? The Aurora Orchestra and founding conductor Nicholas Collon surely won't attempt a simple answer in their conversational dissection of the composer's Fifth Symphony (after all, there isn't one), but they'll set out to examine the music amid the terror and turmoil of its times. The full piece will be played uninterrupted in the evening concert along with a piece by Abel Selaocoe. Usher Hall, 18 August The Dunedin Consort
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Tips for 12 Edinburgh Festival shows outwith the city centre
However it is still possible to experience the best of the festivals off the beaten track, as well as discover hidden gems and lesser-known venues. Here are some of the best places to take in the festivals well away from the city centre. Jupiter Artland There's nowhere in Scotland quite like the award-winning sculpture gardens and art attraction Jupiter Artland. Founded in 2009 by art collectors Robert and Nicky Wilson, the attraction features more than 30 permanent site-specific works by artists including Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Phyllida Barlow, Anish Kapoor, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Marc Quinn and Andy Goldsworthy. A highlight of recent summers at the site has been Jupiter Rising, which offers the chance to explore the site and its latest exhibitions after dark. Ticketholders will also be able to enjoy experimental music, poetry, performances and late-night DJ sets outdoors, with this year's line-up featuring club night Ponyboy, singer-songwriter Roxanne Tataei, artist and DJ Taahliah, dancer and choreographer Florence Peake, and author Sacha Coward. A radical retelling of the William Shakespeare play As You Like It will be staged at the Church Hill Theatre in Morningside as part of thr Edinburgh International Festival. (Image: Dahlia Katz) Church Hill Theatre The long-time home of many of Edinburgh's amateur theatre companies has also regularly featured in the Edinburgh International Festival's line-up. Handily placed for the many cafes, bars and restaurants in Bruntsfield and Morningside, the venue will be playing host to two of the EIF's main theatre productions. Cutting the Tightrope will feature a series of short plays short plays exploring the power of the arts in global conflicts, political resistance and displays of artistic freedom. William Shakespeare's play As You Like It will also under a radical reimagining for an adaptation which is said to be 'unafraid to confront the thorny truths of our time.' Performance artist Linder Sterling will be staging a special show partly inspired by Sir Walter Scott at the Royal Botanic Garden as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. (Image: Ross Fraser McLean) Royal Botanic Garden Arguably the most idyllic oasis within easy reach of the city centre, the Royal Botanic Garden is far from a culture-free attraction. The garden is playing host to the first ever retrospective exhibition in Scotland devoted to the trailblazing feminist photographer and performance artist Linder Sterling, which spans 50 years, back to her student years in Manchester. The former frontwoman of the Manchester post-punk band Ludus will be opening this year's Edinburgh Art Festival on August 7 with a special performance inspired by the Scottish writer Walter Scott's early definition of 'glamour,' while the feminist collective Femmergy lined up to perform at the official launch party in the nearby Grange cricket club. The garden will also be hosting Botanic Lates, a festival event offering rare night-time entry to the attraction, which will feature exclusive access to the exhibition, live music, and pop-up bars and food stalls. Harpist Esther Swift will be part of the Bellfield Brewery's Fringe line-up. Bellfield Brewery More than 500 Fringe shows have been announced since the official programme was announced at the start of the June. One of the most intriguing new elements is the Taproom Sessions, a new series of events at the Bellfield Brewery and Taproom in the Abbeyhill area. Two cornerstones of Edinburgh's year-round cultural life, the Hidden Door festival and music promoters Soundhouse, previous collaborators with the brewery, have joined forces on a programme which will encompass live music, spoken word and film. Billed as 'a grassroots alternative to the city centre mayhem,' the Taproom Sessions programme will feature jazz stars Graeme Stephen and the Phil Bancroft Trio, singer-songwriters Kate Young, Cahalen Morrison and Adam Holmes, harpist Esther Swift, and poets Iona Lee and Kate Ailes. The seaside town of North Berwick is transformed by the Fringe by the Sea event in Berwick Fringe by the Sea was originally envisaged as an event that would offer the prospect of a day trip to the seaside town as an alternative to the hustle and bustle of the historic heart of Edinburgh. Now it is firmly established in its own right as one of the biggest and best of Scotland's summer festivals, transforming The Lodge Grounds into the main hub for North Berwick's annual event. It has previously secured acts as varied as Del Amitri, Travis, Texas, Sister Sledge, The Jacksons, Richard E Grant, Frankie Boyle and Alexander McCall Smith, and sold more than 86,000 tickets last year. This year's line-up includes live music from Air, Ezra Collective, Hamish Hawk, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Bluebells and Eddi Reader, as well as appearances from Judy Murray, Irvine Welsh, Vic Reeves, Ruby Wax and Flawless. Lego artist Warren Elsmore will be creating a new exhibition made entirely from Lego bricks for this year's Fringe. Picture: Neil Hanna Granton Long-held ambitions for the former industrial area on Edinburgh's waterfront to be transformed into a new cultural quarter for the city have finally been taking shape in recent months. The former gas holder, the most distinctive landmark in Granton, has become home to a new public park, close to where a former railway station has become home to artists and creative industry workers. A few minutes walk away, on West Shore Road, The Pitt has become a major new food, drink and cultural destination since it opened in December thanks to its bars, food stalls and event spaces. It will also become a Fringe venue for the first time when it plays host to Brick Journeys, an exhibition built by artist Warren Elsmore entirely from Lego bricks which celebrates how humans have travelled, from planes and trains to hot air balloons. The FirstStage Studios complex in Leith will be opened to the public for the Edinburgh Art Festival. (Image: Liam Anderstrem) FirstStage Studios It is more than five years since a former wave power plant on the outskirts of Leith Docks was turned into Edinburgh's first full-time film studio. Industry giants Amazon, Sony and Netflix have all used the vast warehouse complex since then, for shows including The Rig, Outlander and - most recently - Dept Q, the new Edinburgh-set crime thriller starring series adapted from the novels of Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen. However the festival season will open the building up for rare public access for a spectacular one-off event. Former world champion gymnast Lewis Walker, who now works across multiple dance, theatre, film, fashion and music projects, will be bringing the Edinburgh Art Festival to a close. Co-commissioned with the Serpentine Galleries in London, the show is expected to explore the human search for authenticity in a world built on repetition. Citadel Youth Centre If you're looking for a good local project to support at this year's Fringe look no further than the long-running youth project. It will be entering the Fringe fray for the first time with two fundraisers for its work with young people and families in Leith. The first, Punchline on Leith on August 6, will feature a surprise line-up of Fringe favourites and rising stars, as well as a raffle of works of art donated by the comics Joe Lycett and Phill Jupitus. Storm in the Citadel, on August 7, will serve up three garage punk bands – local favourites The Bad Moods and The Screamin' Kick, along with Spanish stars Los Retumbes. Portobello Town Hall One of the most under-used venues in the city will finally be playing a major part in the Fringe when it a hosts a four-day festival of Palestinian art and culture. Running from August 12-15, the programme will feature theatre, dance, comedy, storytelling, music and poetry performances, as well as panel discussions and talks with artists. The Creative Scotland-backed project involves writers, dancers, theatre-makers, publishers and producers based in Scotland who have worked regularly in Palestine and the Middle East for decades. A crowdfunding campaign raised £40,000 from more than 430 supporters. Leith Depot The grassroots culture powerhouse of Leith Walk is well worth a trip across town at any time of year and it's no different in August. A major new addition to its Fringe offering is a series of music and in-conversation events hosted by BBC broadcaster Vic Galloway. Musical guests lined up so far include Haiver, Constant Follower, Siobhan Wilson, Broken Chanter, Adam Ross, Gillian Fleetwood and Rick Redbeard. Other festival highlights include Riot Reveals Cabaret, a show expected to feature burlesque, comedy, magic, drag and live music, a performance showcasing the 'radical subversive poetry' of Robert Burns, and Karaokekarma, a play set in a karaoke booth. Hibernian Supporters Club While Oasis and AC/DC will be filling the home of Scottish rugby over four nights in August, a social club a stone's throw away from Easter Road, the home of 'The Hibees,' will be turned into a Fringe venue to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the club. It will play host to 1902, the story of the club's famous bid to claim glory in the 2016 Scottish Cup Final to bring an end to the club's trophy drought, told through the experiences of four friends desperate to see their team at Hampden. Nathan Scott-Dunn's play lifts the lid on the bravado of the fans in a story which is said to have been built on the 'passion, humour and resilience of working-class people. The Bowlers Rest Tucked away off the main tourist trail in Leith, The Bowlers Rest on Mitchell Street is nonetheless one of the easiest Fringe venues to reach from a tram stop in the city. The pub has become increasingly well-known of late for its jam sessions and intimate live music gigs. Now it will be playing host to a South African film and TV actor's one-man play. Sean Higgs' show will explore the unravelling of a white South African man who is forced to survive as a beggar in a black township. To purchase tickets for the Fringe, please click here
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The best EIF theatre shows - Scotsman critic Joyce McMillan previews the 2025 programme
Scotsman critic Joyce McMillan picks her theatre highlights from this year's EIF programme Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Make It Happen There's no doubt about the big theatre ticket of the Edinburgh International Festival 2025. Based on an idea proposed by the actor Brian Cox - who will appear in the show as 18th century economist Adam Smith - James Graham's new play Make It Happen is a study of the 2008 collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which almost brought the entire global financial system to its knees. Co-produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep, the play features a cast of 16, led by award-winning actor Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin, the overreaching CEO who became a byword for an age of devastating financial arrogance and recklessness; and its subject could hardly chime better with Nicola Benedetti's 2025 Festival theme of 'the truth we seek'. Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 1-9 August; previews 30-31 July. Faustus in Africa! First created in 1995, Faustus In Africa! - by the legendary Handspring Puppet Company of Cape Town - poses urgent questions about the reckless deals we make with the devil for profit and pleasure, despite the catastrophic costs of colonialism, and of the climate emergency. Founded more than 40 years ago, Handspring has become a world leader in theatre puppetry, taking the art-form to previously unimagined heights; this is the company that gave us the mighty horses for the UK National Theatre's War Horse, and that inspired Baxter Theatre's beautiful 2023 Fringe hit The Life And Times Of Walter K. Here, director William Kentridge and a seven-strong company join forces with musicians Warrick Sony and the late James Phillips to offer a searing take on the Faust legend, and one which could hardly be more timely, in 2025 Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 20-23 August. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Cutting the Tightrope In the politics of our time, the term 'freedom of speech' is routinely used and abused as never before; but to judge by the reviews it attracted when it premiered at the Arcola in London last year, this collection of speedily-written new short plays on the theme will give little comfort to those who believe, with US Vice-President JD Vance, that the main threat to freedom comes from the political left. Made yet more topical by the colossal controversy surrounding Bob Vylan's appearance at Glastonbury, this collection tackles the issues involved head-on; and seeks to nail the growing nervousness of arts organisation about tackling subjects on which debate has become too hot to handle. Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh, 14-17 August. Make It Happen
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The longest ever Edinburgh festival experiences, from an 8 hour classical concert to a 36 hour comedy show
An eight hour concert at the Edinburgh International Festival? It's not as unusual as you might think, writes David Pollock Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... This year's Edinburgh International Festival will open in explosive fashion, certainly in terms of the ambition attached to presenting a full staging of the late Sir John Tavener's masterwork The Veil of the Temple, which the composer described as 'the supreme achievement of my life'. Presented in the UK for the first time since its premiere at London's Temple Church in 2003, the performance will last for eight hours, from mid-afternoon until late evening on the Festival's first Saturday. Edinburgh Festival Chorus are among the 250 performers at this year's EIF opening concert. | Edrinburgh Festival Chorus The Veil of the Temple will be no act of penance; rather one of transcendence, with suitably spaced refreshment breaks and beanbags supplied. But while its length makes it an oddity in Edinburgh in August, it's not a rarity. Few other places in the world permit such open experimentation with durational work, and in the International Festival and the Fringe there have been many such experiments over the years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One of the earliest was also one of the most infamous, a production which is still spoken about with wide-eyed enthusiasm by those who experienced it. First performed at London's ICA in early 1979, The Warp by maverick theatre-maker Ken Campbell also came to that year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, to the now-demolished Regent Cinema in Abbeyhill. A transcendental 22-hour experience, the entrance fee of one pound bought turned-on attendees into a sequence of ten playlets transcribed by Campbell from the thoughts and memories of fellow eccentric and noted poet, painter and jazz musician Neil Oram into a spectacle of live storytelling. Spanning four centuries, The Warp blended science fiction, jazz-rock musical, sex, drugs and promenade performance, with 50 actors playing 200 roles in a non-stop cornucopia of counterculture gig theatre which was as transgressive as punk and as over-stuffed with ambition as prog rock. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In 2011, one of the Festival Fringe's current key venues was opened in a manner which called back to Campbell's work. Hotel Medea began at Summerhall at midnight and ran through until sunrise, lasting approximately six hours, during which the audience were encouraged to dance and eat in honour of the wedding of Medea and Jason from Greek mythology, then experience the break-up of their relationship, including being tucked into bed as the characters' soon-to-be-deceased children. Another promenade spectacular, Hotel Medea was told in three parts. 'It's very much about staying up together all night, and that creates that sense of ritual, the sense of community and togetherness that we're always looking for through theatre,' said co-director Persis-Jade Merivala at the time, invoking the same spirit of community ritual Benedetti taps into with her words on The Veil of the Temple. Nor is it just serious theatre which benefits from this endurance-testing format. Mark Watson was already a comedian on the up when he captured the imagination and the headlines in 2004 with Mark Watson's Overambitious 24-Hour Show, a successful attempt to break the world record for longest stand-up performance. Comedian Mark Watson | Contributed 'Watson's eclectic show included a blind date, a debate on the existence of God, a Euro 2004 review and readings from his novel, Bullet Points,' reported the BBC at the time. 'The comedian began games of Chinese Whispers among the audience to cover his toilet breaks.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Held at the 160-capacity Cowgate Central venue after the nearby Wilkie House proved too small for the opening audience, there were also cameos from Adam Hills, Stewart Lee, Dara O'Briain and Jenny Éclair, and a finale in which Watson proposed to his girlfriend Emily, one of 12 people to remain for the duration. Watson returned to the format every year until 2009, including with Mark Watson's Seemingly Impossible 36-Hour Circuit of the World in 2006, which broke his own record. Since Watson's efforts, attempts to grab the attention with long Fringe shows have really needed to pull something out of the bag to register. Neither a comedy nor strictly a piece of theatre, comedian Bob Slayer's Iraq Out & Loud was very much the epitome of a Fringe concept in 2016 – a consecutive, real-time reading of every word in the then-just-published Chilcot Report into the UK's role in the Iraq war. Undertaken in a shed next to Slayer's BlundaBus venue at Potterrow, Iraq Out & Loud took 1,500 comedians and members of the public (including this critic, writing for this paper) 13 days, reading in short chunks for 24 hours a day, to get through the entire 2.6 million words of the report, winning Slayer an Edinburgh Comedy Awards Panel Prize for Spirit of the Fringe. Edinburgh International Festival itself has also been no stranger to staging ambitiously lengthy works in the past, although not one as overtly singular as The Veil of the Temple. In 1994 it hosted the world premiere of Robert Lepage's The Seven Streams of the River Ota at Meadowbank Sports Centre; or rather, the first three instalments of Lepage's eventual seven-part, nine-hour investigation into the literal and metaphorical fallout of the Hiroshima bomb. My colleague Joyce McMillan tells me 'the event, with intervals, was very long'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The James Plays were a series of three historical plays presented by the National Theatre of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Great Britain. | National Theatre of Scotland Then there were The James Plays in 2016 and Stephen Fry's Mythos in 2019, both split into three individual play-length sections, but available as one lengthily consecutive viewing experience when seen in order over one or two days. Similarly, presentations of Wagner's famously lengthy Ring Cycle have been split into its individual operas over days in 2003 and even consecutive years in the late 2010s. Discussing the crescendo that will bering the performance to a close, The Veil of the Temple's director Tom Guthrie describes 'the idea being that you've arrived, and of course in this conception of it, this is with dawn, with the night turning to day, and darkness turning to light, and those are universal themes (of) enlightenment. It's a wonderful, ritualised human expression.' The Veil of the Temple will be performed in five languages and sung by 250 people, in a vocal collaboration between the Monteverdi Choir, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the National Youth Choir of Scotland, with music performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Sofi Jeannin. Across eight meditative, chanting cycles, it takes its inspiration from an all-night vigil in the Orthodox Christian tradition, but its purpose is to find a commonality both between the religions of the world and their practices, and between the worlds of the religious and the secular, which each have their own forms of devotional ritual. Tavener was striving for 'an underlying universal truth', says Edinburgh International Festival's director Nicola Benedetti, who knew the composer. 'I guess it was his wish and his hope that it's in the patience and the sitting with something for those eight hours that can allow for something transformational. His view of that universal truth was something that binds people closer together.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the midst of an arts festival in 2025, one which offers literally hundreds of different ways to spend your time, the idea of devoting this portion of your life to one single, focused emotional journey which will take you through the best part of a day feels like something approaching a rebellious act. It's a rejection of the shareable, dopamine-chasing quick fix of contemporary culture, and a submission instead to a performance which slowly reveals itself in the company of other humans, however you might feel about the religious resonances behind it.
The Herald Scotland
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
EIF bosses clash with city council over event permits
Organisers said they were "disappointed" at the outcome but hoped an upcoming review of licensing charges by the authority would bring costs down in future. City of [[Edinburgh]] Council's fee structure for public entertainment licences (PELs) - permits for events open to the [[pub]]lic required to ensure safety and compliance with regulations - provides discounts for some some groups including charities. However the council says this is not applied "where there is clear commercial activity". On Monday, less than two weeks before the start of the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), councillors considered an application by the EIF Society, which is a registered charity, seeking a partial refund of licensing costs for events at the University of Edinburgh's Old College Quad and Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens. Read more The value of the discount sought was not made public, however PELs range from £1,454 for a venue with capacity of up to 200, to £5,808 for a capacity of up to 10,000. Lebanese-French dance company Maqamat are due to perform at the Old College Quad over four nights in August with tickets priced at £30. The Ross Bandstand will host a free 'big singalong' event featuring Dougie Maclean on August 3 to mark the start of festival season in Edinburgh, followed by Norwegian folk ensemble Barokksolistene alongside Scottish musician Donald Shaw and his ceilidh band the following night, costing £20 a head. Council reports by head of regulatory services, Andrew Mitchell, said these were ticketed events and the licensing department "understands that any monies raised will go back to the Society". He said charges for licence applications "are used to offset the significant costs which are incurred in dealing with licensing issues in the city". However a spokesperson for EIF said events at the Ross Bandstand and Edinburgh College Quad were not being run on a commercial basis "and will not generate a profit". They said: "They are deliberately programmed to engage a broader audience, with an average ticket price of just £25, and thousands of people will attend events in Princes Street Gardens completely free of charge. "As a registered charity, we operate on a not-for-profit basis and subsidise these events significantly to ensure wide public benefit. "Any reduction risks setting a precedent. However, the committee has the discretion to waive fees where it considers this appropriate." Councillors on the licensing sub-committee unanimously refused the fee reduction on the advice of officers. An International Festival spokesperson said: 'We're disappointed by the decision of the Licensing Sub-Committee. "We understand the basis for licensing charges will be reviewed at the upcoming Culture and Communities Committee meeting and we look forward to that discussion.' More from our Edinburgh correspondent It follows a decision by councillors last month to turn down a similar request by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, also a charity, for a discount on its £18,163 PEL bill for fringe performances on the Mound Precinct and High Street. Officials said in a report published last month the Fringe Society was yet to pay its licensing fees and the council was "processing these applications without payment". They added: "This is not normal practice - irrespective of any request to reduce a fee, payment must be made at the time of application." They said the Society has paid commercial licensing application rates since at least 2012 and discounts "operates commercial arrangements whereby it allows other businesses to sell goods from stalls within the licensed footprint. "It is the understanding of the Directorate that these arrangements are strictly commercial."
