THE Edinburgh International Festival has revealed details of its new-look festival, which will be totally digital. This year’s event will take place from Friday until August 31 and will celebrate the capital’s “enduring festival spirit”.
Performers will be back on stage but shows will be filmed in closed venues and broadcast online.
This will enable the festival to commission new works despite theatres across the city remaining closed due to coronavirus restrictions.
My Light Shines On – a series of digital works and light installations across Edinburgh – will mark what would have been the opening weekend of the festival.
In a series of digital commissions, the festival has joined with Scottish artists and national arts companies to film original performances in venues including the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the Usher Hall and The Queen’s Hall.
They include a personal love letter to Scottish theatre from the National Theatre of Scotland, directed by award-winning film-maker Hope Dickson Leach.
Scottish Opera’s modern-day interpretation of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Telephone, starring Soraya Mafi and Jonathan McGovern, was filmed in the bar of the King’s Theatre.
Other performances include the Scottish Chamber Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Paul Lewis in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra celebrating Mahler’s 160th birthday and a series of films from Scottish Ballet.
The films premiere on Edinburgh International Festival’s YouTube channel on Saturday at 9.30pm.
The festival will also feature an outdoor light installation with hundreds of beams of light illuminating festival venues across the city.
To mark what would have been the opening of the festival on August 8, a one-hour film hosted by presenter Kirsty Wark and cellist Su-a Lee previews the My Light Shines On activity on the International Festival’s YouTube channel.
Famous festival faces featured include Alan Cumming, Fiona Shaw, Anna Meredith and Akram Khan, plus collaborations with Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival and The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
A sound installation will also broadcast classical concerts – recorded behind closed doors in The Hub – throughout Princes Street Gardens on weekday lunchtimes from August 10 to 28.
Fergus Linehan, festival director at Edinburgh International Festival, said: “For the first time since lockdown, orchestras, ballet companies, traditional musicians, theatre ensembles and designers have come together to perform in and light up the venues they love.
“This has been achieved with great care to ensure the safety of all involved.
“It represents a cautious but essential step towards the re-emergence of the performing arts in our country.”
He added: “The programme of events that we announce today is not so much a curated season as a re-union – it is time for our artists to make theatre together, to play music together, to sing together, to dance together and to light up the skies together.
“Through these projects, we are providing employment for over 500 Scottish artists, creatives and technical staff.”
Scotland’s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “It’s wonderful to see that despite the difficulties the world is facing, the Edinburgh International Festival has harnessed that creative spirit to create a digital programme focusing on Scottish artists.”
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