Wed 28 Mar 2007

Jonathan Mills today announced his first programme as Director of the Edinburgh International Festival saying “Festivals are a gift; a special gift from a city to itself, to its citizens, to its visitors, to its future, to its very soul. In planning this, my first year’s programme, my inspiration was Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo - not just as a celebration of its 400th anniversary, but as an exploration of its legacy still alive in the work of artists today. I hope audiences will have a fantastic time at the Festival. There is a broad range of artists, styles and work from the deeply serious to the seriously fun which I hope will appeal to everyone. I look forward to welcoming both locals and visitors to Edinburgh in August.”

The 2007 Edinburgh International Festival runs from Friday 10 August to Sunday 2 September.

The Festival welcomes some of the best international artists working today. Making their Edinburgh International Festival debuts are: Jordi Savall, Deborah Voigt, Natascha Petrinsky, Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Alan Cumming, Barrie Kosky, Mabou Mines, Lee Breuer, Chiara Banchini, Thomas Adès, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Gustavo Dudamel, Cantus Cölln, Andreas Scholl, Anonymous 4 and The Tiger Lillies.

The architecture of the Festival remains familiar under Jonathan Mills with theatre, opera, music and dance in the city’s main venues, but evolves with the addition of some new strands and an eclectic mix of repertoire. One new strand is the inclusion of the visual arts within the International Festival programme. In Jardins Publics, three major artists have been commissioned to explore the question of the public garden inspired by figures as diverse as Voltaire, Patrick Geddes and Ian Hamilton Finlay, and sited in three locations across the city.

Dance sees the Festival extending its relationship with Scottish Ballet in a co-commission from American choreographer Stephen Petronio, the Festival debuts of Olivier Award winning Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu performing On Danse and the Trisha Brown Dance Company with a spread of her works over 20 years including the UK premiere of Canto/Pianto. Another UK premiere is William Forsythe’s hilarious, end of the world spectacular Impressing the Czar performed by the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

Theatre brings The Bacchae from the National Theatre of Scotland in the world premiere of a new version by David Greig, directed by John Tiffany and starring Alan Cumming; Vienna Schauspielhaus’ Poppea directed by Barrie Kosky and The Wooster Group’s La Didone marry music and theatre through the inspiration of early opera; the UK premiere of the acclaimed Mabou Mines DollHouse directed by avant-garde director Lee Breuer; American Repertory Theatre’s successful modern take on the Orpheus myth in Orpheus X receives its European premiere; and an international collaboration between Theatre Cryptic and Singapore’s T’ang Quartet, engages Scottish based artists with international partners.

Monteverdi’s ground breaking debate on the importance of words versus music serves as one of the inspirations behind this year’s programme and a traditional production of L’Orfeo directed by Gilbert Deflo and conducted by Jordi Savall marks the 400th anniversary of this the first major opera and opens the opera programme. The Festival and Cologne Opera present the world premiere of a new production of Richard Strauss’ Capriccio starring Gabriele Fontana, conducted by Markus Stenz and directed and designed by Christian von Götz and Gabriele Jänicke. Capriccio opens in Edinburgh before transferring to Cologne. Three evenings of opera in concert: Orlando furioso, Oedipus Rex, Dido and Aeneas and Prima la musica, poi le parole complete the opera programme with international artists including Nicholas McGegan, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Jennifer Larmore, Philippe Jaroussky, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Natascha Petrinksy, and Jane Irwin.

Music brings major orchestras to Edinburgh including San Francisco Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Hespèrion XXI and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe alongside the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. There is a range of music from de Falla, Bernstein, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Vivaldi, to the latest musings of The Tiger Lillies on the topic of Monteverdi. Artists include Michael Tilson Thomas, Toby Spence, Chiara Banchini, Sir Roger Norrington, Andreas Scholl, Sir Thomas Allen, Robert Spano, Mariss Jansons, and Dames Gillian Weir and Evelyn Glennie.

The Festival is proud to present a series of early evening concerts at Greyfriars Kirk following the development of music from the 11th century to the 17th century, including concerts covering all the books of Monteverdi’s Madrigals. The artists performing are the finest in the world in this genre: Rinaldo Alessandrini and the Concerto Italiano, Anonymous 4, La Venexiana, Phantasm, Theatre of Voices, Ars Nova, Heulgas Ensemble, The Tallis Scholars, Cantus Cölln and The Orlando Consort.

The Bank of Scotland Queen’s Hall Series starts each day with a chamber recital with artists including Jordi Savall, Kate Royal and Christine Rice, Tokyo String Quartet, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Silvana Dussmann, Chiara Banchini, Christine Brewer and John Williams among others.

‘Sharing the Festival’ begins this year with Beowulf, an ancient Scandinavian tale recreated by Benjamin Bagby travelling to venues in Orkney and Grampian before opening in Edinburgh.

The EIF, students from Napier University and Richard Demarco join to celebrate the 60th anniversary through installations in the theatres and concert halls used through the Festival period.

Jonathan Mills added “I would like to thank the many public funders, sponsors, supporters, and ticket buyers who together make it possible to stage the Festival. They all play an invaluable role. As a relative newcomer from the other side of the world I know how special the Edinburgh International Festival is and in the past have put on Festivals inspired by the Edinburgh model. It is a huge honour and thrill for me to announce my first Festival. I hope everyone will embrace the 2007 Festival and set aside time in August to enjoy as much of it as possible.”