PRESS RELEASE Edinburgh International Festival 2005 Programme Announced

Tue 15 Mar 2005

Edinburgh International Festival Director Brian McMaster today announced the programme for Festival 2005, which runs from 14 August to 4 September.

Highlights include six productions created especially for the Festival, three of which are world premieres, and several unique collaborations between major companies and artists. Brian McMaster said ‘The Festival exists to provide unique and world class experiences for audiences from Scotland and around the world. Commissioning and creating our own work, and bringing together international artists and companies to work in new ways, ensures that the Festival remains the essential destination for everyone interested in the arts, whether from Tokyo, Los Angeles, or around the corner. At the same time, the quality, sense of excitement and informality of the Festival experience make it an ideal event for new audiences.’

Festival 2005 features the world premieres of three plays commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival and written by Scottish writers: David Harrower’s Blackbird, directed by Peter Stein, Shan Khan’s Prayer Room and Chiew Siah Tei’s Three Thousand Troubled Threads.

Two theatre directors from the 2004 Festival, Anthony Neilson (The Wonderful World of Dissocia) and Olivier Py (Le Soulier de Satin), return to direct new opera productions. Anthony Neilson directs the British staged premiere of John Adams’s opera The Death of Klinghoffer, which the Festival presents in collaboration with Scottish Opera. Olivier Py directs an EIF production of Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River, which is based on a piece of Noh Theatre he saw on a visit to Tokyo in 1956. Sumidagawa (sponsored by The Royal Bank of Scotland), the play which inspired Curlew River, will be performed by the Association of Japanese Noh Theatre to coincide with the performances of the opera.

The final work created especially for the Festival is Nuts CocoNuts (sponsored by Standard Life), directed by Jordi Milán, who brought the smash hit show Blinded by Love to the Festival in 1997. Nuts CocoNuts is a new English language version of an original show by Milán’s company, La Cubana, which played to over one million people in Spain and South America. Nuts CocoNuts will run for three weeks at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall, the first time this venue has been used by the Festival.

Another highlight of the theatre programme is the presentation of the complete stage works of Irish playwright JM Synge. Druid Theatre Company presents all six plays at the King’s Theatre, including three opportunities to see a complete cycle of all six plays in one day (supported by Edinburgh International Festival Patrons and Muses).

In a unique Festival collaboration, Christopher Wheeldon’s acclaimed new production of Swan Lake (sponsored by Bank of Scotland) brings together the American Pennsylvania Ballet with the Russian Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev.

Dance and major orchestra collaborations are also to be found in the teaming of Dutch National Ballet with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Scottish Ballet with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (sponsored by First ScotRail), conducted by Kwamé Ryan who opened the Festival last year with an acclaimed performance of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher.

Kwamé Ryan is one of several conductors marking out a generation of major new talent; others appearing in Festival 2005 are Philippe Jordan, Ingo Metzmacher, Edward Gardner, Garry Walker, and Jonathan Nott.

Jonathan Nott conducts a five concert residency in the Usher Hall in the final week of the Festival with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (supported by Dunard Fund), whose Festival debut in 2003 was highly acclaimed. The residency includes a concert performance of Tristan und Isolde, and four startlingly original concert programmes which combine established masterpieces with more contemporary works. Jörg Widmann, composer and clarinettist, appears in both roles with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in the final Usher Hall concert this year.

Widmann also appears as a soloist and composer in the Bank of Scotland Queen’s Hall Series, intimate morning chamber concerts which continue to give a platform to established stars and major emerging talents.

The Festival closes with the Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert which begins at 9pm on Sunday 4 September.

The Festival continues to work with The Royal Bank of Scotland and this year a programme of events is being scheduled for the duration of the Festival at The Hub. Further details available in June 2005.

Brian McMaster concluded ‘Every year hundreds of thousands of people from around the world enjoy the Festival, and also our year round programme of education work. In the face of increasing competition we work ever harder to maintain Edinburgh’s profile and unique appeal, and this would not be possible without the support of our many public and private sector supporters. I would like to thank and pay tribute to them all.’

ENDS

For more information, images, and interviews please contact Susie Burnet or Jackie Westbrook in the Edinburgh International Festival Press Office: 0131 473 2020 press@eif.co.uk

Please see enclosed brochure for full programme information and listings. This information is also available as a pdf, in text documents and as hard copy. Please contact the press office with your requirements.

Notes to Editors

Ticket prices for Festival events start from £6 - £7.50. Turn Up and Try It tickets will be available at £5 for each performance. Young people and students in full time education receive a 50% discount and tickets for many shows are available to them from £3.75 or less.

Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert. Closing date for ballot Saturday 21 May 2005. A limited number of garden tickets will also be available online for the first time, from Monday 25 July. The Sunday prior (28 August) the final garden tickets will be released at the counter of The Hub. Full information in the brochure.

Details of Royal Bank at The Hub will be announced on Thursday 2 June.

Without the support of the corporate sector the Edinburgh International Festival would be 25% smaller. Any help you give us in crediting sponsors in print makes a real difference and will help us maintain healthy collaborations between business and the Festival.

For a full listing of supporters and sponsored shows please contact the press office.

The Edinburgh International Festival is supported by The City of Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Arts Council and EventScotland.

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