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Edinburgh International Festival 2009: A preview from Simon Thompson (SRT)


Jonathan Mills’ third season as director of the Edinburgh International Festival promises to be an exciting one.  His ostensible theme is The Scottish Enlightenment but he has wisely decided not to hammer this at every turn.  Instead it provides a thread that links many works implicitly and sheds light on a good deal of others.

Mills has made a point of observing the big composer anniversaries this year, though some would say there is an imbalance of Handel in this year’s programme, especially in the opera/oratorio category.  The opening concert is Judas Maccabaeus with a fantastic cast including Rosemary Joshua and Sarah Connolly with William Christie conducting.  Rinaldo and Acis and Galatea also appear in concert and there is a staged version of his opera Admeto straight from the Göttingen Handel Festival.  Edinburgh’s capacity to stretch boundaries is on display again, though, as the Göttingen production views the classical story through the world of the Japanese Samurai.  Likewise the Ricercar Consort’s performance of Monteverdi’s Ritorno d’Ulisse features a South African Puppet Company and the Staatsoper Stuttgart’s “opera” based on Bach’s Actus Tragicus realises Bach’s cantatas as the accompaniment to a doll’s house of characters coming to terms with the banality of everyday life.

Bach is also one of the strongest themes in the wider musical programme with a set of early evening concerts called “Bach at Greyfriars” which feature a series of cantatas performed by the likes of The Sixteen, The Dunedin Consort, Cantus Cölln and the Bach Collegium of Japan, to name but a few.  This galaxy of performers promises to make this one of the hottest tickets of the summer.

The Festival brings great musical guests to Edinburgh too, though there are few international Symphony Orchestras this year, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich being one of the few examples.  There will be celebrity recitals from Willard White and Bryn Terfel in the Usher Hall, while the vocal programme of the morning concerts in the Queen’s Hall features greats like Bernarda Fink, Christopher Maltman and Christoph Prégardien.  Great instrumentalists include Elisabeth Leonskaja and Ivo Pogorelich and exciting chamber groups like the Arditti and Emerson Quartets will also be making an appearance.  The eclectic and fascinating Jordi Savall makes a welcome return to perform with Le Concert des Nations and Hespèrion XXI, while British visitors include favourites like the Monteverdi Choir with Gardiner, the Philharmonia with Salonen and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Norrington in his 75^th year.  Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra provide a fitting conclusion to the season with Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, featuring Alice Coote and Paul Groves.

Other anniversaries don’t go unobserved.  After their stunning festival debut last year Philippe Herreweghe returns with the Collegium Vocale of Ghent singing Haydn Songs and Mendelssohn’s Elias.  The Scottish Chamber Orchestra play Haydn with Garry Walker and Sir Charles Mackerras, and the Sixteen perform Purcell’s Fairy Queen in concert.

There is a strong Scottish element to this year’s programme too, though it mostly appears in the drama category.  There is an exciting premiere from Rona Munro whose Last Witch at the Lyceum deals with the story of the last woman in Scotland to be condemned for witchcraft.  The Testament of Cresseid, another premiere, is based on a 1590 text by Scot Robert Henryson, while J. M. Barrie is reimagined by Mabou Mines in Peter and Wendy.  It is great to see the return of Scottish Ballet with a trio of works, and the RSNO and Stéphan Denève bring Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette to the Usher Hall.  Those interested in Scottish music get a real treat in the Caledonia Sessions, a series of late night concerts exploring Scottish music of the 18^th century and before.

This is the most explicit musical link to this year’s Enlightenment theme.  It carries on in a series of special visual art exhibitions at the Dean Gallery and in Optimism, the Malthouse Melbourne’s take on Voltaire’s Candide.  But really a large measure of Enlightenment is what Edinburgh is about every August.  This year’s festival promises to be as exciting and innovative as ever.  Come to be challenged, inspired and, yes, enlightened.

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from Friday 14^th August to Sunday 6^th September 2009.  Full programme details available at www.eif.co.uk.  Public booking opens on Saturday 4^th April at 10:00am.

Simon Thompson


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