Edinburgh International Festival 2018
20th March 2018
Scotland’s capital city will once again become a three-week celebration of the performing arts, featuring the finest performers and ensembles of dance, opera, music and theatre. This week, Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) unveiled its 2018 programme, which runs from Friday, August 3 to Monday, August 27, and we are delighted to highlight the several works by Music Sales composers that are to feature as part of this year’s festival.
Thea Musgrave: Underground | Turbulent Landscapes
The festival celebrates the 90th birthday of one of Scotland’s most internationally renowned composers, Thea Musgrave. On August 5, the National Youth Choir of Scotland under the conductor Christopher Bell perform Musgrave’s settings of strange and exotic poems from the London Underground, On the Underground Set No 2. A Scottish Premiere of Musgrave’s Turbulent Landscapes – a sequence of six independent movements through the land and seascape paintings of J.M.W.Turner – will be performed by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Martyn Brabbins on August 9.
Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx | Barber: Concerto for Violin
On August 20, the LA-based Colburn Orchestra joined by the French conductor Stéphane Denève perform Nyx, an orchestral depiction of the shadowy figure of Greek mythology, by Esa-Pekka Salonen. This is followed the tender Violin Concerto bySamuel Barber, with the young US violinist Simone Porter as soloist.
Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles
Conductor Matthias Pintscher and Scottish Chamber Orchestra perform with French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard – International Festival Artist in Residence – in Des canyons aux étoiles, an epic twelve-movement orchestral work by Olivier Messiaen, inspired by the vast nature of Utah. This forms part of a larger focus on French music, theatre and artistry by the EIF, with particular attention to the works of Messiaen.
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite | A Bernstein Celebration
On August 24 and 25, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra led by the renowned US conductor Marin Alsop visit the EIF this year with performances of the jubilant Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky (Aug 24) and three movements from A Bernstein Birthday Bouquet (Aug 25), the work written by Leon Kirchner, Luciano Berio, Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, Toru Takemitsu, William Schuman, John Williams, and John Corigliano which paid tribute to Leonard Bernstein on his eightieth birthday in 1988. This particular performance will include excerpts from Corigliano's movement, For Lenny, with love – and candor.
For the full information on the festival, click here.
Concert Listings
August 5, 15.00Thea Musgrave: On the Underground Set No 2National Youth Choir of Scotland; Christopher Bell, conductor; Andrew McTaggart, baritone.For tickets and more information, please click here.
August 9, 20.00Thea Musgrave: Turbulent Landscapes (Scottish premiere)BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Edinburgh Festival Chorus; Elizabeth Watts, soprano; Christopher Maltman, baritone; Martyn Brabbins, conductor.For tickets and more information, please click here.
August 20, 19.30Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx Samuel Barber: Violin ConcertoColburn Orchestra; Stéphane Denève, conductor; Simone Porter, violin.For tickets and more information, please click here.
August 22, 19.30Olivier Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoilesScottish Chamber Orchestra; Matthias Pintscher, conductor; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, pianoFor tickets and more information, please click here.
August 24, 19.30Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird SuiteBaltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano.For tickets and more information, please click here.
August 25, 19.45Luciano Berio, John Corigliano & John Williams: Bernstein Birthday BouquetBaltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor. For tickets and more information, please click here.
All the performances above will take place in the Usher Hall (Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EA).
