The doves have taken flight across Edinburgh. The walkers and joggers with their light-emitting equipment are primed to stream up Arthur Seat for NVA's Speed of Light. And Edinburgh International Festival artistic director Jonathan Mills is ready to show the world "just how wonderful" this year's Festival, the 66th, will be.
Mills has said that this is a "special year" for the EIF thanks to strong support from public funders and sponsors.
"2012 has proved that through sport and culture people can find common celebration and understanding even in complex and difficult times," said Mills. "With the additions of our theatre spaces at Lowland Hall and NVA’s Speed of Light on Arthur’s Seat we are proud to be making a significant contribution to London 2012 Festival and the World Shakespeare Festival.’
Although many major shows are not sold out, this weekend is expected to attract over 12,000 people to EIF venues throughout the city to enjoy theatre from Ireland, Japan and Poland, dance from Brazil, musicians from across the UK, America, Germany and South Africa.
Many of them, no doubt, will be partaking too in the Edinburgh Fringe and Edinburgh Art Festival which started last week and the Edinburgh Book Festival which gets underway on Saturday.
Opening concert
On Friday 10 August the Edinburgh International Festival’s Opening Concert plays to a sold out audience at the Usher Hall.
Honouring Frederick Delius’s 150th anniversary and reflecting one of the core inspirations of this year’s Festival, a celebration of the best of humanity, the Festival opens with A Mass of Life, Delius’s most ambitious works for double chorus, soloists and large orchestra, for a rousing beginning to three weeks of some of the best orchestras and musicians from around the world performing at the Usher Hall.
On Saturday night (11 August) the Festival’s new theatre venue, the Lowland Hall at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, opens with the Polish adaptation of Macbeth by director Grzegorz Jarzyna and his company TR Warszawa.
Audiences in Edinburgh have seven opportunities to catch this adaptation set in the Middle East, 2008: Macbeth. They can also ride to the concert by a dedicated bus leaving from George Street 90 minutes before performances (you need tickets in advance).
The EIF reports that it has taken an expert team of 80 people 16 days and 10,000 crew hours to convert the Lowland Hall into three theatre auditoriums involving over 50 tonnes of kit. In addition to the theatre spaces the team has installed two public bars plus dressing rooms for 56 actors, portable showers and a temporary office space to allow the companies and audiences the most enjoyable experience on site.
More EIF highlights
Shows open across the city on Saturday. At the Edinburgh Playhouse Brazil’s Deborah Colker Dance Company takes to the stage with Tatyana its sexy and sensual adaptation of Eugene Onegin transferred from Russia to the sultry streets of Rio.
At the Royal Lyceum Barry McGovern entertains full houses with his one man play Watt based on a comic novel by Samuel Beckett.
The newly refurbished King’s Theatre is the venue for Japanese theatre great, director Tadashi Suzuki making his first visit to the UK in almost 30 years with his production Waiting for Orestes: Electra.
Sunday 12 August begins with the traditional Festival Service at St Giles’ Cathedral, this year featuring a performance from Festival artist Baritone Njabulo Madlala. The service begins at 10.30am and is free for everyone to attend.
Sunday also sees the opening of Encounters, a series of provocative and wide ranging key note talks and debates around the ideas and inspirations behind the Festival, in partnership with the British Council Scotland.
At 2pm on Sunday 12 August Robert McCrum delivers the key note speech addressing "What Does it Mean to be British?" followed on the Monday by an exploration of the Four Nations of the United Kingdom with writers from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.
On Saturday and Sunday, evenings in the Usher Hall the Festival presents Edinburgh’s own Donald Runnicles conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Alpine Symphony, and Waltraud Meier, the world-renown German mezzo soprano in a wonderful programme of dramatic songs.
Following the opening weekend of the Festival, and the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, the first International Culture Summit will be hosted at the Scottish Parliament on Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 August.
The idea is to provide an opportunity for cultural delegations from around the world to join in discussing the power and role of culture in international dialogue.
Festival Backstage
Festival backstage, a partnership with Standard Life and the Scottish Screen Academy at Edinburgh Napier University continues to grow, giving audiences further insights and access behind the scenes of the Festival through a series of films online with contributions from Nicola Benedetti, Sophie Bevan, Kirsty Wark, David Greig and many backstage staff who ensure the Festival show goes on. www.eif.co.uk/festivalbackstage
Ticket deals
There are still tickets to some of the Festival’s big shows this year. Those aged 26 and under are able to buy the best remaining tickets for just £8 on the day.
All young people, students, senior citizens, unemployed, Young Scot, Equity and Musicians Union card holders can buy tickets half price.