Blog 27 August 2019

Classical Music Opera Theatre Dance Contemporary Music

Relive some of the most beautiful, breathtaking moments from this year's festival and join us again next year from 7-31 August 2020!

Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: LA Phil at Tynecastle

We kicked off the festival with a night of sunshine and movie music at Tynecastle Park and were even joined by some very special guests...

A packed stadium but not a football in sight | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Special guests on the red carpet | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Darth Vader recruits some more Stroom Troopers | Photo: Gaelle Beri

YOLA National with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra | Photo: Gaelle Beri

The sun makes an appearance | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Contemporary Music

Building on the success of last year, the International Festival returned to Leith Theatre with Edinburgh Gin and other venues across the city for an eclectic programme of contemporary music. Leith Theatre lived up to its reputation as ‘the best live music venue in Scotland’ (The List) and with performances from Kate Tempest, Neneh Cherry, Jarvis Cocker and many more, this year's series brought some of the most unique and exciting voices in contemporary music today to Edinburgh.

Neneh Cherry | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Kate Tempest | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Anna Calvi | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Marcel Khalife & Rami Khalife featuring Aymeric Westrich | Photo: Gaelle Beri

This Is The Kit | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Villagers | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Sharon Van Etten | Gaelle Beri

Jarvis Cocker presents JARV IS... | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Teenage Fanclub | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Efterklang | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Amadou & Mariam + Blind Boys of Alabama | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Dance

Dance companies from across the globe came to perform in this year's International Festival, from China to Northern Ireland, Canada to Burkina Faso, and Scotland to the US. There was even some home-grown talent on display, as choreographer Oona Doherty worked with 12 young female dancers from House of Jack, a Leith based hip-hop collective. They went on to dance Episode II – The Sugar Army in all four Edinburgh performances of Hard to Soft: A Belfast Prayer.

Rite of Spring | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

The Edinburgh Sugar Army perform in Hard to be Soft | Photo: Gaelle Beri

9 | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Kalakuta Republik | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Trisha Brown: In Plain Site | Photo: Gaelle Beri

The Crucible | Photo: Jane Hobson

Theatre

This year's thought-provoking programme asked potent questions about the world today. Productions like The Secret River and Red Dust Road provided beautiful adaptations of acclaimed literary works, while Peter Gynt and Oedipus re-imagined past classics...

Peter Gynt | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

The Secret River | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Roots | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Red Dust Road | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Oedipus | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

La Reprise | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Opera

As well as our breath-taking concert performances of Orfeo ed Euridice, Manon Lescaut and Götterdämmerung, this year's programme included two beautifully staged operas. The pastoral scenes of Eugene Onegin couldn't be more different to the gritty oil rigs of Breaking The Waves, but they had in common outstanding casts, atmospheric staging, and a fondness for a revolving stage...

Eugene Onegin | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Breaking the Waves | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Classical Music

From Wagner to West Side Story, and from intimate recitals at St Cecilia's Hall to our charming Queen's Hall series and packed houses at the Usher Hall, this year's classical music programme was full of old favourites and new surprises.

Yuja Wang & Gustavo Dudamel | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

West Side Story | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Isata Kanneh-Mason | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Masato Suzuki | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Christine Goerke in Götterdämmerung | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Manon Lescaut | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Lawrence Brownlee & Iain Burnside | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

London Symphony Orchestra | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Edinburgh Festival Chorus | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Antoine Tamestit & Orchestre de Paris | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Youth Orchestra Los Angeles & Big Noise Raploch | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Alisa Weilerstein & Shanghai Symphony Orchestra | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Sir James MacMillan | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Joyce DiDonato and the National Youth Orchestra of the USA Photo: Chris Lee

You Are Here and The Departure Lounge

A series of readings, discussions, informal performances and hosted dinners, The Departure Lounge was a new brand new element of this year's You Are Here programme. Based in the The Lyceum Rehearsal Studio, The Departure Lounge provided a space for the public to meet with writers, directors, musicians, choreographers and performers, sharing fresh perspectives and diverse insights shaped by who they are and where they’re from.

Breaking Bread: Oona Doherty | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Call and Response: H2 | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Morning Manifesto: Si’an Chen | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Common People: Class, Community and the Arts | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

This Liquid Earth: A Eulogy in Verse by Amy Jephta | Photo: Gaelle Beri

Ocean Hotpot by Si'an Chen | Photo: Ryan Buchanan

Virgin Money Fireworks Concert

As has been tradition for nearly 40 years, this year's International Festival went out with a bang. 400,000 fireworks, a world class orchestra, and one of the most magnificent settings in the world provided a fitting end to three weeks of outstanding music, dance, theatre and opera from some of the world's greatest artists.