Edinburgh International Festival 2007: A preview of Jonathan Mills' first season as Brian McMaster's successor (BK)

Announcing his first programme as Director of the Edinburgh International Festival,  Jonathan Mills said,  “Festivals are a gift; a special gift from a city to itself, to its citizens, to its visitors, to its future, to its very soul. In planning this, my first year’s programme, my inspiration was Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo - not just as a celebration of its 400th anniversary, but as an exploration of its legacy still alive in the work of artists today. I hope audiences will have a fantastic time at the Festival. There is a broad range of artists, styles and work from the deeply serious to the seriously fun which I hope will appeal to everyone. I look forward to welcoming both locals and visitors to Edinburgh in August.”

The 2007 Edinburgh International Festival runs from Friday 10 August to Sunday 2 September across the city in theatres, concert halls and opera houses attracting audiences from around the world to Scotland’s picturesque capital.

Making their EIF debuts are: Jordi Savall, Deborah Voigt, Natascha Petrinsky, Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Alan Cumming, Barrie Kosky, Mabou Mines, Lee Breuer, Chiara Banchini, Thomas Adčs, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Gustavo Dudamel, Cantus Cölln, Andreas Scholl, Anonymous 4 and The Tiger Lillies.

The architecture of the Festival remains familiar under Jonathan Mills with theatre, opera, music and dance in the city’s main venues, but also evolves with the addition of some new strands and an eclectic mix of repertoire. One of the new strands is the inclusion of the visual arts  in the programme. In Jardins Publics, three major artists have been commissioned to explore the question of the public garden (inspired by figures as diverse as Voltaire, Patrick Geddes and Ian Hamilton Finlay) and sited in three locations across the city.

Dance sees the Festival extending its relationship with Scottish Ballet in a co-commission from American choreographer Stephen Petronio, the Festival debuts of Olivier Award winning Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu  performing On Danse and the Trisha Brown Dance Company with a spread of 20 years' worth of her works over 20 years including the UK premiere of Canto/Pianto. Another UK dance premiere is William Forsythe’s hilarious, end of the world spectacular Impressing the Czar performed by the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

Theatre brings The Bacchae from the National Theatre of Scotland in the world premiere of a new version by David Greig, directed by John Tiffany and starring Alan Cumming. Vienna Schauspielhaus’s Poppea directed by Barrie Kosky and The Wooster Group’s La Didone marry music and theatre through the inspiration of early opera. The UK premiere of the acclaimed Mabou Mines DollHouse directed by avant-garde director Lee Breuer and American Repertory Theatre’s successful modern take on the Orpheus myth in Orpheus X receive European premieres and an international collaboration between Theatre Cryptic and Singapore’s T’ang Quartet,engages Scottish based artists with international partners.

Monteverdi’s ground breaking debate on the importance of words versus music serves as one of the inspirations behind this year’s programme and a traditional production of L’Orfeo directed by Gilbert Deflo and conducted by Jordi Savall marks the 400th anniversary of the first major opera and opens the opera programme. The Festival and Cologne Opera present the world premiere of a new production of Richard Strauss’ Capriccio starring Gabriele Fontana, conducted by Markus Stenz and directed and designed by Christian von Götz and Gabriele Jänicke. Capriccio opens in Edinburgh before transferring to Cologne. Three evenings of opera in concert: Orlando furioso, Oedipus Rex, Dido and Aeneas and Prima la musica, poi le parole complete the opera programme with artists including Nicholas McGegan, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Jennifer Larmore, Philippe Jaroussky, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Natascha Petrinksy, and Jane Irwin.