Edinburgh Festival Announces Programme
Date: 2 April 1998
The Edinburgh International Festival this week announced its 1998 programme with over 170 performances and several world and UK premieres taking place over the three weeks, 16 August - 5 September 1998.
In theatre, the Citizen's Theatre Company will premiere a new production of The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller as well as other rehearsed Verdi readings. The acclaimed young Flemish director Ivo van Hove makes his British debut with two productions - the award-winning production of More Stately Mansions, Eugene O'Neill's unfinished manuscript adapted by Karl Ragner Gierow and produced by New York Theatre Workshop; and a modernist production of Albert Camus' Caligula by van Hove's own company, Het Zuidelijk Toneel.
Botho Strauss' latest play Die Ähnlichen (Lookalikes), directed by Peter Stein, also receives its British premiere. And Spanish director Calixto Bieito revives Life is a Dream, a classic from the golden age of Spanish drama, in a translation by John Clifford.
The Royal Opera will engage in a two-week residency at the Festival with a season of staged and concert performances of Verdi operas based on plays by Schiller, in conjunction with the Citizen's Theatre Company. The season is completed by a performance of Giovanna d'Arco with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus.
The Festival's dance programme sees the British debut of Companyia de Dansa Gelabert-Azzopardi from Spain with ZUMZUM-KA, a contemporary piece combining live music, visual art and dance. George Balanchine's ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream, performed by America's Pacific Northwest Ballet, will also receive its British premiere.
The Festival's music programme includes the complete songs of Hugo Wolf in a series of twelve recitals. The work of composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, who first appeared in the Festival 50 years ago, will also be celebrated.
New Festival initiatives for 1998 will include the introduction of £5 day seats for all classical music concerts in Usher Hall, extending the successful scheme already in operation for opera performances. Free colour brochures can be ordered by calling the Festival Office on +44-(0)131-473-2000. Also check out the Festival website.
Programme details for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 9-31 August, are expected in June.
