In a press conference earlier today, Jonathan Mills announced the key artists, companies and works that are to feature in this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
Over 2,400 artists will come from 43 countries to perform at the annual showcase of artistic talent.
Highlights include performances from Kronos Quartet, Heiner Goebbels, Oliver Knussen and Piotr Anderszewski amongst many more.
Exploring the relationship between culture and conflict in the centenary of World War One, the Opening Concert features the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing pre-war works from Schoenberg, Scriabin and Debussy.
Also, Valery Gergiev will conduct the Mariinsky Opera and Orchestra in a performance of Yannis Kokko’s vast staging of Les Troyens by Berlioz.
The Usher Hall’s 23 Concert Season will feature the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in two performances: the first with Scottish star, Nicola Benedetti and the second with mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink. It will also include Holst’s The Planets, Britten’s War Requiem and the very first performance at the festival of Shostakovich’s ‘Leningrad’ Symphony.
BBC Radio 3 will broadcast 14 concerts live from The Queen’s Hall including Ian Bostridge, Simon Prohaska, Trio Verlaine and Artemis Quartet, in addition to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Collegium Vocale Gent singing Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
Festival Director, Jonathan Mills said: ‘In Festival 2014 we bring together cultures from around the world to present an intense three weeks of intimate and epic theatre, dance, music and opera’.
The Virgin Money Fireworks Concert will bring the festival to a close, with Tchaikovsky’s '1812' Overture being performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra accompanied by a display of more than 400,000 fireworks over Edinburgh’s historic castle.
Holly Harrison