The 18th century Scottish Enlightenment, often harked back to as Edinburgh's golden age of intellectual and scientific accomplishment, is a central theme of this year's Edinburgh International Festival 2009 programme
, announced by director Jonathan Mills yesterday.
"A visit to Edinburgh in the 18th century brought one to the source of the ideas and inventions that laid the foundations for so much of the modern world," said Mills.
"It was a period of technological developments, philosophical provocations and scientific discoveries."
The line-up of 180 shows, taking place between 14 August and 6 September, includes an orgiastic Romanian production of Faust involving a cast of 110, Monteverdi opera with giant puppets, and the first staged production of a Scottish renaissance epic poem The Testament of Cresseid. On the visual arts side, The Enlightenments brings together work by nine international artists, including seven new commissions, and a series of Enlightenment Discussions and Talks, sponsored by the international weekly journal of science Nature, continues the core theme.
Mills has thrown in a few of his own provocations in this year's programme - perhaps in a bid to show his independence from key funders the SNP government.
The festival's opening concert sees the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and William Christie performing Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, first performed at Covent Garden in London in 1746 to praise the Duke of Cumberland's crushing defeat of the Jacobites on the fields of Culloden.
This year being the Scottish Government sponsored Year of Homecoming, notions of Scotland's identity, of home and homecoming are also an important theme running through the programme. However, Robert Burns, whose birthday, 250 years ago, Scotland's Homecoming marks, is conspicuously absent from the programme. Mills headed off criticisms saying that Burns had been well covered elsewhere. "Burns is not the be-all and end-all..."
"Scotland's diaspora continues to resonate as far away as Singapore and Australia. These ideas are explored not just from a Scottish perspective, but also from that of South East Asians, Europeans and South Africans," said Mills.
New York's Mabou Mines return with their reimagined Peter Pan, Peter and Wendy, while a Belgian opera, Island of the Birdmen, performed in Gaelic, French and English explores life on Scotland's most westerly isle of St. Kilda.
Scots choreographer Michael Clark returns to the festival for the first time in over two decades with a new work inspired by Seventies "holy Trinity of rock" David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.
The Last Witch by Rona Munro, a Festival co-production with Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, will stage its world premiere. It is based on the story of Janet Horne, the last woman executed for witchcraft in Scotland.
Also on the theatre side is the world premiere of the first staged production of Robert Henryson's epic The Testament of Cresseid, which sets out to complete the story of Cresseid left unfinished in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, directed and designed by David Levin.
Scottish ballet and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra perform the world premiere of choreographer Ian Spink’s Petrushka and also premiering is the Festival-commissioned Tiree by Scottish based composer Nigel Osborne for the Arditti Quartet.
August will also be the first chance to hear Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli’s Fair Is Foul, Foul Is Fair, commissioned by the Festival for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and made possible by Donald and Louise MacDonald.
The festival this year marks a number of anniversaries: Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Purcell, Darwin and Irish playwright Brian Friel from Dublin's Gate Theatre, who makes his Edinburgh festival debut as he turns 80. A festival residency, will see three of his plays Faith Healer, Afterplay and The Yalta Game performed at the Kings Theatre.
Other music highlights include a recital by Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel singing favourite songs at the Usher Hall and Handel’s Admeto, re di Tessaglia in a production from the Göttingen International Handel Festival directed by Doris Dörrie and conducted by Nicholas McGegan.
As in the past, the festival ends with the Festival Fireworks Concert - Edinburgh City Council leader Jenny Dawe said she hoped that work laying tram tracks on Princes Street will not disrupt this popular event.
In spite of the tough economic climate, this year's festival has succeeded in attracting 20% more private funding and sponsorship than last year. Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, who have been hit hard by the credit crunch, are among donors and sponsors who have brought in £2.15m. Public sector funding topped £5 million.
"It is an incredibly exciting programme which will ensure Edinburgh continues to be regarded as the premier festival destination in the world," said Cllr Jenny Dawe. "Jonathan Mills has produced a programme which subtly and effectively captures the spirit of Homecoming 2009 including clever references to the role of Edinburgh and Scotland during the Enlightenment."
Public booking opens Saturday 4 April from Edinburgh International Festival