- Edinburgh International Festival celebrates St Andrew’s Day by releasing Edinburgh is a Story, a 30-minute film showcasing Edinburgh, and artists, from this year’s 75th International Festival, including Wayne Marshall, Hannah Lavery, William Barton, Scottish Ballet, Liudmyla Monastyrska and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
- Edinburgh is a Story is available worldwide for free, and is directed by Oscar Sansom (Biffy Clyro, Liam Gallagher, Royal Blood, Belle and Sebastian) as part of the Festival’s digital programme, Edinburgh International Festival At Home in partnership with abrdn
- Audiences are invited to join the International Festival on their YouTube channel at 7pm tonight on 30 November to celebrate this important day in the Scottish calendar
On St Andrews Day, Edinburgh International Festival celebrates Edinburgh, the Festival City, with a special YouTube viewing event: Edinburgh is a Story. The film will stream at 7pm tonight for audiences worldwide to watch together, as part of At Home, the International Festival’s digital programme.
The Edinburgh International Festival commissioned Scottish production company Forest of Black to produce Edinburgh is a Story, five short films which come together to create a beautiful journey through the city. Each is filmed in an iconic Edinburgh location and creates an intimate portrait of an artist featured in this year’s Festival programme.
Audiences will experience powerful performances from poet Hannah Lavery, Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, British pianist and conductor Wayne Marshall, Australian didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton and a new Scottish Ballet commission choreographed by Nicholas Shoesmith. Locations range from the ancient winding city streets to the Scottish Parliament Building and the wild Salisbury Crags to the historic Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Celebrating the Edinburgh International Festival in its 75th year, the wider digital programme, Edinburgh International Festival At Home in partnership with abrdn, is available for free, worldwide, and features 16 videos released throughout November. As well as the set of five short films Edinburgh is a Story, the programme comprises two full-length concerts performed at the 2022 International Festival, a series of six intimate music sessions, and a behind-the-scenes video that includes artist interviews.
The At Home programme takes place 27 October 2022 – 1 December with three digital releases per week, each at 4pm, all freely available to be watched from anywhere in the world at www.eif.co.uk/at-home and on the Edinburgh International Festival YouTube Channel. See the full programme of releases below.
Francesca Hegyi, Chief Executive, Edinburgh International Festival, said: “We are proud to welcome viewers from around the world to join us in celebrating St Andrews Day, with a special viewing of Edinburgh is a Story, which shares world-class performances from some incredible artists from this year’s programme. We are grateful to abrdn for making this possible through their support for the At Home programme.”
Judith Kynaston, Head of Global Brand at abrdn, said: “We’re delighted to continue our support of the Edinburgh International Festival Digital ‘At Home’ Programme for a second time. ‘At Home’ gives global audiences the opportunity to experience a diverse programme of live performances for free, and we’re excited to continue our association with the world’s leading performing arts festival in 2022. Looking forward to watching!”
RELEASE SCHEDULE
Title: Arab Strap – Music Session
Released: 27 October, 4pm
Description: Arab Strapperform ‘The Turning of Our Bones’, recorded onstage before their International Festival performance at Leith Theatre.
Title: Hannah Lavery – Edinburgh is a Story
Released: 1 November, 4pm
Description: The first film from Forest of Black’s Edinburgh is a Story series features a performance of Makar Hannah Lavery’s titular poem. The special commissioned piece was also performed at the International Festival’s Opening Event, MACRO, at BT Murrayfield this year.
Title: Behind-the-scenes – Edinburgh is a Story
Released: 2 November, 4pm
Description: Behind-the-scenes look at the making of At Home, featuring interviews with Oscar Sansom (Director), Beth Allan (Producer), Hannah Lavery, William Barton, Wayne Marshall, Sian.
Title: Jordi Savall – Music Session
Released: 3 November, 4pm
Description: Jordi Savall performs with an ensemble of musicians from Hespèrion XXI from the stage of the Queen’s Hall.
Title: William Barton – Edinburgh is a Story
Released: 8 November, 4pm
Description: The second part of the Edinburgh is a Story series features Australian digeridoo player William Barton as he performs ‘The Rising of Mother Country’fromthe Salisbury Crags.
Title: Brandenburg Concertos – Full Concert
Released: 9 November, 4pm
Description: The first full concert recording from the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival features Richard Egarr leading The Brandenburg Concertos, a collection of Bach’s iconic compositions filmed as live at the Queen’s Hall.
Title: Brìghde Campbell – Music Session
Released: 10 November, 4pm
Description: Brìghde Campbell who featured in MACRO is a leading contemporary performer of Celtic music and plays a rendition of ‘Clann Ulaidh’ backstage at Leith Theatre.
Title: Wayne Marshall – Edinburgh is a Story
Release Date: 15 November, 4pm
Description: Edinburgh is a Story continues as audiences join Wayne Marshall in a unique and intimate performance from the Great Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Title: Saul – Highlights
Released: 16 November, 4pm
Description: Filmed highlights of The English Concert’s performance of Handel’s Saul at the Usher Hall as part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, conducted by John Butt and featuring Neal Davies in the title role
Title: Aref Ghorbani – Music Session
Released: 17 November, 4pm
Description: Aref Ghorbani performs the Persian folk song recorded ahead of Vocal, part of 2022’s Refuge series, in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council.
Title: Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra – Edinburgh is a Story
Released: 22 November, 4pm
Description: The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson and featuring soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, perform ‘Abscheulicher, komm Hoffnung’ from Beethoven’s Fidelio in a historic performance at the Scottish Parliament Building, reflecting Edinburgh’s position as a twinned city of Kyiv.
Title: TheClosing Concert – Full Concert
Released: 23 November, 4pm
Description: The closing concert of the 2022 Festival, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius marks the final full performance recording, a grand spectacle performed by the RSNO led Sir Andrew Davis and featuring the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the National Youth Choir of Scotland.
Title: Sian – Music Session
Released: 24 November, 4pm
Description: Gaelic vocal trio Sian performs ‘Na Gamhna Geala’ outside of Leith Theatre before their performance in Niteworks: Comann which closed the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival.
Title: Scottish Ballet – Edinburgh is a Story
Released: 29 November, 4pm
Description: An exclusive commission choreographed by Nicholas Shoesmith features dancer James Garrington concluding the singular releases of the Edinburgh is a Story series.
Title: Edinburgh is a Story – Full Film
Release Date: 30 November, 7pm
Description: Audiences across the world are encouraged to gather and celebrate Scotland on St Andrews Day by watching Edinburgh is a Story in full. The film will take the viewer on a beautiful journey across the city of Edinburgh as world class artists perform in wild and stunning locations.
Title: Takács Quartet – Music Session
Release Date: 1 December, 4pm
Description: The final Music Session features the Takács Quartet performance of the first movement of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Five Fantasiestucke Op 5’.
Visit www.eif.co.uk/at-home for full details of Edinburgh International Festival At Home in partnership with abrdn.
-ENDS-
About Edinburgh International Festival
Every August, the International Festival brings world-class music, opera, dance and theatre performances to Edinburgh.
Created in 1947 following WWII, the Festival inspired artists and audiences to heal through international cultural collaboration. This year the International Festival celebrated 75 years of bringing world cultures together and in 2023 will take place from 4-27 August.
Year-round the Edinburgh International Festival connects with local communities through education projects, access programmes, and initiatives that introduce new audiences to live performance.
For more information visit www.eif.co.uk
abrdn
We choose sponsorships that help us form connections with our clients, colleagues and local communities, and that inspire excellence – both now and in the future. Aligning our brand with partners who share our values and ambition helps us to build our business globally, as well as to support the communities in which we operate. Our partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival Digital Programme – giving global access to one the world’s premier arts events – enables us to showcase our brand to people in our markets around the world, as well as to support the local community where the event takes place.
- At abrdn, our purpose is to enable our clients to be better investors.
- abrdn plc manages and administers £542 billion of assets for clients, and has over 1 million shareholders. (Figures as at 31 December 2021)
- Our business is structured around three vectors – Investments, Adviser and Personal – focused on the changing needs of our clients.
- Across markets globally, we build investment solutions to enable clients to create more opportunities for their futures.
- Our platform technology and tools help UK wealth managers and financial advisers create more opportunities for their clients and their businesses.
- Our personal wealth business offers tailored services to help individuals in the UK create financially secure futures in a way that works for them.
For more information visit Abrdn.com
Forest of Black
An award-winning, independent production company, developing and producing innovative film content across multiple platforms in the UK and abroad. Our highly experienced team of producers and directors are passionately committed to creating genre-defining moments within film, television, music, commercials and documentary. Music video has been a core part of our DNA since the founding of the company and we take the creative and adaptive approach of this genre into all the work we make.