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What the Papers Say Today
28 August 2008
Today's Herald de-mystifies the wonder and beauty of The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.
The interview with Istanbul Music and Sema Group's musical director Hakan Talu, reveals how this trance-like devotional dance is not about loosing yourself, but loosing your ego so your spirit rises in ecstasy and prayer. A limited number of tickets are still available to their performances at Edinburgh Festival Theatre this Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm. To see a video clip of this company at work, click here.
Today's Herald also interviews the winners of this year's Edinburgh International Festival Award (an award that fosters a Fringe company to present a work in progress as part of EIF in 2009). Belt-Up, the York-based winning company performed as many as seven different shows a day on the Fringe. One of the six members, Nikolaus Morris, said the company have only been to the Fringe once before and ‘for this to happen at this stage in development is amazing. For someone like EIF to have enough trust in us to invest not just money, but time and mentor-ship it's absolutely invaluable.'
The Edinburgh Evening News picks tonight's explosive, colourful dance piece from Israel's Batsheva Dance Company, Deca Dance 2008 as a must-see Festival show. To watch a video clip of these high-energy dancers in action, click here. They perform a selection of ten short works from their extensive repertoire at the Edinburgh Playhouse tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 8pm.
Yesterday's Edinburgh Evening News also mentions the upcoming BBC Radio 3 broadcasts of Festival 08 concerts. To read the full list of broadcasts, click here.
The Stage reviews Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray today and praises Bourne for stepping into ‘an exciting new territory of sumptuous, satirical dance-making.' There are a limited number of tickets still available for this production tonight, tomorrow and Saturday before it opens at London's Saddler Wells on Tuesday 2 September. Click here for ticket info for Festival 08's remaining Dorian Gray shows.
Today's Herald picks tonight's Usher Hall concert from Staatskapelle Dresden as a must-see Festival 08 show. Extraordinary pianist Hélène Grimaud will play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 with Staatskapelle Dresden, Richard Strauss' original orchestra.
The Scotsman picks avant-guard German composer / director Heiner Goebbels' latest work I went to the house but did not enter as the hottest theatre tickets of Festival 08. The production features medieval vocal group The Hilliard Ensemble and premieres at the Lyceum Theatre tonight and runs til Saturday at 8pm.
In Other Reviews
Collegium Vocale Gent (The Usher Hall)
‘The choir sung beautifully in a piece that was almost symphonic in scale and aspiration.' The Scotsman****
Katarina Karnéus (The Queen's Hall)
‘Her mezzo soprano voices sounded rich, well-rounded and powerful,' The Scotsman****
The Enchanted Wanderer (The Edinburgh Playhouse)
‘Valery Gergiev conducts with magisterial control ... the whole opera reveals itself as the active creation of Russian icon in sound.' The Scotsman****
