Edinburgh International Festival line-up revealed

Nicola Benedetti will be in residence across two weeks at the festival with a specially selected ensemble in Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale

Nicola Benedetti, Damon Albarn and Alan Cumming are among the stars appearing at this year's Edinburgh International Festival.

The festival will return to the capital from 7 August after last year's event was cancelled because of the pandemic.

Outdoor marquees to stage events and shorter shows with no intervals are among the changes being introduced this year.

The 2021 programme will feature more than 170 performances.

Temporary outdoor structures, designed for live performance, will be erected in Edinburgh Park and Edinburgh University's Old College Quad but indoor shows are also planned for the city's theatres.

Organisers say audience members will be seated in bubbles and online access will also be available for 21 free full-length performances.

• International Festival to be outdoors with shorter shows

The opening night event will involve a free large-scale fire night-walk, created by French artist collective Compagnie Carabosse, against the backdrop of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Blur frontman Damon Albarn will perform from his back catalogue and current project The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows

Anna Meredith - a composer, producer and performer of both acoustic and electronic music - will appear at the festival

Festival Director, Fergus Linehan, said: "The programme we are announcing represents a carefully organised return to live performance.

"While so much has been written and said about the challenges of the past 15 months, it is now time to look to the future and to the brilliant musicians, actors, dancers and poets who are getting ready to perform in Edinburgh this August."

Line-up unveiled

Among the programme's highlights are Nicola Benedetti in residence across two weeks and the world premiere of Medicine, Enda Walsh's latest play which stars Star Wars actor Domhnall Gleeson.

Scots actor Alan Cumming is returning to the festival for the first UK performances of his new show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, while Scottish Opera has a new production of Falstaff by Glasgow-born director Sir David McVicar.

The contemporary music line-up includes Damon Albarn, Nadine Shah, Kathryn Joseph, Anna Meredith and West Lothian indie band The Snuts.

Black Midi and Black Country, New Road are also appearing.

The cancellation of the Edinburgh International Festival in 2020 was unprecedented but for those with a very long memory, or a good grasp of Edinburgh festival history, there are many familiar aspects to the 2021 programme.

In 1947, the founding director Rudolph Bing's vision of "a flowering of the human spirit" was limited by rationing, by travel restrictions and by chaotic conditions across Europe in the wake of the Second World War. International travel took time and effort, not to mention costs way beyond their early budget. Most of those early performers stayed in the homes of the first EIF patrons, a tradition which continued for many years after.

In contrast, Fergus Linehan's biggest challenge has been planning a festival around changing restrictions. Their current programme is based around three pavilions, ranging in size from 677 people in each of the ones at Edinburgh Park and Edinburgh Academy, to 219 in the Old College Quad. If Level 2 restrictions, currently in place in Edinburgh, are reduced, the numbers can be increased and more tickets can go on sale before August.

Most of the performers admit this festival has made them take stock about the future viability of international festivals, and the travel that entails. Can we really afford to fly in thousands of performers for a handful of shows, even if we're allowed to? Nothing beats being in the room for a live event, but if we're able to capture it in an inventive way, surely it makes sense to share it with a wider audience.

It will be a very different festival this year but there will at least be a festival, and hopefully other festivals round about it. And for those who've watched the world's largest arts festivals hurtling towards their 75th anniversary at breakneck speed, it seems like a good moment to step back, take a deep breath, and celebrate what's best, not biggest.

'Breadth and depth'

An graphical impression of the temporary structures which will hold the crowds and performers at this year's festival

The Royal Lyceum Theatre will play host to live audiences for the first time in over a year, with a programme including the National Theatre of Scotland's "Lament for Sheku Bayoh".

Leading orchestras performing include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Ian Munro, chief executive of Creative Scotland, said: "The breadth and depth of the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival programme is more than we could have dreamt of in the darkest days of lockdown."

General booking for the festival, which runs from 7 to 29 August, opens on 11 June.