THE Edinburgh International Festival is set to return this year with a stellar line-up featuring Damon Albarn, Anna Meredith, The Snuts, Laura Mvula and many more.
Taking place between 7th and 29th August, the International Festival will host up to 170 live performance events. A custom-built outdoor venue will host contemporary music acts in Edinburgh Park, while the University of Edinburgh’s Old College Quad will house classical music performances.
Other names on the bill include Nicola Benedetti, who will be working in residence at the festival, appearing with her Benedetti Baroque Orchestra, Floating Points, Black Country, New Road, Kathryn Joseph, Black Midi, Kokoroko, Moses Boyd, Nadine Shah, Richard Dawson, The Comet Is Coming, The Staves and many more.
Festival director Fergus Linehan said: “It is now time to look to the future” with regard to the pandemic, and described the festival as “a carefully organised return to live performance”. A number of Covid safety measures will be put in place including the highly ventilated outdoor performance areas, social distancing, shorter performances with no intervals and audience members seated in bubbles.
An official release describes the festival as “uniting people through artistic connections for over 70 years”, and promises an exciting music programme “that spans cosmic jazz and art-pop to subversive folk and Celtic traditional sounds”.
General booking opens on Friday 11 June. A full line-up and information on individual concerts can be found at www.eif.co.uk/music
