The top ten acts at the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival

Published on Thursday 18 March 2010 13:13

THE voices of the New World return to the old in this year's Edinburgh International Festival.

• Paco Pea

EIF director Jonathan Mills yesterday promised a 2010 Festival "about sensuality, about texture, about flamboyance, with very important and serious messages embedded in it to be sure – but it's a riot of colour, an enormous amount of fun".

Here, the Scotsman's Tim Cornwell looks at the ten must see acts.

Montezuma

Described as a little-known operatic gem, Montezuma was written by German composer Carl Heinrich Graun in 1755 and chronicled the tragic, one-sided and bloody confrontation between Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec empire led by Montezuma 200 years before. The new production, set on the island that would become the future Mexico City, with several Mexican singers, captures the Festival's theme of old world and new, in a year when Mexico celebrates the 200th anniversary of its war for independence from Spain.

Teatro Cinema

A radical theatre company from Chile which blends cinema and live performance so closely it is hard to distinguish live actors from characters on screen, Teatro Cinema bring two productions to the King's Theatre. Sin Sangre, Without Blood, tells the story of the brutal slaying by three armed men, centred on the woman who witnesses the murder of her father and brother. The Man who Fed Butterflies is a new co-production with the EIF, devised around the story of a man exploring a forgotten ritual of the souls of dead warriors released in the hatching of butterflies.

Bliss

Opera Australia's production of Peter Carey's novel, centred on a Brisbane advertising executive who wakes from a heart-stopping near-death experience in his own particular brand of hell, comes to Edinburgh fresh from its Australian premiere. Nine years in the making, it has won strong reviews for prize-winning composer Brett Dean and features star Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright.

Caledonia

Caledonia marks the world premiere of a major new project by the National Theatre of Scotland, chronicling the country's disastrous colonial foray into Panama. The huge costs of the tragically inept Darien venture, devised by financial adventurer William Paterson, were blamed for forcing Scotland into union with England. Critics will be watching carefully to see if the production – written by satirist Alistair Beaton, and directed by Anthony Neilon, whose achievements include Festival hit The Wonderful World of Disassocia – lives up to its promise and ambition.

The Gospel at Colonus

First devised by American director Lee Breuer, who brought Mabou Mines Dollhouse to the EIF in 2007, the Gospel at Colonus is a radical reworking of Sophocles' classic Greek drama, the tragedy of Oedipus at Colonus, with everything from Gospel to elements of rock'n'roll. It features The Blind Boys of Alabama, a gospel choir who may be set to become a festival sensation.

Mau

Samoan choreographer and shaman Lemi Ponifasio, based in New Zealand, explores the idea that somewhere in the Pacific, a floating island of discarded plastic bottles has become the nesting material for migrating birds. His company Mau brings two productions – Birds with Skymirrors , using the plastic waste picked up by seabirds as a metaphor for pollution's impact on the islands of the Pacific, and Tempest: Without a Body, featuring tattooed Maori activist Tame Iti in a work inspired by Shakespeare's play which delves into Polynesian ritual.

Mahler Symphony No 8

The closing concert at the Usher Hall, Mahler's great work features the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, with eight soloists. With the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles, it promises a spectacular finale.

Porgy & Bess

Opera de Lyon's production of Gerschwin's classic modern opera, written at the end of the Great Depression in 1935. With its heart-rending love story, George Gershwin's score contains modern classics like It Ain't Necessarily So and I Got Plenty o' Nuttin. Choreographers Jos Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu had a festival hit in 2007 with On Danse.

Paco Pea

It may not reach the lofty artistic heights of past Edinburgh festivals, but no show better captures the exuberant spirit of 2010. The "sophisticated and tantalising" Paco Pea Flamenco Dance Company come with the world premiere of Quimeras, telling how flamenco dance arrived in Spain with immigrants from North Africa. It is a story of the "new world speaking back and giving back to the old world", says Edinburgh International Festival director Jonathan Mills.

The Alonzo King Lines Ballet

The African American choreographer Alonzo King, whose family were prominent in the Civil Rights movement, brings his San Francisco-based Lines Ballet for its UK debut . Rasa sees a collaboration with the virtuoso tabla player Zakir Hussain in a mix of US contemporary dance and Indian classical music. Dust and Light is set to works by Corelli and Poulenc.