Festival’s failings

PHILIP Jones (Letters, 6 September) was critical of my view of Festival attendances published the day before. Of course, he is correct that a James Macmillan concert might not sell out, however I mentioned him as an example of a Scottish composer who might feature as there were no Scottish composers or playwrights in this year’s programme.

I also accept that the Festival is international and I enjoy hearing works from all over the world, but the Edinburgh International Festival is also meant to showcase the best of Scottish culture and this director Jonathan Mills seems uninterested in doing.

On attendances, it is difficult to get accurate figures since Mr Mills simply issues bland spins: “audiences are well up to expectations”; “revenue is up; etc”.

Finally some of the oriental exotica featured this year may well have been well-attended but the oriental theme in other concerts may have caused a decline in attendances overall. As one London-based Festival goer wrote to me: “When I saw the programme I decided I could easily miss the Festival this year”.

Tim Ashley, opera critic of the Guardian, said last year: “The Edinburgh Festival can no longer claim to be a Festival of international standing as far as opera is concerned.”

This year we had two staged operas and neither sold out. Of course, there were many good things at the Festival. I particularly enjoyed the Philip Glass Ensemble accompanying the great Reggio films, however, overall, there is concern about Mr Mills’ programming and the bad news is: we are stuck with him for another three Festivals.

Hugh Kerr

Braehead Avenue Edinburgh