Shoreline ... Stories of Love and War

REID HALL, EDINBURGH

THIS first collaboration between the Hebrides Ensemble, Opera Circus and the Scottish Dance Theatre offered a rich feast for the ears and eyes in a thought-provoking exploration of love and hate through music, film, theatre and dance.

The common thread was an impressive and moving selection of music by the Edinburgh-based composer Nigel Osborne, much of it influenced by his wartime experiences in Bosnia.

Sand Storm, an act from Osborne's opera Sarajevo, written to a libretto by poet Craig Raine, cleverly melded contemporary events with the siege of Troy. The raw grief caused by war was evoked with searing intensity by the four Opera Circus singers and tightly knit ensemble of clarinet, cello and piano.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Sevdah Opera Project, a work in progress with Bosnian writer and poet Goran Simic, looked at the many facets of love.

Another highlight was Osborne's 12 musical miniatures for Rachel Bevan Baker's enchanting animations of beaches, which beautifully captured childhood innocence.

Lenka Udovicki's direction gave an integrity, particularly in Naomi Murray's dance solo, choreographed by Michael Popper, to the haunting cello Adagio for Vedran Smailovic.