CULTURE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL


➜ Continued from page 15


so you need the kind of show that will work in a huge theatre. And sometimes it depends on money, or whether the act in question has a big following in Edinburgh…there are so many things to consider.” When it comes to programming


festivals Linehan has a wealth of experience. He was director of the Dublin theatre Festival at 29, before going to Australia to run the Sydney festival, then moving to the Sydney Opera House as head of music.


BUT DUBLIN-BORN Linehan’s love for EIF is palpable; he speaks passionately about the city that has now become his home. “I love it,” he said. “Edinburgh is an


amazing place to live – and a wonder- ful city for hosting an international festival – it’s small and beautiful. Conversely, if you look at Sydney – another great city but also a five -million-person city – it can be really hard to get a festival atmosphere go- ing there. Te biggest killer, the thing no festival organiser wants to hear, is when people living in the city say, ‘I didn’t know there was a festival going


on’. Fortunately, this isn’t an issue in Edinburgh -you just concentrate on the work and the shows and the rest takes care of itself. “I’ve done a lot of festivals but I’ve


never seen anything quite like it. Te Edinburgh International Festival is about going to shows, but it’s also about the entertainment industry.


“I WOULDN’T SAY WE’VE TRANSFORMED THE FESTIVAL. WE HAVE BROADENED IT, PERHAPS. BUT AT ITS CORE IS THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF QUALITY – THAT’S WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT.”


Fergus Linehan


Te entire entertainment industry comes into town – it’s like the indus- try’s annual convention, attracting people from all over the world: fes- tival directors, ministers and people from art centres to name but a few.” When asked to name his favourite


festival, one that has inspired his own work, Linehan enthusiasti-


cally rattles off a list of worldwide cultural events. For classical music, the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland is “beautiful”, he said, then added: “For popular music it has to be Sonar in Barcelona. I also love all the big fiestas in Spain – they’re very inspirational. For dance I love Montpellier, for opera Provence and Avignon for theatre. If I could just sit down in the south of France for a while and work on those festivals… well, that would be nice.” But for the moment, Linehan’s


focussing on August 2017, which marks EIF’s 70th birthday. He said he wasn’t yet in a position to reveal the line-up, but he does have a wish-list. “Ah, the list is long,” he said, “I


would love to have an actor like Mark Rylance – and classical singers such as Joyce DiDonato and Jonus Kaufmann…oh, and Tom Waits, he’d be good. “It’s not just about budget; it’s


also about persuasion and none of this is impossible. It’s an attractive ask – people love coming to Edin- burgh to perform.” Well, if anyone can pull it off, it seems Fergus Linehan can.


EVENTSBASE | AUTUMN 2016 | 17


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