Today, the Edinburgh International Festival announced 15,000 free tickets for the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: Five Telegrams will be available from 10am on Monday 2 July.
The Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: Five Telegrams is an outdoor performance created by composer Anna Meredith and 59 Productions, comprising large-scale illuminations and projections on the Usher Hall and a new work for orchestra and chorus which opens the International Festival on the 3 August, 10.30pm.
A major co-commission between the International Festival, 14-18 NOW the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary, and BBC Proms, the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event: Five Telegrams welcomes both Edinburgh residents and visitors, opening both the International Festival and the city’s world-renowned festival season.
Lothian Road will close, allowing audiences to experience the event from a dedicated arena in Festival Square, from which they can view 59 Productions’ projected animations on the outside of the Usher Hall, and hear the score composed by Anna Meredith. In a new move, this year’s Opening Event includes a live performance element for the first time, featuring hundreds of local young people who will bring Five Telegrams to life within the Square.
The event marks both the centenary of the end of the First World War and celebrates Scotland’s Year of Young People. In an addition to young people taking part in the event, it has been co-designed by young people, providing a poignant reflection on the thousands of young lives lost in the First World War.
The Edinburgh International Festival is also pleased to announce that the title sponsorship of the Opening Event has been renewed for a further three years, and will continue with Aberdeen Standard Investments from 2019 to 2021.
International Festival Director Fergus Linehan, said: “Collaboration sits right at the heart of this event, whether in the creation of Five Telegrams by Anna Meredith and 59 Productions, our co-commissioning of this new work with 14-18 Now and the BBC Proms, through to partnerships with the many supporters who make this event possible. Over the last few years, the Opening Event has grown to become a multi-partner project and I’d like to say thank you to all of them – Aberdeen Standard Investments, Scotland’s Year of Young People through Event Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, Blue-i Theatre Technology and Mclcreate.
“We’re also delighted to announce the renewal of our title sponsorship, which will move forward with Aberdeen Standard Investments. Knowing that this relationship will continue to 2021, helps us plan ahead with confidence and we look forward to working with the Aberdeen Standard Investment team over the next three years.”
