Festival Portraits

The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual gathering of some of the greatest creative minds of our time. To celebrate their presence at the heart of our programme, the Festival has commissioned video portraits exploring the artist’s experience from the point of view of five celebrated Festival artists.



The films present interviews with actors, musicians, writers and directors talking about the art that they love, and features Juliette Binoche, Simon McBurney, Nicola Benedetti, Robert Lepage and Anne-Sophie Mutter in a series of personal reflections on their art-form, the nature of live performance and the unique exchange they experience with an audience every time they take to the stage.



Highlights include:

- Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti takes a 

personal look at her own performance style, and the vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies of a musician on stage

- Actor and director Simon McBurney reflects on the intensity of live theatre and the co-dependent relationship between audience and performer

- Actor, writer and director Robert Lepage champions the cultural benefits of the theatrical experience and the role he plays in delivering it

- Actor Juliette Binoche passionately describes the importance of actors fusing body and mind when performing on stage.

- Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter discusses the

life-affirming importance of music as a way of bringing people together, and traces the influence it has had throughout her life


The video portraits build on the iconic portraits of Festival artists created by Scottish photographer Gavin Evans for the Festival 2015 programme covers, and offer audiences a greater insight into the creative talent and processes employed by great artists at the core of the Edinburgh International Festival.



The video portraits also mark a renewed commitment to develop and expand the Festival’s digital offering and increase year-round engagement with an online audience, producing rich and diverse content across multiple online platforms placing artists at the heart of Festival activity.



Festival Director Fergus Linehan said, “The role that artists and their creative talent plays is absolutely essential to what the Festival is, and we wanted to capture on film some of this year’s artists and find out why they’re so incredibly passionate about what they do. These videos give a rare glimpse inside the minds of five world-renowned artists, and I think will give Festival audiences a unique understanding of what they are thinking and feeling when performing for them this August’.