Further Edinburgh International Festival highlights 2010

This article is from 2010.

Montezuma

Carl Heinrich Graun’s opera about the Aztec leader who welcomed Spanish adventurers into his kingdom only for them to quickly get tore into the plundering and subjugation explores the clash of two very different worldviews.
King’s Theatre, Leven Street, 14 & 15, 17 Aug, 7.15pm, £12–£35.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Mahler, Stravinsky, Berio and Bartok are all featured in this welcome return from Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons and the Netherlands’ collective which was named the top symphony orchestra in the world by Gramophone magazine in 2008.
Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 30 & 31 Aug, 8pm, £10–£40.

Lemi Ponifasio MAU

The Samoan choreographer Ponifasio is now based in New Zealand and with two fearless pieces – Tempest: Without a Body and Birds with Skymirrors – he has his say on issues of race, myth and consumerism.
Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, 14 & 15, 17 Aug, 8pm; 18 Aug, 2.30pm, £8–£28.50.

Susan Graham & Malcolm Martineau

The US mezzo soprano is becoming an August favourite and here, with pianist Martineau, fills the air with tunes from her homeland as well as works by Mahler and Mozart.
Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 3 Sep, 8pm, £8–£32.

Simón Bolívar String Quartet

Passion and talent are a great artistic combination and rarely has it found such a perfect home than in the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. Here, the string quartet gives us vibrant renditions of Shostakovich and Bach.
Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, 4 Sep, 11am, £7–£27.

Explorations

A fascinating series of talks and discussions open out the work that is going on upon the EIF stages this month. Among those appearing are Diciembre director Guillermo Calderón, choreographer Alonzo King and Elevator Repair Service’s artistic director, John Collins.
The Hub, Castlehill, 14 & 15, 18, 22, 24, 28 & 29, 31 Aug, 3 Sep, 2.30pm, £6.50.

El Niño

This year’s opening concert is John Adams’ oratorio about the nativity from a distinctly female perspective. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is led by conductor James Conlon with soprano Jessica Riviera and baritone Willard White in full voice.
Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 13 Aug, 8pm, £10–£46.

Jonathan Biss

Discover exactly why this young American pianist is making such waves as he plays works from Schumann and Beethoven.
Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, 14 Aug, 11am, £7–£27.

Treasures and Traditions at Greyfriars

These hour-long teatime concerts capture the sounds created by the first Europeans who ventured into South and Central America, including Bolivian baroque, sacred music from Rio and renaissance works straight out of Peru.
Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 16–20, 23 & 24 Aug, 5.45pm, £17.50.

Grupo Corpo

Two works from the flamboyant Brazilian dance team with the vividly coloured Parabelo which will have you feeling the Rio sands between your toes while the Latin funk of Onqotô explores some universal themes.
Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, 20–23 Aug, 8pm, £10–£28.50.

Bliss

From the novel by Peter Carey comes this Opera Australia production about an ad exec, Harry Joy, who suffers a near-death experience. Has he come out the other side or is he now actually in hell with his family behaving in increasingly bizarre ways?
Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, 2, 4 Sep, 7.15pm, £14–£64.

Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert

The traditionally spectacular finale to the festival season features classics from American movie soundtracks including Bernard Herrmann’s Marnie and Leonard Bernstein’s On the Waterfront.
Princes Street Gardens, 5 Sep, 9pm, £11–£26.

Caledonia

Anthony Neilson directs this year’s National Theatre of Scotland EIF production about the ill-fated Darien Venture of 1698. William Paterson had a dream to found a Scottish enclave in Central America and turn his nation into a serious colonial player. How did it all go awry?
King’s Theatre, Leven Street, 21 & 22, 24 & 25 Aug, 7.30pm; 22, 25 & 26 Aug, 2.30pm, £12–£27.

The Man Who Fed Butterflies

More innovative Chilean work at the EIF with Teatro Cinema giving us the story of a man at the end of his life looking to conduct a long-lost ritual belonging to an extinct tribe.
King’s Theatre, Leven Street, 29 Aug, 2, 4 Sep, 8pm; 4 Sep, 2pm, £12–£27.

Kronos Quartet

Now into its fifth decade of performing, this string foursome gets stuck into works by Aleksandra Vrebalov, George Crumb and Steve Reich with a provocative display of contemporary chamber music.
Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 21 Aug, 8pm, £8–£32.