The Hub

‘A life of unending misery in a world devoid of God, now that’s funny.’ Maddy Rooney is in her seventies – unsightly, ungainly and unwell – laboriously to-ing and fro-ing between her home and Boghill Station. This is a landscape whose details are drawn from the suburbs of Foxrock and Leopardstown from Beckett’s youth, but…

String quartets by Beethoven, Janáček and Shostakovich performed by Evelien Jaspers and Dmitry Ivanov (violin), Sylvain Dessane (viola) and Otto Bakker (cello).

Professor of Epistemics Jon Oberlander, Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Composition Peter Nelson, and Chris Speed of the Edinburgh College of Art discuss historical, conceptual and philosophical relationships between the performing arts and technology. Chaired by theatre specialist Olga Taxidou.

Derval Tubridy, Goldsmiths, University of London, explores the vibrant interplay between Samuel Beckett’s work and contemporary art with a particular focus on bodies and technology. Chaired by Octavian Saiu.

Producer of the Beckett on Film project, Michael Colgan discusses the challenges in creating this extraordinary film collection.

String quartets by Schubert, Mendelssohn and Dvorák performed by Clemens Flieder and Clemens Gordon (violin), Johanna Zaunschirn (viola) and Gundula Leitner (cello).

Beckett on Film: Catastrophe: Directed by David Mamet and starring Harold Pinter, Rebecca Pidgeon and John Gielgud. Rough for Theatre II: Directed by Katie Mitchell and starring Jim Norton, Timothy Spall and Hugh B O’Brien. Breath: Directed by Damien †Hirst.

Countertenor Andreas Scholl talks to Richard Morrison, chief music critic of The Times.

Members of New York City’s Bang on a Can All-Stars discuss making music new with Edinburgh-based composer John Harris.

Members of Ensemble musikFabrik talk to composer John Harris about their unique artistic vision.

Members of Grid Iron talk about Leaving Planet Earth in the company of journalist and critic Robert Dawson Scott.

Electronic music composer Marco Stroppa and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard talk to BBC Radio 3 presenter Tom Service about their pioneering work.

Meredith Monk explores the artist’s relationship with the environment, in conversation with Philip Campbell, editor of Nature magazine.

Australian clarinettist Nicola Boud and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout discuss their Queen’s Hall recital with Richard Morrison, chief music critic of The Times.

Philip Glass is joined by Patti Smith to discuss their cross-art form collaboration The Poet Speaks with writer and broadcaster Richard Coles.

Elizabeth LeCompte and company members talk to Andrew Quick about their complex interpretation of Hamlet.

August 2012 saw the inaugural Edinburgh International Culture Summit, an event that brought together Culture Ministers and officials from over 30 nations for a series of conversations about forging international dialogue through culture. Initiated by the Edinburgh International Festival in partnership with the British…

Duos by Mozart, Paganini, Giesriegl and Servais performed by Amelie Böckheler (violin) and Raphaela Gromes (cello).

Nigel Osborne, composer and former Reid Professor of Music, explores the complexities of music, mind and the application of technology in a therapeutic setting. Chaired by Raymond MacDonald, Professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation, and introduced by Dorothy Miell, Vice Principal and Head of Humanities and Social…

The song and dance of Piazzolla’s South American tango music, a Shostakovich waltz and Debussy’s La belle au bois dormant performed by Jo Ashcroft (flute) with Calum Huggan (marimba and percussion).

The Royal harpist plays Bach, Dizi, Prokofiev and Salzedo.

Beckett on Film: Happy Days: Directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Rosaleen Linehan and Richard Johnson.

Jeremy Howe, Commissioning Editor BBC Radio 4, dramatist Jonathan Myerson and writer and theatre critic Octavian Saiu explore the influence radio has had on drama and its development as an artform.

Moshe Kam of Drexel University, Philadelphia, discusses the neverending cycle of advancements in cinema, that provide for expanded artistic freedom and in turn lead to new technological opportunities. Chaired by Sir John Arbuthnott, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The Internet is the greatest store of human knowledge that has ever existed. But it is also a shopping mall, a video arcade and a Pandora’s Box. Tom Standage, digital editor of The Economist, and Emily Bell, director of the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, discuss the Internet’s effect on…

As we spend more time online or attached to a mobile device and with increasing amounts of information being generated and captured, Jon Oberlander, Professor of Epistemics at the University of Edinburgh, explores the cost to privacy of this new technological power. Chaired by Guardian journalist Aleks Krotoski.

Author and broadcaster Paul Mason outlines the ways in which technology has enabled global protest movements and asks how the old political models of ruling and resisting are being undermined. Chaired by Professor William Sweeney. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

British scientist, writer and broadcaster Susan Greenfield asks us to consider how technologies may be changing the human brain, both for good and for bad. Chaired by Alison Elliot, Convenor of the Church of Scotland Guild. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

Psychiatrist Andrew Powell explores the ways that technology affects relationships. As depression rapidly becomes the greatest burden of illness in developed countries, he examines safeguards for emotional and spiritual well-being. Chaired by Reverend Richard Coles, writer of TV comedy Rev. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

Aleks Krotoski, social psychologist and presenter of Radio 4’s Digital Human, untangles the World Wide Web, asking how much of a revolution it really is. Are we in danger of letting Google and Facebook take over our lives, and can we reclaim control over the machine? Chaired by Robert Dawson Scott. Speech-to-Text Reported…

Jesse Schell, Distinguished Professor of Entertainment Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, and technology entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl discuss the gamification of design and its potential for widespread influence. Chaired by writer Ben Hammersley.

Author and journalist James Harkin uses the Moleskine diaries phenomenon to explore what our desire to identify with niche product, media and culture brands can tell us about ourselves. Chaired by Robert Dawson Scott.

In the face of today’s ongoing technological revolution, author and journalist Ben Hammersley examines how we must consider today what we do not know for tomorrow. Chaired by journalist Robert Dawson Scott. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

Works by Kurtág, Huw Watkins and Bruch alongside Mozart’s Kegelstatt performed by Jessie Grimes (clarinet), Zoë Matthews (viola) and Charis Cheung (piano).

Beckett on Film: Krapp’s Last Tape: Directed by Atom Egoyan and starring John Hurt.

Ian Stoutzker, co-founder with Yehudi Menuhin of Live Music Now, discusses the organisation’s distinctive work and Menuhin’s vision with Director of Live Music Now Scotland Carol Main.

Professor of Communication, Arts and Religion Jolyon Mitchell hosts a discussion with historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes and Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, on the relationships between research and the media and the demands of addressing different audiences.

Sonatas by Poulenc, Brahms and Rachmaninov performed by Mikhail Nemtsov (cello) and Elena Nemtsova (piano).

Beckett on Film: Ohio Impromptu: Directed by Charles Sturridge and starring Jeremy Irons. Rough for Theatre I: Directed by Kieron J Walsh and starring David Kelly and Milo O’Shea. Not I: Directed by Neil Jordan and starring Julianne Moore.

The Latvian-born pianist plays Schubert, Mozart and Rachmaninov with music by composers from her homeland, Peteris Vasks and Rihards Dubra.

As a prelude to his Queen’s Hall recital on 23 August, renowned French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard takes up residence in The Hub for two late-night concerts celebrating the intoxicating new sound worlds that cutting-edge technology has brought to piano music. Italian composer Marco Stroppa’s dramatic Traiettoria…

A vibrant depiction of the natural world and a pioneering work of electronics meet in pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s second latenight …recital. Aimard has been widely praised for his visionary performances of Messiaen’s radiant piano music. Tonight he evokes the birds, animals, flowers and landscape of the remarkable La…

Bach to Berio, Lutoslawski to Puttin’ on the Ritz performed by Iain Archibald and Andrew Connell-Smith (trumpet), Martin Murphy (horn), Gordon Seith (trombone) and Fraser Russell (tuba).

Written as a television play, Quad is an intricately choreographed movement system with music devised by Samuel Beckett. In this two part event, Pan Pan Theatre Company works with students from Scottish Ballet and mathematician Conor Houghton to present a lecture demonstration of the piece, before Beckett scholar Mark…

Beckett on Film: Rockaby: Directed by Richard Eyre and starring Penelope Wilton. Act Without Words I: Directed by Karel Reisz and starring Sean Foley with music by Michael Nyman. That Time: Directed by Charles Garrad and starring Niall Buggy.

Music for saxophone quartet including works by Jonathan Dove, Diana Salazar, Michael Torke, Joe Cutler, Barbara Thompson and György Ligeti performed by Karen Dufour, Michelle Melvin, Gillian Skingley and Lynsey Payne.

Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances and Piazzolla’s Nightclub 1960 along with folk melodies from Denmark and Scotland performed by Kirstine Fritzen Uth (clarinet), Mads Madsen and Astrid Larsen (guitar).

Beckett on Film: Waiting for Godot: Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and starring Stephen Brennan, Barry McGovern, Johnny Murphy, Alan Stanford and Sam McGovern as the boy.

Beckett on Film: What Where: Directed by Damien O’Donnell and starring Sean McGinley and Gary.Lewis. Footfalls: Directed by Walter Asmus and starring Susan FitzGerald and Joan O’Hara. Come and Go: Directed by John Crowley and starring Paola Dionisotti, Anna Massey and Siân Phillips.

A mixed programme by Dvorák and a selection of German composers for soprano and piano.